Chair's Cockpit

By David (Cotton) Cottingham

Happy summer to you all. Hope you are enduring the relentless heat by cooling down on a river in your boats. It's almost been too hot to paddle some days. Plus, water levels are dropping and water temperatures are rising on our regional rivers due to paucity of rain. But, hey, it's summer in the mid-Atlantic.

CCA has a lot going on. You can read details about a few activities elsewhere in this edition of the Cruiser. I want to highlight several things.

Paddling Trip Coordinators

As a paddling club, CCA relies on members and club leaders to coordinate paddling trips. Our trip coordinators and coordinators of the trip coordinators (yes, I was a bureaucrat for many years) do an outstanding job of providing members opportunities to paddle a wide range of rivers throughout the region. Gary and Ginny Quam co-chair the Trips Committee. Wayne McDaniel coordinates the Sunday paddles at Violettes Lock/GW Canal. Mark Brenneman coordinates Thursday paddlers. Hildy Ferraiolo and Alf Cooley coordinate weekend trips. Dean Hawes now coordinates the Wednesday evening paddles from Anglers to Lock 10. CCA members can now join club paddling trips several days a week. If you haven't participated in any of these trips, it's a wonderful way to meet longtime friends and other club members. Please thank these trip coordinators and people they have recruited to lead trips for all they are doing. 

Kayak and Canoe Clinics on the Lower Yough

Rolando (Rolo) Arrieta, Gary Steinberg, and Risa Shimoda all took classes this spring to get or renew their ACA certifications to teach L-4 kayaking. They suggested we work with Jordan Taylor (Paddlesport Institute) and Calleva for some canoe and kayak clinics on the Lower Yough. They wrote the description of the clinics and did the behind-the-scenes work to organize them. When CCA announced the clinics, we required that people be CCA members. The kayak clinics filled within hours. And we had a waiting list. The canoe clinic is scheduled and has one space available as of this writing. Of the participants, several are new CCA members.

I assisted with the first clinic targeting people going down the Lower Yough for the first time (or the first time in many years in one case). Everyone did great, bonded with new friends, and was super enthusiastic (see trip report elsewhere in this Cruiser and the CCA Facebook page).

I am encouraged by the partnership between CCA, Paddlesport Institute, and Calleva for several reasons. First, CCA attracted new, younger members to the club. CCA needs that. Second, CCA showed LoYo newbies how to run the river safely and gave them confidence in their abilities. And third, CCA members mentioned above and CCA Webmaster Susan Sherrod worked very hard to make these clinics happen. When you see these folks, please thank them for all they are doing for CCA and our paddling community.

CCA continuing to work with Soul Trak and Calleva

CCA is providing opportunities to members of underserved communities to learn to paddle. In partnership with Soul Trak Outdoors and Calleva, CCA members Risa Shimoda, Rolo Arrieta, and I have been teaching 10 Soul Trak participants to kayak. Soul Trak recruited and registered the participants. Ashley McEwan, Director of the Calleva River School, leads the instruction and provides gear for the students. The students are making rapid progress after only two or three sessions. I feel very good about CCA's role in diversifying whitewater boating.

Enjoy the rest of summer. Hope to see you on a river soon. I plan to be out there.

—Cotton