Chair's Cockpit
By David (Cotton) Cottingham
Changing Leadership
Since 2021, I've had the honor of serving as chair of CCA. I've thoroughly enjoyed meeting more CCA members, paddling with many of you on regularly scheduled trips and pick-up trips, and being more active in the local paddling community.
Now is a time that CCA deserves some fresh leadership. Accordingly, I've decided to step down as Chair at the end of my term in December. I let the Board know at our last meeting in June. CCA's bylaws lay out a process for electing officers. Hildy Ferraiolo, a member of the Steering Committee, has agreed to chair the Nominating Committee. If you'd like to volunteer to become CCA Chair, Hildy and the Committee would love to hear from you. Don't all flood her inbox at once!
CCA Activities in 2025
Now that 2025 is half over, it's a good time to reflect on what CCA has done so far this year. Pool sessions throughout the winter brought out over 130 hale and hearty folks on cold nights in Takoma Park. Our 70thAnniversary Downriver Race was again a huge success with 60 racers and dozens of volunteers. Club trips started in late March and have been out regularly on stretches of the Potomac, Shenandoah, Youghiogheny, Stonycreek, and other rivers. CCA's Wilderness First Aid class—focused on injuries that paddlers are likely to experience—taught 20 students lifesaving skills. CCA has had canoe and kayak clinics from basic beginning paddling instruction on the GW Canal to open boat and kayak clinics on the Lower Yough. Special paddling sessions for "Women over ___", led by Risa Shimoda, have proven popular and encourage women who haven't paddled in a long time to get out again. Tim Lapham led several swiftwater rescue practice sessions in June and July and is contemplating offering more of these. Tom Hackman and Rolando Arrieta have led first-timers down more challenging rivers like the Stony and Upper Yough. Wayne McDaniel and Dean Hawes have coordinated many Sunday trips on the GW Canal, Rappahannock, and other streams. Mark Brenneman coordinates Thursday paddles and has an active group of mostly retired regulars paddle together every week. The Wednesday evening paddles from Anglers Inn to Lock 10 organized by Dean are also popular. (For a more comprehensive tabulation of CCA paddling trips, see the article by Ginny and Gary Quam elsewhere in this Cruiser.) CCA held 3 programs on Zoom that more than 200 people logged into.
I bring these activities to your attention to demonstrate several things: 1) If you love to paddle, you can find opportunities to paddle with CCA at many skill levels; 2) Volunteers coordinate these programs; 3) Activities are more than about leading trips; and 4) If you have ideas about activities you want to do with others, suggest them and make them happen. CCA members are fun-loving folks eager to learn new skills and safely experience both familiar and new rivers.
Soul Trak and Diversifying Whitewater
For several years, CCA members have teamed with Soul Trak Outdoors and Calleva to offer paddling opportunities for people of color. We have collaborated to teach more than 20 people introductory kayaking skills in two four-week summer sessions and in winter pool sessions. As I write this, a new summer class with 12 more students is about to begin. Rolo Arrieta, Lynn Miller, and Risa Shimoda—who have all become ACA Level 4 certified instructors in past few years—will be lead instructors for the class. Ashley McEwan, director of Calleva's River School, will help, as will I.
When we began this collaboration, we discussed how we, collectively, might define success. Not everyone who tries whitewater boating will love it. We knew that. However, the experience of several of the 2024 cohort does demonstrate success. Two women really took to paddling. They attended the Tuesday evening sessions Calleva offered students and several of CCA's winter pool sessions. This summer they enrolled in Calleva's Zero to Hero class. I just heard that on a recent paddle through Mather Gorge, one rolled up after flipping in S-Turn rapid. She's hooked and well on her way to being a whitewater hero. I hope you'll welcome these folks on CCA trips.
Another woman at her first class in a kayak on Seneca Creek had a difficult time getting the boat to go straight. She went around and around in circles. By the fourth session, she was paddling confidently in and out of eddies. In June, she brought her mom to a Calleva-sponsored Diversify Whitewater event where she paddled a kayak while her mom rafted. They had a terrific time experiencing Seneca Breaks on the Potomac. She told me afterward that even though she has been a lifelong DMV resident, she hadn't experienced the natural beauty of the Potomac until she took the Soul Trak-Calleva-CCA kayaking 2024 class. Furthermore, I just learned that two of the 2024 kayaking class cohort have signed up for the 2025 sessions that start this coming weekend. These examples provide the kind of reward we hoped for.
Enjoy the summer. Hope to see you on a river soon.
—Cotton