Lehigh Valley Kayak & Canoe Club
Minutes – September 7, 2017
Location: Lehigh Gap Nature Center, Slatington, PA
Executive Committee attendees:
President – Linda A Martin
Vice President – Larry Palmer
Recording Secretary – Lisa Aderhold
Treasurer – Pat Beltz
Membership Secretary – Dan Rempp
Member(s) at Large – Eric Schweitzer, Hans Wagner
Past President – Scott Douglas
The Fall Paddle on the Lehigh, and the Pot Luck dinner at the Nature Center Pavilion was well attended. At 7:45pm Linda A Martin called the meeting to order. She then introduced the Executive Committee.
Secretary’s Report. June’s Minutes were motioned for approval. As a reminder these minutes are posted on the club’s website. Dave Dawson motioned to approve, seconded by Eric Schweitzer.
Treasurers Report. Pat Beltz provided financial activity reports for June, July and August 2017. The monthly ending balances were reported as follows:
Checking Savings
Ending Balance Ending Balance
June 2017 $ 7,222,19 $14 179.33
July 2017 $ 7,222.19 $14,179.69
August 2017 $ 7,827.46 $14,180.05
The $50/per person Deposit monies collected from those who registered for the Fall Club trip was deposited into the Checking account – on 6/14/17 deposited $200, and on 8/9/17 and additional $100 was collected and deposited. A single trip check will be made out this month for the housing rental.
Scott Douglas motioned to approve, seconded by Larry Palmer.
Membership Report. Dan Rempp reported we have 338 dues paying members, representing 218 families. Facebook has 1164 followers. Meetup has 813 followers, however only a portion of these are our dues paying members.
Webmaster’s Report. Dan Rempp indicated our website had an issue with the web feed for the Meetup events; this has since been fixed. The web statistics indicated that we have an average of 3000 unique visitors per month to our website since the redesign.
Education Committee Chairman Report. Scott Douglas (and others as noted) provided an update on the following:
Beginners Series. Eric Schweitzer indicated the “Beginner” trips ended the last week of June.
The group has worked hard, and put a lot of effort into advancing their skills. They have since been called “Team 17” to signify the class of 2017; that they are no longer considered beginners. Both Liz and Pat who are in this group, were at tonight’s meeting. They both spoke very highly of the skills they have gained through this program.
Intermediate Series. Scott indicated 4 or 5 trips have been run this year so far. He will soon be scheduling a trip on the Lower Yough; it will be organized especially for those who want someone to lead them on their first descent on this river. The first week of November he expects to run a trip on the Tohickon. Details to be posted.
Sundays on the Lehigh. Linda indicated she posted a few trips on the Upper . Dan Rempp then followed with posting 3 trips starting from Glen Onoko.
Recreational Trips. Dan Rempp posted 3 trips including Pennsburg to Reigelsville, Merrill Creek, and Beltzville.
Old Business:
TRR – Team River Runner. Jim Schulte indicated the group is planning for their Winter training. To be a 2 day class – 1st day classroom, 2nd day in the pool. They need a pool to use – on a Sunday.
They also planning to pay several volunteers to become certified instructors. The goal is to send people who are already doing the volunteering. Scott Douglas added that our club had already approved sending 2 people. 9/17/17 is the last Leaser Lake TRR event.
Spring 2018 Sea Kayaking Trip – Camp Letts, MD. Plans are underway. Watch for further details.
Fall 2017 Sea Kayaking Trip – Chincotague, VA. Sept 29th through Oct 2nd, 2017. There are 22 people signed up. Linda indicated there is still room for people at the local motel.
San Juan Trip. July 8th through 15th, 2017. There were 7 people on the trip. The group rallied following 2 unexpected medical emergencies. Linda Martin indicated the trip generated a lot of interest for another trip; which is tentatively targeted for 2019.
Allagash River (Maine) Canoe Trip. July 20th to 29th, 2017. Scott Douglas indicated they had 5 boats; 10 people on the trip. It was 7 days, 6 nights.
Youth Day. Dan Rempp indicated the event hosted 100 kids. Have a 2 acre pond. There is an interest to do this with kayaks. Evan Valdivieso indicated his business “Take it Outdoors River Adventures” has kayaks; might be able to help with this.
Walnutport Canal Festival. October 14, 2017. Dan Rempp encouraged everyone to sign up for the boat race, and to volunteer at the club’s booth. Dan proposed eliminating the boat length requirement. To enter the race there will be a $20 fee. ¼ mile course.
Larry March Slalom. September 8th through 10th. Dan Rempp indicated the course prep starts on Friday at 8am. Volunteers should bring pliers, cutters, wear long sleeves, long pants, and gloves. Saturday will have practice times and clinics. Participants will park at the Police Academy off of Lehigh Street, Allentown. Free clinics for club members.
Winter Pool Sessions. Linda Martin indicated the club has secured the use of the Upper Perkiomen YMCA for this winter’s classes and pool sessions. The Quakertown Pool that was used last year, will be closed for renovations. Lafayette College, who we used in the past, was not immediately responsive to our request for information. A pool is hard to find, so the Executive Committee agreed they needed to move on and seek out other resources. (When they did get back to us, they could not provide consecutive weeks, and we were already finalizing details with the YMCA.) Contracted 13 consecutive sessions (except Easter). Will have 3 pools, 3 lifeguards. And the charge will be $200 less than last year. Linda asked for a motion to approve the signing of the contract; a motion was made by Larry Palmer, and seconded by Evan Valdivieso.
Pool Classes:
Linda Martin indicated we are not getting the turnout that we had expected for the Canoe Class. She proposed we offer a Sea Kayaking class instead. Cie Stroud is a certified instructor. The class would include skills building and self rescue.
Jim Schulte proposed we do the classes in this order:
Rec Class
Sea Kayaking Class
Moving Water Class
Roll Clinic ? Yvonne Wagner would like to see a formalized class for this offered. She indicated seeking out someone’s help only provides limited assistance before they are off doing something else.
A motion to approve the replacement of the canoe class with a sea kayaking class was made by Joanne Novak, and seconded by Hans Wagner.
Rock Garden Skills Trip. August 17 through 19th, 2018. 3 days. Dave Dawson indicated this will be along Naranganst Bay. It is a skills building trip with lessons on how to navigate rocky outcrops along the shorelines. Limited to 10 people. Estimated Cost – $300 / plus housing & food. Estimated $600 Total. Participants must already be used to sea kayaking.
Nomination Committee. Linda Martin indicated Scott Douglas, as Past President, along with Hans Wagner, and Jim Schulte will present nominations at the October meeting for the clubs incoming officers.
New Business
NR Hickory Run Park Manager – Handrail Request at takeout. Linda Martin wrote a letter recommending the installation of a hand rail on the steep steps of the takeout on the Lehigh.
DCNR Warning Notice Received at Lake Nockamixon. Dan Rempp indicated a letter was placed on Linda Martin’s vehicle indicating the club activity at the lake was in violation with their party. As an organized group, the recreation department has indicated our club must file a request and pay a fee for any “organized” events at this park. Dan plans to write-up a proposed schedule for 2018 including moonlight paddles, and submit it to the park.
Offensive Content Posted to Club’s Facebook. Larry Palmer provided a summary of an incident in which he saw offensive messages and pictures posted. He contacted the person who made the original post and asked him to remove it. Larry discussed having all of our club officers enabled to have the ability to remove inappropriate comments. It was agreed that Larry handled it best by contacting the original poster of the message.
Werner Paddles Discount. Eric Schweitzer indicated trip leaders, etc can get discounted paddles. He heard this from Joshua Smith. Larry Palmer also heard that ACA instructors can get discounts too.
A motion was made by Jim Schulte to end the meeting, and seconded by Dan Rempp. The next General Membership Meeting will be held at the Wildlands Conservancy, Emmaus, PA on Thursday, October 5, 2017 at 7:00pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Lisa Aderhold
Recording Secretary
