Surfski Knowledge Base

Brandon Nelson <brandon@…>
11/03/10 #9558

Thanks for the reminder, Al.

I had a fair number of folks tonight after the race, asking questions about the B’ham Outrigger Canoe Club meeting tomorrow. You’re all encouraged to come and get in on the ground floor of this long-awaited venture.

Having a local OC Club has been in “enthusiastic idea” stage for years, and it’s no big secret that what’s been missing is a leader to spearhead the effort. We’re fortunate to have that now with Jill Komoto, who:

• Has started past outrigger clubs;
• Is herself a seasoned OC paddler and coach;
• Has connections locally and with other clubs to get inside scoops on boats for sale, events, etc.;
• And most of all, has taken this club launch on at all, in a totally professional, committed way.

There will naturally be some challenges to overcome between tomorrow’s meeting and that future date when we have a full fleet of boats, a boathouse full of gear, and a gleaming rack of medals and trophies from races all over the world.

But what is COMPLETELY realistic and within our reach in the next 12 months, is to get this club started, get 2 OC-6’s in our fleet and local men and women trained up to race competitively next summer on Puget Sound, the Columbia River, BC, Lake Washington, and in HAWAII!!!

We have the paddler numbers and talent right here in Bellingham to go to Molokai for the World Championships next October – with more than 1 team if the commitment was there. I’ve personally raced Molokai twice in an OC-6, and it’s one of the greatest, most mind-blowing paddling experiences I’ve ever had.

Getting there is simple: Just get – and stay – involved.

We really hope to see a lot of faces there tomorrow night. There are a lot of ways to contribute your help and make this real. It’s at 913 Lakeway Dr., basement of the RE/MAX building across from Fred Meyer. 7 p.m.

Mahalo

Brandon Nelson

Re: OUTRIGGER MEETING
Dale McKinnon
11/04/10 #9563

My very first question, right at the top is about insurance. I was a key player in starting the rowing club in Bham Bay (nwrowing.us) and until the AIG meltdown, we were an organized WA state non-profit club with bylaws and officers. However, insurance after the AIG meltdown literally went skyhigh and we simply could not justify the additional $200-$300 per member/annual to cover the costs, plus put on the Dan Harris Challenge. Instead, we disorganized but remained cohesive through the yahoo group emails, similar to whatcompaddlers' approach. We still row as a group and the Fairhaven Merchants Association stepped up to cover the Dan Harris Challenge insurance as a result of John Rybczyk's efforts. And we put what would have been insurance payments toward two rowing shells for the group members to row.

Would we have to organize like CORA or NCOCA in order to qualify for reasonable (less than $50/person/annually) insurance and what kind of coverage would that look like? (Would we become the NWOCA?)

Re: OUTRIGGER MEETING
Brandon Nelson <brandon@…>
11/04/10 #9569

These are great questions to bring to tonight’s meeting, Dale. Because OC-6 paddling involves getting multiple people together on boats and bringing total newbies into the sport to keep the club growing, not to mention hosting races here in B’ham and other similar events and trainings, there is indeed a need for formal, insurable and insured structure to the club. That’s why Jill is such a valuable founding member, because she knows this stuff.

Come to the meeting and let’s get this discussion well under way.

Brandon

First Outrigger Club Meeting notes…
Brandon Nelson <brandon@…>
11/04/10 #9576

Here are the “minutes” or general notes from tonight’s meeting.

First, the highlights:

• We’re now officially known as “Bellingham Bay Outrigger Paddlers” or B-BOP for short.
• We have a steering committee meeting next Thursday with a small, focused group of 7.
• We have a website domain name secured, www.BBOutrigger.org and a Yahoo Group started, http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/bboutrigger/
• Our biggest underlying challenge is nailing down the location for boat storage / staging. There is no current clear answer to this.

Here are the notes with more detail:

26 People showed up for the first meeting.

Jill announced that she was a co-founder of the Seattle OCC in 1996.

Research that’s been done regarding where to store canoes. This is the biggest challenge facing the club. Period.

Lance Romo explained that the Parks and Rec Dept (PRD) faces multiple requests for storage or use of Parks facilities, of one kind or another. That presents problems between conflicting requests.

Right now, there’s a lot of work that goes into reviewing proposals, and the PRD doesn’t see much revenue from this sort of thing, and there’s not much money – or manpower – to work with anyway, so there’s very little incentive to make it happen.

A lot of ideas were thrown out, and that idea was tabled for now – though acknowledged as a big challenge.

Next on the agenda was the process of actually forming the Club.

Jill has communicated with other clubs and gotten example bylaws, insurance information.

Other clubs in the NW pay in the order of $50/member for insurance/year, $115/family, $25/junior. These are not definite numbers, but are roughly representative.

Other Clubs, as an example, have dues of $200/year for insurance (this is independent of the members’ rates), perhaps another $200/year for membership to PNW Outrigger association(s).

Next, the budget was discussed, and what costs will need to be factored for gear, etc.

• Boat carriers (carts);
• Paddles;
• A Boat trailer;
• A storage shed/box/container/shed;
• Tarps for covering the boats;
• Cables/locks;
• Straps, ratchets (for connecting the iakos/amas);
• Spray skirts;

And Yes, boats!

How the money is raised was talked about next:

One fundraising option is for “founding members” to kick in $$$ (perhaps $200 per person) to raise money for the initial money.

Other options exist: fundraising events, one or more big donors, etc.

Adrienne Scott from BC gave an overview on the club dues, year-round paddling, and potential available boats that may be up in Canada.

Dale McKinnon mentioned forming a political movement of small boat users to lobby the Port for a waterfront facility.

Jill noted that we need an official club name. She proposed “Bellingham Outrigger Canoe Club” as one possibility.

Duncan Howat asked, “What’s the goal of the club?”

Jill answered that one of the things we’d need to do is actually to draft a mission statement regarding intended training, racing, community outreach, etc.

She mentioned that perhaps we’d ultimately form a 501C3 non-profit.

Jill mentioned that we need to, first, identify a direction, a vision, a short-term goal. And to nominate a board of directors – or a steering committee – to get from where we are now – the first meeting – to starting to shop for boats and start looking for a place.

Jeff Hegedus offered to approach the Port to ask if we can put boats at the Fairhaven Boat Works Parking Lot (south of the tracks, by the bathrooms).

More talk about raising money took place.

A name was voted on and chosen: Bellingham Bay Outrigger Paddlers (B-BOP!).

A domain name for a website was secured: www.BBOutrigger.org <http://www.BBOutrigger.org>

A WhatcomPaddlers group was started, http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/bboutrigger/ and there will be a Facebook fan page, etc.

7 people volunteered to be on a steering committee, who will meet in 1 week to further the progress, vision, and direction.

Everybody was STOKED!!!!! Then we adjourned.

We’re off to a productive, enthusiastic start!!!

Brandon Nelson