With the start of the new year, two new club officers are taking over control of certain positions from their previous office holders.

The first of these positions is the club Recorder. 

I'd like to give a hearty "Thank you" to John Ohrt for his many years of service as club Recorder, taking detailed and precise notes on what goes on in every meeting, and the reporting of that information to the membership.  In addition to this visible club duty, seen monthly in the newsletter, John has also recorded the happenings at the monthly officer's meetings which take place separately from the general membership meeting.  All of these transcriptions are the official record of club business, decisions and activities.  In addition to all that, as a club officer he has also offered much wise advice and guidance in the decision-making that goes with the running of the club.

And along with that, also goes a great big "Welcome" to John Berlinghoff who is taking over all those duties from John Ohrt, and will carry on from here forward.  John Berlinghoff was a member of the Houston Canoe Club as far back as the 1970's, and has also been an active member of the Houston Sierra Club.  He leads paddling trips on behalf of the Sierra Club which are open to the public, and also well-attended by Houston Canoe Club members.

Outgoing Recorder, John Ohrt		New Recorder, John Berlinghoff

The second position in which there is a change is the Fleet Captain. 

In that role Paul Woodcock has been diligent at many things, including receiving future trip information from members, posting the upcoming trips on the club schedule, keeping track of the many paddling trips made by club members and their accumulated mileage in a giant spreadsheet, making 100-mile paddler awards at the end of the year, and talking enthusiastically in the monthly meetings about the trips that have taken place recently, and reviewing those which are coming up soon.  And on top of all that, he leads many trips himself.  As an club officer, he has also attended the officer meetings, and offered his well-seasoned advice on club business.  Thank you Paul!

And here is the self-written introduction of the new fleet captain, Tim Garber:

Please allow me to introduce myself, give a short biography, as I am fairly new to the club and newly elected Fleet Captain.

I grew up in the Panama, Canal Zone, High School graduating class of 1976. During High School I was very active in the BSA Explorer Scouts, in Ship 8.  The Explorer Scouts, if you don’t know, are older Teens from the Boy & Girls Scouts.  These clubs are coed and are more specialized;  Adventure Scouts, Police Scouts, or Sea Scouts.

During that time the BSA sponsored an Ocean to Ocean dugout race (the boats are called “Cayuco”) which is a traditional Indian Dug-put log.  The paddlers sit on the bottom and the boat has 4 paddlers.  The  lead person sets the pace and called the switches - the middle 2 were “power” paddlers and bails (usually  with a Clorox jug with the bottom cut out) -  and the one in the stern steered.  Some of you might have seen my unique bailer, which I carry around.

My group had some very involved dads.  One Dad commissioned a new boat.  By the time we were finished, it was 26’6” long, 18” wide and 18”, with the bow tapering back over 9’6”.  It was very,  very fast.

The race was 3 days every year on Easter weekend.  Normally, we would start practicing, daily,  after school  3 or 4 months in advance; which included working on the boats, patching, repainting, etc.  We also made our own paddle.

Starting Friday afternoon at the Cristobal Yacht club, on the Atlantic or Caribbean side of the Canal, we would race to the first set of locks, Gatun, which was about a 7 mile race and tended to be a rough and choppy paddle as the wind was blowing in from sea and across the anchorage. The boats were taken out there for the night and we spent the night close at an old WWII Prison, converted to a Scout camp.

The following Saturday morning, the boats were put in @ the Gatun Yacht club (which is now demolished due to the Lock Expansion project there) and we raced across Gatun Lake to Gamboa which is 26 mile paddle which  was a grueling, non-stop paddle.  My best time was 3 hours 21minutes, 36seconds in a boat called “El Bejuco” which means "twig" in Spanish.  The boats were then pulled out for the night.

Early Sunday morning the boats were put back in for a 3 legged race.  The 1st leg was 12 mile paddle through the Continental Divide to Pedro Miguel locks; once all the boats were reported in and briefly rested, we would paddle to one of the lock chamber for the 2nd leg.  While remaining in the boats, we would hang off on ropes that were stretched across the lock chambers from the escort boats (Yachts) which accompanied us on the race.  They would slowly drain the water out of the lock and we would drop  down to Miraflores Lake.  We would then have a 1 mile sprint across this lake to the next set of locks Miraflores for the 3rd and final leg. This set of locks had 2 chambers, so we would go in, drop down, ease forward, and then drop down again.  Once the gates were opened, and the waters had calmed down, the horn would blow, and we would sprint out of the lock chamber, for a 5 mile paddle down to Fort Rodman, a Navy Base located towards the mouth of the Canal, for the end to the big race.

The Cayuco race is still held every year and is bigger now than it ever was with teams now coming in from all over the world to compete.

During this period (1972-1976) this Explorer group, Ship 8, had a number of power and sail boats which had been donated to Ship 8 over the years.  One of which was a 65’ Ferro Cement Schooner that we did a 3 year re-furbish project while re-equipping it as a traditional Gaff Rigged Topsail Schooner.  We raised all of our own funds while doing the majority of the labor/work.  We imported Pine logs from Oregon (where the timber is grown specifically to be masts when they grow up) and hired a local shipwright from one of the Yacht Clubs who used nothing but a string line and an adze, trimmed these 60’ logs from a tree to a tapered octagon, then using only a string and a jointer plane to make these masts.
 
When this Schooner was finally completed, and barely so in time, we sailed it, with a coed crew and a few volunteer adults from Panama to New York for the 1976 Bicentennial Tall Ships Parade via Port Royal, Jamaica, Great Inagua (Home of the Morton Salt Company) Hamilton, Bermuda, and New Port News, Rhode Island, down to New York for the 1976, 4th of July Festivities in New York, then sailed down the East Coast, and back to Panama by the end of August 1976.

The Fall of ’76 I enrolled in the National River Academy which was a 2 year Inland Rivers Towboat training school, receiving a Associate Degree in River Transportation, and a Western Rivers & Inland Waterway Towboat License.  Over the years I migrated to New Orleans and the offshore OiI Field and upgraded my license with a Celestial “Any Ocean” License.  Over time, I worked for the company that was involved in the “Garbage Barge” dispute in the mid ‘80s, someone you might remember that, it was big news back in it’s day.  Towed Drilling Rigs across the Gulf of Mexico, worked Anchor handling tugs for Pipeline barges, and towed propane barges from Houston to other U.S. Ports.  I delivered a number of new boats, including 2 new tugs down to the Panama Canal and a 120’ quad screw crew boat from Lafitte, Louisiana, to Doula, Cameroon in West Africa via a long weekend in Barbados to refuel.

Eventually, I fell in love, got married, had three sons and came ashore to spend more time with my family.  I then worked as a Steamship agent for years in New Orleans on the Mississippi River working grain ships, steel ships, wood chip ships, iron ore ships, Roll on – Roll off ships, Crude Oil Ships, and my Favorite……. Chemical tankers.  As my children became more involved in sports,  I volunteered to coach baseball, scouts, hockey (whatever they were involved in).  They ended up on Travel Ice and Inline Hockey teams, which I continued to coach and manage in Louisiana and Houston (when I was transferred in 2001). 

I am presently working as Port Captain for a Norwegian Ship owner, which owns a small fleet of Stainless Steel Chemical Tankers that trade worldwide.

We are 'almost' empty nesters (will it ever completely happen?) and are looking to do things WE enjoy.  I want to continue paddling, Amy scouted the HCC online website, and joined the club at our first meeting.  We have joined HCC and HASK.  I am also now a Committee Member on the Texas Dragon Boat Association. We own 2 boats and are looking for the third…

So now that I am here entrenched in the HCC and would like to generate some more membership, and that would be by continuing having trips, and posting them on the calendar even if retroactively. I would also like to get a Dragon Boat Team together of HCC members to help grow the Dragon Boat sport. Involve the USCG, and eventually have a Houston Ship Channel Race of some sort.

Tim Garber

Outgoing Fleet Captain, Paul Woodcock		New Fleet Captain, Tim Garber

Be sure to thank these outgoing officers when you see them, for their service to the club. And let's all give our full support to the new members who have stepped up to replace them.  Without these volunteers working countless hours during their own private time, this club would not run smoothly.