New President's Welcome
December, 2012
by Harmon Everett
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New Commodore,
Harmon Everett |
Thank you for electing me as the Commodore for the Houston Canoe Club! I’ve been asked to write a few words giving my hopes of what the New Year will bring for the members of the club.
With the passing last year of Bob Arthur, I was reminded of the wealth of experience our members have, and are willing to share, that so often go unnoticed. I hope to highlight and support our expert members. Louis Aulbach’s encyclopedic knowledge of Big Bend and Buffalo Bayou, and Natalie Wiest’s survey of the local waterways for instance. We have members with expertise in any number of areas that I would like to showcase.
The Houston Canoe Club is also a member of a larger Houston paddling and environmental community, both volunteer and commercial – The Sierra Club, the Bayou City Outdoors Club, HASK, Sophie’s Kayak Meetup Group, Southwest Paddle Sports, ACK and the stores and suppliers we use. Sometimes I forget all the other paddling groups and commercial support we enjoy in the Houston area (and Texas!), and I would like to find some way to include them more often and more prominently.
Also, more than half of our members don’t get to the meetings – which is a GOOD thing! HCC doesn’t exist in order to have meetings, but to promote getting out on the water. Sometimes it is hard to remember about the members we only see or hear about on the water. Mazy Leung for instance, keeps posting amazing pictures of her white-water adventures on Facebook, and there are others that I hear about that should enjoy equal prominence. I would like to include more of our non-meeting member activities.
Finally, I hope to encourage everybody to lead at least one HCC trip this year. Because there are some legal and safety ramifications to being officially a ‘Trip Leader,’ I understand that some people are concerned they are not ready to, or don’t know enough, or are afraid to volunteer. I hope to develop some way that if you want to paddle some water somewhere, that the club can support that somehow. All you need to do is raise your hand, post it in the forums, email or call another member or an HCC officer, and the club will try to help get you On the Water that you want to paddle, safely. HCC is here to promote paddling activities, and I hope to see you On the Water!