May 2023 Last Meeting Minute - Houston Canoe Club

Last Meeting Minutes

by Alice Nissen

Houston Canoe Club

Board Meeting Minutes

April 5, 2023

Recorder: Alice Nissen

The meeting was called to order at 7:05 p.m. at Brent Hwang’s home, after we enjoyed a fabulous home-cooked meal. Officers in attendance were Brent Hwang, Commodore; Greg Fan, Vice Commodore; Bruce Bodson, Fleet Captain; Bob Naeger, Purser; Tim Brooking, Boatswain; Christy Long, Newsletter Editor; Alice Nissen, Recorder; and via Zoom, Natalie Wiest, Ex-Officio; and Tom Douglas, Conservation Chairman. Chris Arceneaux, Joe Coker, Constantin Platon, and Bob Scaldino also attended. The last board meeting minutes were approved.

Christy stated the website is going well, especially with Greg’s help. The next project is to make the newsletter easy to see on cell phones. She suggested that if you post pictures on Facebook, to also send them to her for the newsletter.

Bob gave the purser report and stated that end of March income was $625 from membership dues. Expenses $1409: cost of race was $583 (mostly from cost of bandanas), $590 insurance policy, $200 gift cards. Checking account balance is $6805 (down $863). Chris stated that HASK would split the race expense with us, about $225 each. Our CD matures on April 23, and it was decided to renew at Amegy.

Tim gave the boatswain report and stated we have five new members and 10 renewals for a total membership of 149. Facebook has 904 members.

Bruce gave the fleet captain’s report and stated there were eight different events last month: two Arkansas trips, the Buffalo Regatta, Paddlefest, Brazos River, Armand Bayou Trash Bash, Lake Charlotte #2 Recon and Lake Charlotte Challenge for a total of 74 miles. He stated that a lot of the participants were nonmembers.

Greg gave the vice commodore report and stated that Cindy Bartos will do a presentation on birds and next month Kent Walters, via Zoom, will do a presentation on Big Bend. Bob Scaldino could be a possible future speaker regarding his upcoming trip to the northwest territory.

Tom gave the conservation report and stated that the program on KUHT, Houston Matters “Fishing on Buffalo Bayou“ was very interesting. On March 11, five club members manned safety boats for the Buffalo Regatta for 8.8 miles and there were over 300 paddlers. On March 25, 10 people from HCC participated in the Armand Bayou Trash Bash. On April 12, the Houston/Galveston Council will meet in person for aClean Water workshop. On April 22, Earth Day Festival at Discovery Green. There will be an Earth Day speaker series April 17 and 18 and 19 at Houston City Hall and Julia Idesen Library. The Harris/Galveston County Wastewater Seminar on septic systems is full but there is a waiting list. The show “Deep in the Heart of Texas” will be coming to theaters in June.

Chris Arceneaux stated that June 10 is Ocean Day Galveston, a nonprofit event. Speakers will talk about kayaking and paddling around Galveston.

Bruce handed out flyers on our next big topic “The Lake Charlotte Challenge - Lessons Learned." Things that need improvement: We had more volunteers than racers; HCC and HASK members do not race; two months is not enough time to plan a race; tee-shirts are more cost effective than bandanas; need a planning committee; need to be sure race rules align with insurance requirements; task assignments need to be clearer; more promotion; signs needed for the sign-in and snack areas; need someone to man the refreshment table; bandanas should be handed out to volunteers as they show up and to the racers as they check in; need louder speakers but no music; need larger buoys and better anchors; timing was inconsistent - a second stop watch needed; non-racers should stay off the course until event is ended; skip the short race; more planning on refreshments/food; more planning on race numbers. Things that went well: on-course volunteers and sweeps did a great job; level of effort appropriate for racers; good on-shore volunteers (especially Christy); great pictures from many sources; racers liked the touch-the-buoy system; bandanas came out well; food was consumed. Brent said it was more of a social event than a race and some racers thought 10 miles was too short. Joe’s suggestions: a racing fee discount for HCC members and increased fee for nonmembers that would include a year’s membership in HCC; promoting more with phone calls and daily texts; outposts should be in pairs for safety; the radio is less useful than cell phones. Miscellaneous comments: more food, plates and cups; socializing after the race; Chris and Bruce did most of the work; the park cannot be closed for our event; race packets could be given with membership information and laminated race maps; emergency protocol should be planned; need people assigned to carry racers’ boats; popup tents good idea for sudden bad weather; a backwards paddling race for fun.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:15.

Houston Canoe Club

General Meeting
April 12, 2023

The meeting at Bayland Community Center was called to order at 7:05. Officers in attendance were Brent Hwang, Commodore; Greg Fan, Vice Commodore; Bob Naeger, Purser; Bruce Bodson, Fleet Captain; Christy Long, Newsletter Editor; Tim Brooking, Boatswain; Alice Nissen, Recorder. Natalie Wiest, Ex-Officio; and Tom Douglas, Conservation Chairman. A total of 23 people attended the meeting in person and nine via Zoom. Last month’s general meeting minutes were approved.

Tim gave the boatswain report and stated that we have five new members and 10 renewing members for a total membership of 149. Facebook has 904 members. He introduced and welcomed three guests at the meeting.

Bob gave the purser report and stated that at the end of March income was $625 (from membership dues) and expenses were $1409, which included annual insurance of $590, race expense of $583 and website fee of $182. The cost of the race was $475, which will be split with HASK, for a net expense of $230. Seven thousand in our checking account.

Christy stated everything is going well with the newsletter. She thanked everyone for their contributions of pictures and articles on Facebook and the website.

Tom gave the conservation report. On March 11, the Buffalo Bayou Regatta took place - Texas’s largest race – for a total of 8.8 miles. There were 323 paddlers, which included five from HCC who manned safety boats. On March 25, Armand Bayou Trash Bash that included 10 HCC members, lead by Natalie Wiest. On April 12, the Houston/Galveston Council, Riparian area, clean water workshop. Earth Week April 17 through 22. April 17-18 speaker series at Julia Idesen Library and April 19 at Houston City Hall. May 18, Harris County Wastewater Seminar (waiting list is full). For more information, please see Conservation Forum in the newsletter.

Bruce gave the fleet captain’s report. There have been eight events since the last meeting with 48 participants, 28 members and 20 nonmembers, for a total of 74.01 miles and 192.96 total miles for the year. Events included Buffalo Bayou Regatta for 8.8 miles; Quick Caddo in Arkansas for 12.9 miles; Brazos River, SH159-FM529, 19.8 miles; Caddo River 10 miles; Armand Bayou Trash Bash 2.0 miles; Lake Charlotte Recon #2 8.8 miles; Lake Charlotte Challenge 1.25 miles and 10 miles. Upcoming trips: On April 15, Ouachita 49er; April 16, Champion Lake/Trinity River; April 22, Race Recon Colorado River; April 19 through 24, Spring on the Buffalo Rivers, May 13, Lake Charlotte.

Christy announced that next year will by HCCs 60^th anniversary. The 50^th was a huge success. We had 200 paddlers on the water, had a great meal, and many past commodores attended. A committee will be needed for this event.

Greg announced our speaker, Cindy Bartos, a member of HCC since the mid-80s, who will speak about birding and paddling the Gulf Coast. Cindy acknowledged several very good birders in the audience, such as Bruce Bodson. She recommended Kenn Kaufman’s “Kingbird Highway,” and her most frequently used “Field Guide to Birds of North America.” Some of the birds she talked about accompanied by beautiful pictures and audio were cormorants, pelicans (and the return of the brown pelicans), American oystercatchers, black skimmers, American avocet (can be seen year round), laughing gulls, ring-billed gulls, herring gulls, terns (have pointier bills than gulls), common loons (a winter visitor), the Magnificent Frigatebird (a summer visitor), whooping cranes (can be viewed at Goose Island), egrets including the great egret, snowy egret (has yellow feet) and the reddish egret (dances around), herons including the great blue heron, black crown heron, yellow crown heron, green heron (seen in marshes), the tri-color heron, and the little blue heron (juvenile); birds of prey, red tail hawk, red shoulder hawk and osprey (best place to see hawks is Smith Point in the fall). A good way to identify birds is by their bills and wing bars. Her favorite birds at Lake Charlotte are warblers, woodpeckers, and wood ducks. An enthusiastic amateur can go out on their own. This year is a good year for birding. One can learn from birding groups such as Houston Audubon which has guided trips. Equipment one needs is binoculars, a scope, camera, and field guide. She recommends 10 (magnification) x 53 (lens size). Bigger lenses give more light and better images but also more weight. Several apps that she recommended downloading are Bird Pro of North America, Audubon Birds, Merlin Bird ID and eBird and goBird, managed by Cornell Ornithology Lab. This fabulous presentation by Cindy was enjoyed by all and with this great information we are ready and excited to begin or continue our birdwatching as we paddle.

Meeting was adjourned at 8:45 p.m.

Recorder, Alice Nissen