Houston Canoe Club

Minutes of General Membership Meeting

October 14, 2026

 

Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm by Commodore, Natalie Wiest.

Officers in attendance: Natalie Wiest, Commodore; Bruce Bodson, Fleet Captain (via Zoom); Tyrone White, Boatswain; Tom Douglas, Conservation Chairman; and Mike Grove, Recorder.

Officers absent: Christy Long, Vice Commodore and Website Master; Tracy Caldwell Becker, Purser; and Harmon Everett, Newsletter Editor.

Meeting attendance: 21 members were present in person. 1 member attended via Zoom.

Commodore’s Report:

• Natalie introduced for approval the Minutes of the September 9, 2026, General Membership Meeting, a draft of which is published in the October edition of the HCC newsletter, the WaterLine. A motion for approval was made and seconded, and all present affirmatively approved those September 9, 2026 Minutes.
• Natalie pointed out that the Club’s officer elections for 2027 will take place during the November General Membership Meeting, and that we still do not have a nominee for the Vice Commodore position. All other current officers have agreed to stand for reelection to their respective current positions. Natalie urged anyone who is willing to run for the Vice Commodore position to soon notify the chair of the Nominating Committee, Alice Nissen, so that you can be included on the slate of nominees. You can also notify either of the other members of the Nominating Committee, Joe Coker or Tracy Caldwell Becker. Natalie also pointed out that although all other current officers are willing to stand for reelection, they are encouraging others to also be nominated or to self-nominate for any of those positions. None of the current officers would be unwilling to step aside for others who are interested in running.
• Natalie gave “Huge Thanks” to our Boatswain, Tyrone, for setting up and running the computer/video/audio/virtual components of tonight’s meeting. Christy, our Website Master and Vice Commodore, who usually handles that task, was unable to attend this meeting.
• Natalie next noted that Tracy, our Purser, was unable to attend this meeting since she is in Arkansas for the Current River Trip. In Tracy’s absence, Natalie summarized the hard copy of the Purser’s September Financial Report that Tracy had provided. The Club is in solid shape financially, and we have ample funds for all of the Club’s anticipated and projected needs.
• Natalie then asked the other HCC officers to make their respective reports, beginning with the Boatswain, Tyrone White.

Boatswain’s Report:

• Tyrone reported that during September the Club added 2 new members, Richard Schmidt out of Arkansas and Terry Herdlicka, out of Humble, Texas, and that there were 7 renewing members, Thomas Buzzy, Daniel Carl, Charles Falk, Georgette Falk, Daavid Lehman, Catherine O’Neill, and John Sangry, resulting in 120 active members as of the end of September. The Club also has 1,079 Facebook Followers.

Fleet Captain’s Report: Bruce reported on the following events and activities.

• Since the last General Membership Meeting the Club has had 7 available paddling events, some of which were not sponsored by the Club but were advertised and monitored by the Club so that Club members could receive credit for paddling miles. The total of the available miles in those events was 114.88 and there were 24 members who participated. To date this year there have been 52 events that would accrue mileage among 55 participating members. Year-to-date available paddling mileage is 658.33, and total participant mileage is 2728.44.
• Leading paddlers’ miles include Bruce (364.96), Chris Clodfelter (212.75), and Christy (109.38), each of whom is already over 100 miles. Greg Fan (91.84), Kent Walters (87.40), Sam Reyna (81.10), Doug Fairchild (73.99), Dutch Becker (71.85), and Tracy Becker (71.85) will each go over 100 miles soon.
• Trip Leaders and number of trips led so far during 2026 are Bruce -24, Kent -10, Christy -7, Natalie – 4, Tom – 3, Joe – 2, Fran – 1, and Chris Arceneaux -1.
• Bruce then reviewed summaries of the following trips:
  • Colorado River, Columbus to Altair on August 22, led by Bruce
  • Colorado River-100 on September 12, coordinated by Bruce
  • Neches River Rally on September 12, led by Fran
  • Rotary Regatta on September 29, coordinated by Mike
  • Turtle Bayou on October 1, led by Christy
  • Greens Bayou Regatta on October 3, coordinated by Bruce
  • Lake Houston Park on October 10, led by Bruce
• Bruce then previewed the following upcoming events:
  • Current River on October 14-19 – Kent
  • Dickinson Bayou Brawl on October 17 – Mike
  • Fall Colors on Old River on October 24 – Natalie
  • Armand Bayou and Horsepen Bayou on November 1 – Christy
  • Holiday Paddle on Lake Charlotte and Picnic at Cedar Park - Christy

Newsletter Editor’s Report:

• Natalie reported that Harmon is currently in Missouri to paddle the Current River, so in his absence she will report that the Newsletter Editor has quite a job receiving input from everyone and getting it posted into each monthly Newsletter. Natalie noted that she really appreciates what Harmon accomplishes every month. He is always soliciting Newsletter input from everyone. So, anyone who has input for a monthly Newsletter should get that input to Harmon as early as possible each month.

Vice Commodore’s Report:

• Natalie reported that Christy is also currently in Missouri to paddle the Current River. In Christy’s absence, Natalie reports that Christy has arranged for our speaker at the November General Membership Meeting to be Colleen Gilbert, the Executive Director of the Greens Bayou Coalition.
• Natalie reported that Christy and Alice Nissen are coordinating the December 5^th Canoe Club Holiday Paddle and Picnic. The paddling portion will be at Lake Charlotte from 10 am until noon. Joe was going to lead that paddle, but things have come up that are making him unavailable to do that. Tom is going to check his calendar regarding whether he can assist on that, and Natalie said that she can also probably be available to lead that if needed. Christy and Alice Nissen will be coordinating the picnic portion of this event at Cedar Hill Park, which will begin soon after the paddling event has ended.

 

Conservation Chairman’s Report: Tom first noted that he, Susan Eda, and several other folks taught introductory canoeing and Kayaking to Girl Scouts at Camp Robinwood the weekend of October 10-11. Tom then gave his October 14, 2026, Conservation Report, which includes the following events.

• Cleanup Day at Little White Oak Bayou/Woodland Park – October 10.
• Greens Bayou Wetland Webinar – October 14.
• KBR Kids Day on Buffalo Bayou – October 19.
• Greater Houston Environmental Summit – October 23-24.
• Free Outdoor Screening of Ben Masters’ Film, Deep in the Heart 2: Texas Rivers – October 24 at The Water Works in Buffalo Bayou Park , 105-B Sabine Street, beginning at 7:30 pm, with the event opening at 6:30 pm.
• Buffalo Bayou East Progress Report – October 27.
• Bayou Preservation Fall Symposium – October 28.
• White Oak Bayou Association Annual Meeting – November 4.
• 2026 Buffalo Bayou Partnership Gals – November 5.
• Native Plant Society Fall Symposium, Plants, Policy, and the Future of Texas Water – November 4-6.
• Bayou City Waterkeeper Celebration – November 7.
• Bayou Preservation’s 60^th Anniversary Open House – November 12.

Natalie next introduced the feature speaker for this meeting, Mr. Constantin Platon. Natalie noted that Constantin is a graduate of the Alexandru loan Cuza University in Romania, which is the oldest higher education institution in Romania. He also has a master’s degree from the University of Alabama.  He has been an exploration geologist, but since 2015 he has had his company, OAK Geosciences, LLC d.b.a. Kayaking Texas, where “geoscience meets adventure”. Without further ado, Natalie said that Constantin would be speaking to us on:

APOSTLE ISLAND

-JEWEL OF LAKE SUPERIOR-

THE TALE OF A SUMMER

KAYAK-CAMPING EXPEDITION

 

Constantine began by thanking everyone for attending his presentation and this meeting of the Houston Canoe Club. He greeted so many attendees by name, and for those in attendance who he had not previously met, he took a minute to learn their names and introduce himself. For those who have not previously met Constantine, you will experience that the next time he sees you, he will most likely remember you by name!

Constantin said that his co-speakers, who were also his teammates and partners for the Apostle Islands adventure, are his wife, Mirela, and his daughter, Ilinca. They explored the Apostle Islands during the summer of 2026. He said that the trip during 2026 lasted about three weeks. He said that he had also explored the Apostle Islands for about 2 weeks during the summer of 2025, when he took about 20 high school age students there as a part of a trip led by an organization called the Wilderness Inquiry. That 2025 trip gave him the experience to preview the various islands that comprise the Apostle Islands and then build on that experience to plan his family’s 2026 trip.

Constantin said that during his talk he would try to cover:

• The Why-Where-and When of exploring the Apostle Islands
• Orientation within Lake Superior
• Logistics
• Geography
• Navigation
• Geology
• Anthropology
• Ecology
• Conclusions

Constantin oriented everyone by pointing out that the Apostle Islands are located in the Western corner of Lake Superior.  The largest nearby town is Duluth, located in northeastern Minnesota on the Western tip of Lake Superior. He and his family took three days to make the drive from Houston to Duluth.

 

Constantin said that the Apostle Islands archipelago consists of 22 islands. Apostle Islands National Lakeshore includes only 21 of those islands. The 22^nd island, Madeline Island, is the largest and is inhabited and privately or commercially developed, so it is excluded from the National Lakeshore. He said that navigating at Apostle Islands is really fun, in particular if you are going by sea kayak. It is not recommended to go by canoe because the weather can change very rapidly. In particular, “wind is a pain in the ribs.” He mentioned that many outfitters in the area will not rent you boats or let you go with them until you have done a couple of hours of training that includes mandatory capsizes. By the rules of the park (the National Lakeshore) paddlers must wear a wet suit at a minimum or a dry suit, which is recommended.

Navigating the Apostle Islands is so popular because the distance between the islands is usually within two to three miles, on average, but there can be some crossings of 10 miles or more. Constantine notes that one of the most common places to start a journey among the islands is Little Sand Bay Campground. Another popular launch point is Bayfield.

He showed several different maps of the Islands, to include maps highlighting geography, navigation routes, geology, and anthropology.

 

•        

Constantin also showed many pictures of places and events encountered during his family’s expedition. Among the many very interesting parts of the presentation were descriptions given by each of Constantin, Mirela, and Ilinca of occurrences (sometimes exciting and sometimes disturbing) when kayaking into caves that border the shoreline, dealing with spending the majority of every day in a drysuit or a wetsuit, timing bathroom breaks as a result, fending off mosquitos, trying to cool off by floating outside your kayak in your drysuit, only to discover that there was a previously unknown small leak in the drysuit, dealing with sand that worked its way into your wetsuit, managing your communications with awareness of many areas having no cell service, managing your daily water supply, and loading your gear every morning to start the next day of the expedition.

Constantine also mentioned commercial motorboat tours that are available to folks who might not be adventurous or experienced enough to take a kayak-camping expedition.

Near the conclusion of his presentation Constantin passed around several books relevant to Apostle Islands, including Apostle Islands Water Trips, by John C. Frank (2^nd Ed.) and Blue Mind, by Wallace J. Nichols, which bears the interesting subtitle of “The Surprising Science That Shows How Being Near, In, On, or Under Water Can Make You Happier, Healthier, More Connected, and Better at What You Do.”

 

Constantine closed his amazing presentation by saying: “So again, it was a fun trip. I would like to go back. . . . I plan on going back in 2027 in the summer. Hopefully, someone would like to join me. I think we touched upon all of this, why, when, when, logistics, geography, navigation, geology, all of that. . . . Thank you so very much for your patience with me and I appreciate you joining us.”

At the conclusion of Constantin’s presentation, everyone applauded and gathered around him to express their appreciation. The Club will be presenting to Constantin a Houston Canoe Club mug as a speaker’s gift in recognition of his fine program.

 

Old and New Business.

• There was no additional old or new business to address, and Natalie adjourned the meeting at 8:52 pm.

Recorder,

Mike Grove