HCC General Forum

Thanks for the reminder, Kent! I'm now "official". :-)

Kent,

I last renewed in February, which keeps me current into 2021.

I have been unable to find a way to renew this month, at the ACA website.

When I follow the links to renew, I get this message:

"Your membership is current through 4/30/2021."

Have you found a way to renew a second time, this year?

QUICK REMINDER: Last two days of $25 membership.

Please take the time to update your profile with your ACA number in the "Additional Membership Information" section.

Thank you, Kent

I would add that, despite the fact that we are very safety-conscious, things can happen, even on easy rivers. (I know!). You can't breathe water. As John said, one fatality, or even an injury, or a serious case of hypothermia, could kill the club, whether any member did anything reckless or not. The ACA insurance keeps the club going.

Hi Tim.

Joining ACA is optional. It is a good organization for paddlers and they do a lot on our behalf. You can learn more about them here.

If you're not an ACA member, a $5 fee is required to participate in HCC paddle events. That's to cover the insurance for the trip. If anyone can't afford it, I'll pay it for them.

There is a liability issue, as drownings do happen, and one lawsuit could end the club. HCC has never had a fatality, but you can certainly read about a lot of them in the news. ACA membership provides liability insurance to protect us against that. Participants are asked to sign the waiver as protection against such lawsuits, stating that they understand the risks and choose to participate anyway. Many high risk sports do this, such as skydiving, horse riding, and such. It's a necessary feature in our law-suit happy society.

Bicycling, running and photography don't seem to have state and national issues like rivers associated with them. Those are more local issues, where city & county governments are needed to build bike and hike trails out of traffic. Bicycling can certainly be dangerous, so I'm surprised that bike events don't require a signed liability waiver. Paddlers need clout at the national level to stop things like dams from being built on our rivers, which can flow through multiple states.

The $5 fee is just the cost of a cheeseburger. Trivial! It's a lot of work for the trip organizers who have to report to ACA how many paddlers participated, send the money, and more. Just ask Kent who has to deal with all that. Compared to the hassle for trip leaders, the signed waiver and $5 fee paid by the participants is quick and easy. Yeah, no one likes it, but it is necessary.

We could withdraw from ACA, but then we would lose stature by not being associated with them, and we would be negligent in not participating and doing our share for the preservation of paddlers rights nationwide.

• John Rich

I’m a new member here, so please excuse me if the answer to my question is obvious to all other members. Why are we pigeonholed into joining the American Canoe Association ($40 per year) in order to participate in our Houston Canoe Club ($25 per year) events? If this were a liability issue, then why are we asked to sign liability waivers?

I’m a member of bicycling, running and photography clubs, none of which directs us to join a Nat’l Club in order to participate in local events. I’m sure I am somehow overlooking the benefit of the $40 per year ACA membership?

Happy holidays to all,

Tim

If you've been on the fence about joining the ACA to avoid those pesky $5 activity fees at every event, do your calculating now because the tradeoff point is about to shift. Until Dec 30, ACA membership is $25 for a year (or the equivalent of 5 HCC event fees). After Dec 30 it goes up to $40 (the equivalent of 8 HCC event fees). So if you think you will be participating in 5 or more HCC events, please buy the membership now and save $15. Give yourself a Christmas gift.

NOTE: I tried to renew for a few years ahead, but there does not seem to be a way to do that, so don't waste your time.

Merry Christmas,

Kent