Two BCC trips on tap for Memorial Day weekend. Bert and Sheila George heading to the Class II Hiwassee River in Reliance, TN, and Lynn and Andy taking a group to the Chattooga along the Georgia/South Carolina line. Check “trips” for additional details.
Paddling 101 and Float the Lazy River were both a huge success. Click the Classes tab to see all the upcoming paddling classes.
We had a great day on the Locust Fork River
Shep points out an eddy line.
Mark and Helen of the BCC will be on the midday show on NBC13 today to talk more about boating culture in Alabama. This comes on the heals of a fantastic spread on Birmingham magazine. You can get to the article at the link below but I highly recommend picking up the magazine as it is visually stunning.
Birmingham Magazine – A River Runs Through Them
The Birmingham Canoe Club welcomed Kent Ford (http://www.performancevideo.com/kent_ford), inductee into the International Whitewater Hall of Fame, to Birmingham in May for a Kayak Instructor Certification Workshop. The 40-hour workshop was conducted mostly on the Mulberry River and is an intense session to train and test those that are interested in obtaining their ACA (http://www.americancanoe.org/) Instructor Certification. In this particular class there was a certification for becoming a level 3 or level 4 whitewater kayak instructor. The Club is pleased to welcome the following new instructors into its ranks:
Level 4: Bill Lawrence, Paul Edmundson, Judy Ranelli, Mark Garner, Lynn Rasmussen, Bill Dement.
Level 3: Joy Carter, Vander Hil
Helen Todd earned re-certification at Level 4
The BCC’s first class of 2012 is coming up April 14. This is a basic, beginning class, “Paddling 101″. Held near the swimming beach at Oak Mountain State Park, this class is a great introduction to paddling. We’ll have all manner of kayaks, canoes and other assorted float-ables for students to try out. Contact Joy Carter to register for this one-day, get-your-feet-wet (Ha!) class. See the full listing in the “trips” section of the website.
We are in search of trip leaders for BCC trips. We have a couple of traditional trips that currently are on the schedule but don’t have a designated trip leader. We’re hoping somebody will step up to take on that role. Also, if you’d like to lead of trip of your own designing, please contact me and I’ll help you with the process.
Thanks to Dr. Lisa Buck for stepping up to lead the Cahaba Lily Trip on May 12 and Debbie Swann for volunteering to handle the Old Timer’s Trip on June 23/24.
Trip leader really means you coordinate the logistics of the trip….time, meeting place, reservations if needed. You don’t have to be the best paddler in the bunch to lead a trip, you simply need to be competent on that river, and know where the put-in and take-out is! Ok, perhaps it’s a bit more complicated, but not much. So, if you like paddling, and wish there were more trips to go on, consider taking the lead on one of these. It’s fun and easy.
We would like to thank Steve Bernhard and his family for their generous donation of four kayaks to the club. These boats will be used by students in our training classes and will help with our need to provide these students with quality equipment. Not shown in this photo is another Dagger GTX. Thanks Steve!
the mulberry fork canoe and kayak races are in full swing.come out to watch and be inspired by more than eighty athletes as they compete in one of the toughest courses to date on the mulberry.
There’s plenty happening so come on out. The down stream races and boater cross is happening this afternoon starting at 2:00. Spirits are high and the weather is great.
The Mulberry fork races have had their schedule updated due to high water per race officials Tony Dilberto’s email:
Hello all:
Due to high water, we will be only doing the downriver and boatercross today. All slalom classes will run tomorrow (Sunday). Continue reading