Presidential Ramblings … by Patricia Fontova

Well, PaddleFest 2007 is just a couple of short weeks away and I want give you some more details about it, but before I do that, it’s that time of year again - time to nominate officers for the next year. We’ve come up with some names to fill some positions but we still have a few empty places - including president. If you’d like to be more involved in the club, why not think about being a Board member (or even president)? We really NEED YOU!! Contact us soon. We need to publish the slate by mid October! Patricia at pfontova@yahoo.com or Mimi at aquaventures98@yahoo.com

PaddleFest 2007!!

Pictures from PaddleFest 2006

Since this year we will be so close to Cane Bayou, we have scheduled 2 trips, both Saturday and Sunday, on this favorite waterway. The one Saturday morning will coincide with the National Beach Clean Up. Anyone wishing to help with the clean up will be given official trash bags and maybe t-shirts (it depends how many they give us). The paddle on Sunday morning will be a very early one so we can catch the sunrise out on the lake. I’ve always wanted to do this and since we are so close I think I’ll finally get the chance. Sunrise is at 6:45 AM so I think it shouldn’t be too hard to get up early.

On Saturday morning we will have some members of BCKFC (Bayou Coast Kayak Fishing Club) giving a presentation on kayak and canoe fishing, and in the afternoon we will have introductory kayak class and an introduction to freestyle canoeing class. Those of you that have wanted to find out more about freestyle canoeing (i.e. La Louisiana Freestyle Symposium - La Lou) can find out more and get a feel for it here.

Woody will have all his tools and will be ready to help anyone with rigging their boat. Last year he helped me add foot braces to my canoe and a place to put a bungee cord to hold my painters in place. This year I’ll use him again to install foot braces on my new kayak. And he can help you rig your boat for fishing!

This year we will have a very interesting presentation on Wilderness survival. The presenter, retired Sergeant Major David Twist, was born on a Seminole reservation in the Florida Everglades. He was raised in an orphanage, adopted at age 13 and joined the army at age 19. As an army ranger and Green Beret, he was assigned to three tours in the jungles of Viet Nam on a mission to retrieve POWs. He also spent time as a POW, escaping and using his many survival skills, which he will pass on to PaddleFest participants. Dave’s team is often called out to assist the police, Wildlife and Fisheries and other law enforcement groups.

In addition to these scheduled activities, there are other things you can do on your own. The Tammany Trace (a bike trail from Covington to Slidell) passes right by the site, so don’t forget your bike!

The price of admission includes several meals and sleeping in the bunkhouse. If you plan on staying in the bunkhouse, bring bedding, pillow, and towels. Each bunkhouse has bathroom facilities including hot showers.

If you still have questions, or want to help – call me at 504-577-9342 or email pfontova@yahoo.com or visit the Paddlefest page. See you there!!

Thunder

This last Saturday and Sunday 17 of us paddled the Bogue Chitto River (see pictures on page 5). When we were just about to set up camp it started to rain and continued to do so for over 2 hours. I had just started to put up the tent so stuffed it back in the dry bag and sat with the rainfly draped over me. During the storm I read a book, talked on the phone and tried to take a nap. Others passed the time in their own way. Carol said she conjugated Spanish verbs!

What was a bit frightening was the thunder and lightning. I counted the seconds between the flash and the rumble and it got down to just a few. Today I noticed an article about lightning and was sure glad I had not read it before but it does have some useful information - http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/09/03/hm.lightning.safety/index.html