This edition of GatorTales is pretty big - and it was hard to keep it to this size. A lot has been going on and a lot of events are scheduled in the near future.

Bill Hager was finally able to get someone to teach us a Wilderness First Aid Course. It will be held on April 3 and 4 at the regular meeting place in Hammond.

The second annual BHPC Crawfish Boil will be on April 24 at my house - same as last year. Please let me know as soon as you can if you will be attending. Stephen would like a head count early on so he can make sure to have enough of those “select” crawfish.

The Bayou Haystackers’ Demo Day is scheduled for May1st at Baton Rouge Beach (University Lakes). This event is open to the public so tell your friends about it. (There is a small fee for non-members.) This is a great time to try out boats. And if you’ve been thinking about a new boat but aren’t sure what kind, come on out and try a few.

James Proctor is leading quite a few trips in the Atchafalaya Basin during the next several weeks. These are “proofing trails” paddles. You’ll be helping to check the trails while having a good time. (These are not official BHPC trips.)

On June 5 and 6 the City of Jeanerette is sponsoring a paddle on Bayou Teche. It will be something similar to the Back to the Bayou paddle on Bayou Lafourche but it is only a 2 day paddle. This is their first year so they can use a lot of support.

And then of course there are all the regular club trips that are scheduled - Bogue Chitto, Bayou LaBranche, Big Thicket in Texas, Blind River, Cane Bayou, Bayou Chinchuba, Upper Flats, Bayou Barbary, Black Creek…. And the ever popular Self Rescue Clinic and the soon to be popular Bay St. Louis Outing.

And one more thing - the guest fee has gone up to $6.00 (ACA fees went up).

See you on the water!

-Pat

ROAD TRIP . . . . .

Tickfaw River

The Group that went on the Tickfaw: Hulin, Ruby, Joyce, Bill, Steve, Tom, Martina, Bev, Bill H (in back of Bev), Nancy, Darryl, Scott and Ann in the boat

Bev and Ann

Paddling on the Tickfaw

The year is off to a jump start. We have already had a General Membership Meeting and an Executive Committee Meeting. Demo Day was left off the trip calendar and has been added for May 1 at the Baton Rouge Beach. Mimi Clifton is chairing the committee and could use your help. I have been working on eliminating direct billing by the American Canoe Assn. (ACA) to our membership. Should you receive a bill from the ACA for regular membership dues, please do not remit to the ACA. Please renew your membership with BHPC by filling out an application and mailing it to BHPC along with your check. BHPC will forward your dues to the ACA.

BHPC has a past history of river clean up, and the Ex-Com has been looking to continue this tradition. A great paddle is the Tickfaw by Tickfaw State Park, and the river could use some clean up. We are investigating the river as a possible Adopt-A-River candidate. Jed Pitre is heading up a committee to review and update the current By-Laws. Bill Hager has the Wilderness First Aid course arrangements worked out for April 3 & 4. Jed Pitre has offered his expertise in testing water quality and how to figure out what those website readings mean. Hoyt Sayler has volunteered to be Chairman of the Water Quality Sub-Committee under Environment Committee Chair, Jed Pitre. Hoyt will be helping Jed and Scott Peterson with finding sources of data on some rivers, gathering the data, and maintaining a list of Organizations involved with water quality and their contacts. Woody Wood has volunteered to be Chairman of the Safety Sub-Committee under Education Committee Chair, Bill Hager. Woody will be helping to assess events for safe practices and helping with safety education. Jeanne de la Houssaye has volunteered to help me with Publicity.

Thanks to everyone who has led a trip so far this year. Without our trip leaders, it would be very difficult for newcomers to have opportunities to discover our beautiful waterways. BHPC depends on its volunteers. You are very important to the life of this organization. We hope that many of our experienced leaders, as well as potential new leaders, will join us. Love loading up the vehicle and hitting the road!

Trip Leader Training on 2/7/04 helped me recall some things that I had not thought of in a while. On a trip use the “Rule of Three.” That means there should be at least three boats on every trip. Should something happen, then there is one boat to stay with the injured boat and one boat to go for help. A good rule of thumb is to have one support boat for every five or six boats. Distance between boats on a trip is best if the person can see the boat in front of them and the boat in the back of them. This helps the group stay together and not get too spread apart. My personal favorite is to run the shuttle immediately after getting off the water. Let the other members of the group take care of your equipment while you bring the other shuttle drivers to their vehicles. It is no fun to be wet and cold and have to wait while everyone else changes clothes, puts up their gear, puts up their boats, socializes, then decides to bring you to your vehicle.

I look forward to seeing you at the General Membership Meeting in March with our special guest, Mark Molina! ROAD TRIP! Let’s go!