There was a very small turnout for this meeting, and as the election is traditionally held in the November meeting, we were forced to make some votes for people who didn't show, but had expressed possible interest in certain positions. So, as best as we were able to decide, this is how the vote was concluded:

Election Results:
President: Brian Sandman
Vice President: John Albright
Secretary: Jason Russo
Treasurer: Darrin Hines
Executive Board: Todd Schindler (pending his acceptance)
Jess Albright
David Ackerman (pending his acceptance)


In addition, we discussed the following agendas Monday night:

Pool Sessions:
Shawnee reserved for next Tuesday 7-9pm. John Albright to inquire as to future reservations at this time.

Ironman:
AW reports that they received only $1000 so far from the Ironman group.

Equipment:
Club motioned to purchase a shredder (catamaran style raft). Estimated cost to be around $1600. Final vote to be made in December meeting. Come if you want a voice in deciding this!

Dinner Party:
Discussions revolved around continuing the traditional boat raffle sponsored by CanoeKY. Darrin also mentioned that he would talk to Mark Singleton of AW about obtaining a dry-suit to raffle at the dinner party (possibly some costs involved, with the expectation that the raffle tickets would pay it off).

Raft Rules:
Darrin wished to propose new raft rules to encourage its use. Stated that he would put a post of his recommendations to be voted in December meeting.

More info: http://www.vikingcanoeclubforum.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3921

• Club picnic - Peak's Valley Campground near Murphy, NC (8/16 - 8/17).
Darrin says he posted the menu on a seperate post, which includes:
Keg from BBC
Country boil (shrimp, sausage)

• Ironman / 501c3
Ironman event is scheduled for Labor Day weekend. Todd S. spoke to Gary England and said he is willing to file free of charge. While $2250 was given to the club last year, the question was raised as whether to change the club's organizational structure to 501c3 to give Ironman what they need to donate to our club, or instead request that they donate money to AW / Elkhorn Acres or other charities. Todd explained that the Ironman contest may only last until 2011. Donna and myself raised question regarding additional responsibilities and obligations if we changed our status. Darrin will call Mark Singleton of AW regarding donation details. Darrin, Todd, etc. will research options further & post findings next Monday.

• Elkhorn Acres
AW has decided to revamp decision-making power from old Elkhorn Acres management group to a new structure where local clubs & land owner representatives manage property. We discussed how to choose our representatives to the new management group. No decision has been made yet.

• Discussed what organizations to donate club money to. Darrin to follow up.

• Swiftwater rescue class will be $115 per person. WIll by hosted by Mike Morrow & Thomas Fisher of BWA. 1st w/e June (7-8) @ Russel Fork or Nolichucky. 6 already committed, 4 more openings. Motion made for club to front $695 for initial costs.

• Spring clinic. Currently 2 students have signed up; still looking for more applications.

• Beargrass cleanup: Darrin wants to continue cleanup. Local flooding has contributed to a lot of trash getting dumped on the river.

• Elkhorn campground owner wants each boater to display club pass for each boater, rather than per car. Considering other options for parking.

• Ironman prefers to pay 503b organizations. Motion made to explore re-filing club under this status.


Viking rosters have been sent out and should arrive at your homes next week. The campground owner is getting really particular about the display of the passes, so even if you don't plan to park on the campground, display your passes on the shuttle vehicle parked on his campground so he won't give you problems. Apparently he feels like he's getting ripped off by non-club members, even though we are all probably assuming that the pass is for parking on his property, not for giving us the rights to the river, but whatever.

I think our president has considered discussing the parking option with some of the other landowners in the area, most notably the church down the street. Hopefully this will culminate in some options that are less stringent to our cause.

March 08 Minutes:

• $500 was paid for Plum gravel. It is decided that this matter is now closed.

• $1328 were received for boat raffle at the dinner party
$960 was taken in from membership dues
-$500 went to AW for the boat raffle
-$600 to CanoeKY for the boat raffle (I did not get the exact amount, if someone has that exact number, could you please update)
As I understand it, there were some extra expenses that actually put the club a little bit in the negative from this raffle.

• Forum speed issues
- Viking forum is shared with other sites on the same hardware, and this is thought to be causing the speed issues that people are observing.
- Greg Miller(?) offered to host forum on his personal server. He will talk with Spalding about feasibility. Motion made and agreed that if it is feasible, the site will be moved.

• Spring clinic
- May 30th weekend (Memorial Day weekend)
- Brian Sandman is the point person for this event. He will provide more details at a future time.

• Elkhorn Acres
Management issues have spurred certain officers in the BWA to try to establish more authority over Elkhorn Acres than what AW has provided. The current leadership appears to be working around the representative management that exists today, which gives a vote to each member who originally purchased shares in the property when it was auctioned off to American Whitewater. It is considered that the purpose of these actions is to streamline certain decided agendas, which may conflict with American Whitewater's intentions for the site, and this has caused concern among members in the club, as well as members in the Viking and Bardstown Boaters clubs.
Discussions on Monday proposed creating a chair committee to replace Elkhorn Acres Management Group to take care of management issues. The committee would include representatives from Vikings, BWA & Bardstown Boaters. As to the legal authority of this decision, or whether or not this would solve the management issues, is questionable.

• Swift water / First aid
Darrin & Kevin H. have joined the safety committee to help Todd S. in his efforts.

February 08 Minutes:

• Ironman
Last year's benefit check was $2500 ($900 for water safety; the rest from water and first aid booths). Todd S. said we should expect to be contacted again this year and may try to renegotiate award for water
safety portion.

• Gravel for Plum
Darrin will check on status of gravel and said he would take action on it this before next meeting.

• Club paying for camping
It was decided that we would not pay for camping for all trips. Instead, we would decide on a case by case basis. That being said, it was decided that the club would pay for Burnwood camping on July 4 trip as well as clinic & club trip camping.

• Motion was made, and second, to pay for Shawnee pool roll sessions.

• Swiftwater Rescue classes
Discussion will be tabled for a future meeting. Todd S. has not gotten any responses yet from those he contacted; will look into it more. Discussed possibly joining with BWA's efforts to schedule a SWR class.

• Elkhorn putin
Deferring to Nathan of KOC on course of action.

• Viking of the Year Award
Darrin made a suggestion to sponsor an award to club member who goes out of way to contribute to club. No decision yet as to what benefit would be given.

• Canoe Kentucky offered to sell us another boat again this year, as well as a package of other goods, that we could raffle off at the Dinner meeting.

• So far, the date of the dinner meeting has not changed and so should remain as January 19th.

• Richard contacted the owners of the Plum parking property. The club has elected to donate a check up to $500 to the owners of the property so they can purchase their own gravel.

• Darrin is looking for volunteers to help him contact more vendors to donate items for the club dinner auction. So far Jim Gunn and Liz have stepped up to the plate.

• Discussions regarding the next clinic are under way, and it's looking like we shall be making a return to the Upper New River in May, hopefully with camping at Burnwood.

more info

John Pilitteri motioned not to subsidize swift water rescue classes with money collected from the Ironman volunteer effort. No vote was made as of yet on what to do with the money. Discussions began on what to do about swift water rescue training for next year. Some proposed a joint effort to sponsor classes with the BWA club.

Donna Sloan received a thank you letter from the Multiple Myloma Foundation on behalf our the club's contribution it had made several months ago to Dan Molnar's race for Jerry Greenlee. However, it was proposed that the club refrain from regularly contributing donations to charities that are not related to whitewater, as this might alter its tax filing status and deviates from the club's main purpose. Instead, a suggestion was made that members who wish to continue generating donation money to causes outside our mission do so on their own or by creating a seperate committee, and not use club funds for such purposes.

There were several discussions concerning the issue that people are not coming to club meetings. Some of the reasons cited include the fact that meetings were long, dry, and not entertaining. Suggestions of what to do about this ranged from sponsoring events at meetings, restructuring the meetings, choosing a different day/time for meetings, and possibly finding a new location.

A suggestion was made to sponsor raffles and door prizes during club meetings as a way to bring a little fun, and to encourage people to attend. One suggestion was made by Adam Weckman to give the winner a free meal as a prize. Gary Reise suggested offering a small monetary prize. The table was left open and no vote was made as of yet.

Some members complained that the reading of the club minutes was unnecessary and lead to drawn out discussions that drove away members from participating. A motion was made by Gary Reise to eliminate the reading of the minutes, but was voted down in a 3-4 vote. Nonetheless, suggestions were made to shorten the meeting length and allow time for other activities to take place afterwards, such as hosting the LVM movie premiers to encourage more attendance.

Adam Weckman stated that the meeting time of Monday evenings was possibly problematic to many, and suggested the club move the meeting time to a different day of the week. He also offer to inquire about finding meeting space at Cliftons Pizza Pub, as several members thought that perhaps a change of location could encourage more participation, especially to a place where food was less expensive or of a different variety.

Finally, it was suggested that the club use some of its excess funds to sponsor more events, or use that funds to pay for facilities or other expenses for club trips. A vote was made to approve that the club pay for camping expenses at the next Russel Fork trip that is being lead by Harry Downing.

It was requested that I note for the record that the meeting ended at 8:11pm, after starting several minutes late.

After reviewing the October minutes we discussed the progress of purchasing a new duckie and equipment. It was reported that 2 skirts and 2 helmets were purchased at GAF. No duckie yet, but people are watching for what is available.

The ACA dues issue was discussed and it was decided that since we haven’t utilized the ACA liability insurance coverage option, the main benefit of membership, we will not renew our membership at this time. The annual membership dues have increased to $250 from $75.

Kevin Jones has set up some roll session dates for the Shawnee pool. The dates are 12/2, 12/16, 1/6, & 1/20. These are Saturday nights, 6-8pm, and the cost is $5members/$10 non-members. He is working on February dates also.
The Mary-T sessions will take place on Sunday mornings as the pool is available. There is no formal arrangement there and some Sundays may not be available due to scheduled meets. Watch the forum for weekly postings regarding the Mary-T pool.
Todd is also working on something for some evening sessions at the YMCA, or maybe that was the YWCA.

We were reminded of the fragile relationship we have with the local pools due to the water contamination potential from our boats. Our boats are being considered as a potential bacterial source that required the draining of the Mary-T pool. Please be sure to remove your float bags before attending any indoor pool roll session and clean your boat. In addition, due to the recent problem at Mary-T, it is recommended that we disinfect the boat with a bleach solution. You know that funky looking stuff that’s trapped in the back of your boat by the float bags. Apparently it’s as bad as it looks.

The January dinner meeting has been scheduled for 1/27. The Middleton women’s club isn’t a lock so more info will follow on the location.

All the nominations for officer positions were voted into office. They are as follows:

President: Angella Anderson
Vice President: Kevin Hisel
Treasurer: Donna Sloan
Secretary: Jason Russo

Executive Committee:
Dave Ackerman
Todd Schindler
Charlie Sloan

Congratulations and Thank you to all the above.

Greg will be hosting the annual trip planning meeting again in February. Details to follow. Editorial note: This meeting has been the backbone of our success in scheduling paddling trips that give people, especially newer paddlers, the opportunity to get together with others. Please consider giving back some of your time next year to pass along the help that is required to make these trips a reality.

A couple of news members Mike Brady and Jen Wilson attended the meeting. Welcome to the club!

$750 was set aside to purchase a new club Duckie and paddle. Soon after another $250 was also released to be used in purchasing 1 small helmet, 1 medium helmet, 1 small skirt, 1 medium skirt and a new pillow for the old duckie.

It was also recommended that the old duckie have some regular maintenance done on it.

A decision to renew our ACA membership for $250 was pushed until next the meeting so the club could get more information about how those dues actually benefit the ACA and the Vikings.

Donna reported that the club balance is at $5115.

Spalding Hurst talked about the Bardstown Whitewater Park, showed some materials on the park and motioned that $500 of the club funds go towards a site assessment by the McLaughlin Whitewater Group. The motioned was granted. If a site assessment in Bardstown does not come to fruition, the money shall be returned to the club.

Nominations for club officials were made and are as follows:

President: Angella Anderson
Vice President: Kevin Hisel
Treasurer: Donna Sloan
Secretary: Jason Russo

We had some trip reports from the Gauley and the weekend of the storms.

Donna reported that the Club funds are the same at $4318. There was some discussion about a couple of checks being written and some refunds that will affect the balance but basically we’re in the $4300 range.

We spent most of the meeting discussing equipment and that centered on the purchase of a new ducky. There was some confusion about replacing the current ducky but the intent was to add a smaller one. It was decided that we should have a kit for each of the three inflatable pieces the Club will own. The kit should include an electric and hand pump, dry bag, and patch kit. Greg reported that Paul Webb has volunteered to look for a ducky and paddle at GAF. There was some discussion about the difference in cost of the ducks. The AIRE brand is pretty expensive while there are other brands now on the market that are considerably cheaper. Angela reported that she has been researching them recently and will share her information with Paul before a purchase is made. No dollar amount was authorized. It is anticipated that we will do that next month.

Kevin Jones reported that the Clubs ACA membership expired in June and that renewal fees have increased considerably from $75 to $250. The primary benefit of ACA membership is insurance coverage. No decision was made to renew this membership.

Greg reminded us that with elections in November, officer nominations should begin at the next meeting. The positions to elect are President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasure. In addition three executive committee positions need to be filled.
We heard that 12 people participated in the Cumberland (below the Falls) trip and the usual action was witnessed at Center Rock and Screaming Right hand Turn. I won’t mention any names.

I reported on the “Surfathon” the Club raft demonstrated on the Ocoee Labor Day including the spectacular carnage at Hell Hole. The Club raft generated another $100 of income that weekend.

By: John Pilitari



No minutes were taken at the July meeting so there was no review of last month’s minutes.

Greg opened business with a motion to release the funds set aside, last year, for the Falls camera purchase. A vote was taken and it was decided to release the funds. Following the vote, a lengthy discussion ensued with several members expressing a strong interest in keeping the Falls camera fund intact. A motion was made to maintain this fund for another 30 days. The motion was voted down.

Donna reported that the Club has a current cash balance of $4318.73. Greg presented a budget/spending recap from last year that showed the Club with an income of approximately $4200 and expenditures of $4369.

INCOME (est.)
Members 75
Dues $20
Total Dues $1,500

Clinic $1,200
Misc. Income $1,500

TOTAL INCOME $4,200


EXPENSES (est.)
Deam Lake Family Day $38
OAR Picnic Camping $170
Picnic supplies $104
Fiends of Gauley $300
Postage $78
P.O. Box $76
Stickers $260
American Whitewater $75
Web Hosting Fee $227
Dinner Meeting $70
Elkhorn Acres $501
Flowers $40
Elkhorn Campground $200
Clinic camping $482
Clinic food $227
Picnic camping and supplies $505
KY State Treasurer $4
T-Shirts $570
Club Patches $238
Raft Supplies $204

TOTAL EXPENSES $4,369

There was some discussion regarding last year’s donations to Elkhorn Acres and Friends of Gauley. It wasn’t determined what either organization’s needs might be this year; hence no motions were made regarding donations. The remainder of the expense discussion focused on equipment purchases. There was a proposal to purchase another ducky (a smaller, more maneuverable one) as well as additional helmets and spray skirts. The focus for helmets and skirts seems to leaning toward a need for smaller sizes. Kevin will inventory the equipment to determine what we actually have. He does not have the Club skirts and didn’t know who had them, so If you have the skirts please contact Kevin. It was suggested that the Club purchase this equipment “used” at GAF. Also someone suggested that we may be able to find the smaller sized skirts at Sierra Trading Post for a very reasonable price. It is anticipated that a purchase decision will be made next month, after an equipment inventory is done.

Scott reported that several Vikings attended the Swift Water Rescue class that CHOTA conducted on the Ocoee. It sounds like it was a very hands-on class with people intentionally swimming the hole at Double Suck.

Any finally, Larry reported that his Cod dinner was his first disappointing meal at KTs.

more info