Annual Cape Canoe Club Meeting

The club had its annual meeting on Monday 21st July at the http://www.CapeClearHostel.com/ in South Harbour.

Annual Camping Trip
Dates: The camping trip will take place on Tuesday 12th August with the proviso that if the weather is bad on Tuesday the trip will be moved to Wednesday 13th.

Destination: The destination is hoped to be the Middle Calf Island.

Cost: €12 per person, adult or junior.

Restrictions: Children must be accompanied by a parent or an adult assuming resposibility for them.

Health & Safety - Checking Health & Safety Status at Departure:
Life Jacket must be worn. Wet weather gear must be brought. Each individual is responsible for bringing their own tent, food, & water. Each individual is responsible for ensuring that they have a berth in a tent.

An Ri-chie will be checking to make sure that each person has the required equipment as they clamber aboard the Karycraft. Please note: you will not be allowed to go if you do not have the required gear. If you don't have your own lifejacket or wet weather gear or tent, then please tell us in good time because we can always help.

Training: Weekly gathering for canoe practice and training in the South Harbour, I believe on Friday.

Canoe Club Subscriptions
Prices for 2008/9 have been set at:
€10 per child
€20 per adult
€60 maximum per family.

Topaz Dinghy
An exciting new arrival which needs to be treated with care and respect. Plans are afoot to store it near the lake and, perhaps, to move some of the boulders at the margin of the lake to make it easier to land.

Booking Topaz Time: Idividual users need to communicate with each other to agree the best time to use the dinghy.

Topaz Costs: We need to create a fund specifically for the maintenance and repair of the Topaz. We have agreed that €40 per family would be fair.

Topaz Restrictions: At least one senior user, over 16 years of age, with a minimum of two weeks suitable experience, must be in control of the session.


Insurance, Health & Safety
It is important to note that, essentially, the Canoe Club is actually and simply a collection of families working together to create facilities for the individuals of the families to use. The canoe club does not assume any responsibility for any of the users of the equipment and it is agreed by all the members that children must always be in the care of their own parents or another adult who has specifically agreed to assume responsibility for those children.
The canoe club does not have insurance and it is agreed by all members that it is up to individual members to make their own minds up on this issue.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Littering on the Beautiful Cape
On my walk back from the lake to CDM's this week I picked up a Coke can and filled a small bag with chocolate and sweet wrappers, with a similar result on the road from the South to the North Harbour.Well, one thing I know for sure, it is not any of us islanders doing the littering. How do I know? The appearance of litter coincides with the mass arrival of children to the island.The good thing here is that it was a relatively small amount of litter, which points to a startling fact - the majority of children do not litter and have a healthy respect for nature; the ones that do litter make up a very small minority; hanging on to this positive thought gives me hope for the future.