Program for february

Sculling in a Canoe

Tuesday, Feb. 1

Rod Gillilan has outfitted his canoe with a sculling frame. He uses this setup for daily exercise by rowing upriver on the Willamette. The fun part of the outing comes on the downriver run, where he uses a double paddle and treats the canoe as a kayak.

He will have his canoe rigged and ready for your inspection and may try to recruit some exercise companions. If you treat him nicely, he might even let you try the rig on the river.

The Register-Guard had an article some time back about Rod and his setup. Though he designed it for use in a canoe, it should be adaptable to an open cockpit kayak like a Folbot. Maybe enen a closed cockpit kayak? Come and see.

After Rod Gillilan's presentation we will get together to schedule trips for the next few months. If you have anywhere you'd like to go be sure to share with the rest of us. Remember, if you don't feel you can coorinate a trip doesn't mean you can't suggest it for someone else to coordinate.

DUES

DUES

DUES

are due, due, due.

If you haven’t paid your 2000 dues yet, you can do so at the February meeting or mail them to Phil Backman, 2570 Gay St.

Eugene, 97408. A zero above your name on the mailing label indicates you haven’t paid yet.

Dues are $15 for individual and $20 for family membership

The club policy is to continue sending the newsletter through March, but to remove names from the mailing list after that.

Intrepid, courageous club

members brave gale force winds

(sipping soup at Mo’s)

Saturday, 15 January dawned cold and very foggy. Such weather couldn't deter a hardy band of club members from getting out of bed, pulling on woolies and meeting for a weekend trip to explore some of the lakes on the coast south of Florence.

Norma and Jay Oulette, Phil Backman, Dick Cross and me, Omar, put in on Cleawox Lake at Honeyman State Park for a beautiful if chilly, paddle on a

lake that has much more to it than meets the eye. Cleawox has a surface area of 87 acres, much of it on an arm that stretches about a mile to the north of the main body of the lake. Surrounded by dunes on the west and

spruce forest to the east it is a very lovely lake.

As we returned to the boat ramp to take out the sky started to fall gently so we repaired to Mo's for lunch and discussion. As we ate the rain continued and the wind started to come up raising whitecaps on the Siuslaw River. We decided to deal with shelter.

The Oulette's had reserved a yurt and the rest of us were able to secure one for ourselves. We spent the rest of the afternoon being cozy and dry. After a late dinner we retired, awakening to blasts of wind howling around the sturdy yurt.

On our way to breakfast the campground host informed us of the severe wind warning in effect. Winds of 90 mph were expected around the headlands on Sunday. We folded our tents and boats and stole away, deciding that we were not foolhardy enough to paddle in those conditions.

It was my great pleasure to paddle in Dick's new boat, a beautiful yellow Old Town wood and canvas gem. I say new boat because it's only about 50 years old. His old boat is more than one hundred years old. Maybe some day Dick will be willing to do a show and tell and describe his work of restoring old wood and canvas boats.

I'm sorry we didn't get to paddle more but that leaves us with another trip to schedule to this great part of the state.

Omar

February Meeting Note

After Rod Gillilan's presentation we will get together to schedule trips for

the next few months. If you have anywhere you'd like to go be sure to share

with the rest of us. Remember, if you don't feel you can coorinate a trip

doesn't mean you can't suggest it for someone else to coordinate.

Omar

Program for march

One of two programs Lana is arranging but won’t tell anyone about,

or

A two projector slide show entitled "Where the Rain Goes : An Oregon Sampler", featuring photos by Chris Luneski. Though the program has a water theme, it is not devoted solely to paddling activities. Rather, it is a collection of photos from various areas of Oregon related in one way or another to our much maligned rain.

"John MacGregor (1825-1892)

A Thousand Miles in the Rob Roy Canoe on Rivers and Lakes of Europe,[1866,] (currently out of print, but some excerpts can be found on the web.) John MacGregor, through his extremely popular books and magazine articles from 1865 to 1892, practically invented the sport of canoeing (or kayaking,as we would call it today). One correspondent tells us MacGregor spent part of his youth in Halifax,Nova Scotia, where his father was stationed in the '30s in a fort. He may have picked up some canoeing experience there. He graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge, earned an M. A., and became a barrister-at-law in the Temple, London. He formed and became Captain of the Royal Canoe Club, England. He published accounts of several other canoe cruises, including one to Scandinavia and another to Jordan and Egypt."

(ed. note) - The Rob Roy is what we, in the U.S., would call a decked canoe and it is used with a double paddle.

An account of a trip down the Delaware River in 1890 in decked canoes can be found at http://eldred.ne.mediaone.net/jbo/del.htm.

It is a really cool article, well worth looking up. The graphic above is taken from the article.

FYI, the Brits call kayaks canoes and they call canoes Canadien canoes. Their confusion must be because of all that insipid tea they drink.

Not having had a meeting in January, our secretary took the totally unreasonable stand of refusing to submit the minutes for the meeting. In their place, I have taken a couple of bits and pieces from previous newsletters.

In this column we welcome contributions of your special flat or moving water paddling places. Daytrips/canoeing, extended trips, local trips or far away. If it is canoeable and interesting then share them with us. Here are a couple to get us started.

Beaver Creek - on the Oregon Coast between Waldport and Newport at Ona State Park. This stream runs inland for about three miles through a Heron rookery, along pasture land and is a scenic quiet paddle. The creek runs through the picnic area and provides an opportunity to start and finish at your picnic table.

Isle Royal National Park - Located in Lake Superior, this island wilderness provides many miles of waterways connected by short portages and lots of hiking trails. Lots of wildlife including the most studied wolves vs. moose in the world. You must take a ferry to the island and stay at designated camping areas unless you have a special

MINUTES(CONT.)

permit. The permit expands your camping options. Information will be available at our monthly April meeting on this unique national park. Robt.. Horner

Is It Something I Said?? Omar

Unless otherwise noted, all trips leave from River Runners Supply at 8:30 A.M. PFD required. Contact trip leader for more details. If you have signed up for a trip, let trip leader know if you have to cancel out.

Saturday, Feb. 12:

Kirk Pond or Fern Ridge Resevoir, depending on wind conditions. (Kirk Pond is just North and East of Fern Ridge Dam. There is an entry road just before the Long Tom River.) Where on Fern Ridge will be decided either by consensus or by fiat by the leader, depending on his mood.

Trip leader: Omar Nelson

Other trips may be scheduled, or the above modified, based on he discussion after the program at February’s meeting. Check the website for updates after the meeting.

We now have a bulletin board on the Web. It is for members only and password protected - name and pw will change early 2000 after the membership list is revised. Access is through Member's Page via the homepage or the Sitemap. In addition to posting a message you can also use this page to email

directly to our club account. This may come handy for folks who are limited to email from home but have access to a Web browser at other locations (like at work). Another feature of the password protected Member's page is the membership list. You can look up phone numbers and e-mail addresses (but no physical addresses).

Everyone else seems to be staying home trying to keep dry or going to the mountains trying to get cold. Keep tuned - something may happen.