The Paddler Tattler, January 1, 2023

TVCC wishes each of you a fun-filled New Year with many good times on your favorite rivers and lakes with your paddling friends!

President Dian Lawhon Gives State of the Club Message

About 30 club members attended the annual TVCC Holiday Party. At the party President Dian Lawhon presented a summary of clubs activities and accomplishments in 2022. She also provides a look forward to some club plans for 2023 including reaching out to members for their input. This message was sent out in mid December as a special edition newsletter. A link to this message is provided below.

January Calendar of Events
(and Early February)

TVCC Board Meeting, Tuesday, January 10, 6p
Club members may attend.
Winter Roll Practice #7, Tuesday, January 10, 8p
Tellico River- Ledges and Middle, Class III+ , Saturday, January 14
Can do Ledges, or Middle, or both.
Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge. Dayton, TN, Sandhill Cranes , Saturday, Jan 14, noon
Winter Roll Practice #8 , Tuesday, January 17, 8p
Winter Roll Practice #9 , Tuesday, January 24, 8p
Locust Fork, Class II+/III , Saturday, January 28
Winter Roll Practice #10 , Tuesday, January 31, 8p
Winter Roll Practice #11 , Tuesday, February 7, 8p

Additional events may be added after this newsletter publishes.

Go here to register for all TVCC events
https://tvccpaddler.app.neoncrm.com/np/clients/tvccpaddler/eventList.jsp

**President Dian Lawhon on the State of the Club**

  Read What This Means For You. Presented at the December club holiday party and then published to all members December 12 as a special newsletter edition.
Her message:
“This year TVCC turned 55, claimed about 680 members, and had a very successful year with more flatwater and whitewater trips plus more training. We also found ourselves with a large excess in our bank account. This was the result of reduced spending over the past couple of years due to COVID and record auction proceeds at paddle school 2022. We have a plan to give that money back to the club. ……..
Read the rest of the message at this link.
https://mailchi.mp/tvccpaddler.com/message-from-tvcc-president-state-of-the-club?e=[UNIQID]

Be a part of the committee that reviews suggestions and makes recommendations on the best way to give back to the club. Contact Dian at president@tvccpaddler.com to volunteer for this important job.

TVCC Is Taking Certified Instructor Training Applications In February

Winter Roll Practice

by John Hubbard

Learn how to roll your kayak or canoe. We have some of the best folks teaching and helping members learn to roll, including Jim Fortune who has taught countless TVCC members to roll a kayak since the mid 1990’s. Come meet TVCC members while learning and practicing your skills. .
There are two basic kayak rolls — the C-to-C roll and the Sweep roll. Every kayaker I know usually does some hybrid blend of these two basic rolls. Then there are some more arcane rolls like the Greenland kayak roll. No doubt there are more I haven’t heard of. You can learn what you are supposed to do to roll a kayak by watching videos. But nothing beats an instructor to help you learn, or to troubleshoot a roll that is not bombproof.
There are hundreds of YouTube videos on rolling a kayak. Watch at least 3 or 4 of them as each person will teach the kayak roll a little bit different. Three classic DVD’s that teach the kayak roll that I have in my library are: 1) Grace Under Pressure (the C-to-C roll, 1992), The Kayak Roll (sweep roll, 2003), and EJ’s Rolling and Bracing (EJ’s updated C-to-C roll, about 2000). I do a version of the sweep roll that I learned is called a screw roll. But no matter what version works for you, they all must follow this rule: the thighs (with hips) roll the boat and the head cooperates.

by John Hubbard, photos by Steve Lamb and Uwe Zitzow

About 30 paddling well-wishers enjoyed an evening of holiday fun at Reflection Riding, complete with campfire and gift exchange. Many thanks to Beth Johnson, Social Chair, for organizing the party and providing the turkey, ham, drinks, as well as decorations and candy on the tables. We party-goers brought lots of delicious sides and desserts. Thank you all.
As can be seen by two of the pictures, TVCC was pleased to be able to make a nice grant donation of $1000 to Darlene Carlson, Executive Director, Chattanooga Audubon Society. TVCC has adopted the section of the South Chickamauga Creek that goes through their Nature Sanctuary and now helps twice a year to clean up that section of the creek and its shoreline.
Kathy Cusick, club Secretary for the past three years, was presented the “Golden Paddle Award” for her service to TVCC. BG Smith designed and made one for all departing board members.
President Dian talked about the accomplishments of the club this past year and some of the initiatives and continuing activities the club and its Officers are planning for the coming year.
All enjoyed the time together and the food shared. A gift exchange was held and a photo above shows Katie LaRue selecting her gift from many options. Stacy Stone was super excited with her gift, a Greenland paddle. Maybe she will learn the Greenland kayak roll and then teach the rest of us.
At the party I talked to Kristin and Marcus Palsey who shared these thoughts on TVCC: “TVCC has done an outstanding job with the various trips offered this year as well as in fundraising for the club. The club has provided us a venue to meet many new friends, learn to become better paddlers (through Paddle School), and allowed us to discover the sundry paddling opportunities in our region. We are grateful for all of the hard work that leads to such a successful program!”
See all the pictures at this link:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1RXVdJtwEcww7msxvkTYF-pudqex9b0RK?usp=sharing

The Founding of TVCC In 1967 Story — Ch 5, 6

Jack Wright’s fifth chapter talks about TVCC’s early successes conducting paddling safety courses. Imagine in 1970 having over 100 persons attend the 3rd annual course held in partnership with TSRA. Learn why this cartoon was used at the classes. The 6th chapter talks about paddling the ‘Mighty Hiwassee’, both the Lower and the Upper (Gorge) sections. Read about the canoes used and the skills they had (or didn’t have) back then. Use this link, read pages 10 to 13.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aCIXZY677n1Akddyr-E2R9J_kMnFUayd/view?usp=sharing

An Oldie But Goodie TVCC Newsletter

by John Hubbard

We so have it made with today’s paddling equipment. This newsletter has an article on making your own sprayskirt and another on making your own throw bag. Read also the schedule of paddling trips in 1982 that TVCC was leading back then. How many of them have you paddled? Use this link to the newsletter:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/15K2CoSqbUqTwEU3INvsFY4KDtY0k3Aqc/view?usp=sharing

Is you want to see every past newsletter in our library, browse at this link:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B4IaUSF3UKziZlBpVlM3MTlSVDI1MWxpMDdTV1BLZw?resourcekey=0-bcL8QmHUuL4dqvtzuD2-ag&usp=sharing

One More Thing’ Says John

By John Hubbard, newsletter editor
Here are some interesting items I received over the last month, or learned over my many years:.
1.  Storage tip for Aquaseal, E6000 and similar urethane glues — If you don’t use these glues very often, you may find the tip plugged with hardened glue. Squeeze the glue until the tip is full and replace the cap.  Then store the tube in your freezer in a ziplock bag. Even a year later the glue still flows, after warming back to room temperature. Speed the warm-up by putting the tube in your pants pocket or glass of warm water.
2.  Paddlesports Magazine reports paddling deaths remain high in 2021 according to Coast Guard data. The U.S. Coast Guard data shows 160 death from kayaking, canoeing, and SUP accidents in 2021 compared to 164 deaths in 2020. Of the 658 total boating accident deaths in 2021, kayaks are listed as the vessel type with the second highest fatalities (15 percent), behind open motorboats (44 percent). Where cause of death was known, 81 percent of fatal boating accident victims drowned. Of those victims with reported life jacket usage, 83 percent were not wearing a life jacket. Where the primary cause was known, alcohol use was listed as the leading factor in 16 percent of deaths. To reduce death on the water the article gives these six recommendations: 1) get educated, take a paddling safety course (TVCC’s highest priority is safety in all our activities), 2) wear a life jacket (a must requirement for all TVCC on water activities), 3) dress for the water temperature, not air temperature, 4) check the weather (and look at the sky), 5) know the local water hazards, and 6) paddle sober and smart. Read the full article and the full 2021 boating accident data report here:  https://tinyurl.com/2021-paddlesports-accidents
3. American Whitewater’s whitewater accident and fatality database has been maintained since 1972. Read about this database and how to pull data from it by many criteria including year, location, river difficulty and flow, and boat type here. https://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/Accident/view/
4.  Whitewater park coming to Danville, VA according to the Dec 20 email from ACA. It will be designed by Scott Shipley, 1996 Olympic athlete, and his company S20 Designs and Engineering. Read the local newspaper story here. https://www.chathamstartribune.com/news/article_55376728-2f93-11ed-9a10-3f504fa35404.html
4.  American Whitewater BETA December email says
The 2023 AW Calendar is ready to buy. Order here. https://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/Article/view/article_id/tMeakYi9wxoT0PanbVoVe/
And see the 2023 WW release schedule here.
https://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/Article/view/article_id/pwNCRxMLSciXdw2yYMvrk/

Thanks To All Our 2022 TVCC Sponsors
They Help Make Our Programs Possible!

Ocoee Level

Adventures Unlimited https://adventuresunlimited.net/

Outdoor Chattanooga https://outdoorchattanooga.com/

Apex Kayaks https://apexwatercraft.com/apex-party/

Dagger Kayaks https://www.dagger.com/us/

Liquid Logic Kayaks https://liquidlogickayaks.com/

Kayak Outfitting Erik Zitzow https://kayakoutfitting.com/

Rock Creek Outfitters https://www.facebook.com/rockcreekoutfitters/

Ironman Triathlon https://www.ironman.com/im-chattanooga

Scenic City Law https://sceniccitylaw.com/

Performance Designs https://www.pd-performancedesigns.com/