July 15th River Meeting

ICO River Meeting

15 July 2011

Teresa's Living Room

 

Present: Harold, Vinny, Bill, Caroline, Natasha, Shad, Teresa, Juan (via phone)

 

Trip Reports

 

1. KYP - Kings, TL Jon W

Saturday it rained, some kids got cold, stern frames, no swimmers

Sunday, 40% chance of lightning, did Project LifeRaft instead of rafting

hiked down to powerhouse, talked about watersheds, 6 of 8 games

2. 7 Tepees - SFA, TL Bill

Trip for mentors & kids in afterschool program in Mission

Natasha a fabulous ATL, big help to TL

5 stern frames, 1 oar boat

$40 for parking at Skunk Hollow, camped at Nugget

5500 cfs on upper stretch

put-in at 10 am, ate lunch at Lotus

Great group,

 

3. SSCF - Oakland Hi

5000 cfs, gorge

put on a bit late

great group, not like last year

 

4. ESA - SFA, TL Kevin

Originally planned to do Kings

couldn't get guides for Monday, so shifted trip dates to Sat-Sun

Used some personal gear

ran gorge both days

Matt's private boat flipped, with O-high student (Panha's girlfriend)

Went to Folsom Dam, parked on boundary of State Prison, got escorted out

 

5. Hanna Boys - EFC, TL Jon (Chris ATL)

Couldn't find camping at usual spot, camped at Turtle Rock

20 miles Saturday, didn't go Sunday, did Project LifeRaft Sunday morn

 

 

BLM Permit

- Miscommunication about who sends in permits

- Vinny sent in El Dorado Institutional Permit, hasn't heard back yet

- Bill sent in BLM institutional permit, check cashed, hasn't received paperwork back yet

- Need to find out if we need BLM permits for each river (Trinity, Merced, Tuolumne, Upper Sac)

- Bill will take over Permits for ICO

- Need to send thank you to Danny  for managing & paying for permits for several years

 

Finance

- Mary needed to get $4000 from SCF to pay for trips

usually we don't have trip expenses

 

Training

- Do we need training evaluation: Basic Training process, Beyond Basics

 

Fundraising

17-18 September, date set

AO "certified" guides

Bill & Mary will be camp hosts at Nugget (still waiting to hear back from Bill for reservation)

 

To get signed off, spend a full day in the client boat with a AO guide that can certify them

Right now, Mel, Jared, Anthony, Chris are AO certified guides

If you want to be certified, contact Jared for details

 

 

Bill: 2 trips needed SC incident reports, can the general public read the trip reports?

Answer, no.

 

 

Andrea's donating all her rafting gear to ICO

- 3 wetsuit, S or XS

- neoprene socks

- rafting toys

Natasha will inventory and add to the shed

Margery will send a thank you card

 

Bart Sr. can buy wetsuits for $10 at the flea market, booties for $5

- will talk to Arturo, Equipment Mgr, about #s & sizes needed

 

Recommend that we rinse wetsuits in the river, turn inside out, dry in shed

Ask people to avoid peeing in wetsuit

 

Right now, only 3 regular guide sticks, 2 extra long guide sticks

One thwart bag bag is busted

Any interest in trading in 14' boats for 13's?

 

Helmets?

Bill Rangel of Adventure Connection started requiring helmets for all his trips

Last weekend, most groups had helmets, but ICO did not

If one person in a boat wears it, then everyone in the boat does

The trend is more toward helmets

 

Dealing with difficult groups - what helps?

- Listening skills.  Calls for quiet, and for lunch (time to listen)

  It takes a while to figure out who has issues.  90% of the time, they're scared & acting out.

By lunch, you have a good feel for what's going on with your boat.  If things aren't working, the TL can swap people around.

 

1) eg. kid got clocked & lost trust for the guide, wouldn't cooperate, acted out in the middle of big rapid

2) one G guide yelled at the kids, it didn't work.  Another G guide made friends with them on the first, easy part, then called upon them to work better together on the second part

3) kids using racial epithets, disrespectful language

-- can remind kids they signed code of ethics, work with group leader & chaperones

-- once, the group leaders were acting like they're on vacation, they didn't take responsibility, guides end up doing everything.

-- kids are often scared, and they're out of their element, they're not in control

 

Can help to establish rapport early on

 

Include 10 point checklist for guides, in guide meeting before rafting

 

Learn more about the people we're going with, where they come from, their culture/class is like

Invite the group leaders to come talk with us, Steve from 7 Tepees?

 

TL can mention in pre-trip, intro circle, that you will be in a different situation, you may be afraid, but you can also take care of yourself

 

Add crotch strap training, 6' - 9' strap, through arm hole on PFD, step through, teach the user how to adjust the tension while sitting/standing to keep taut.

 

At safety talk, guides introduced selves, got to say what ICO had done for them.  Became more human, less than just a role

 

 

 

Project LifeRaft $$

- for youth trips, not adult only trip