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