In the free-range kitchen of the semi-human-n-chef psyche I applaud your culinary optimism, madame.
(I’d limit his utensil access, though, to the duller butter knives.)
The quality of meetups… yeah, on Saturday I took my kayak to the local triathlon to serve as a lifeguard during the swim. TWO other kayakers showed up to help. The three of us were supposed to cover a half mile long stretch of swimmers. One of my co-boaters said “There were eight people signed up to be here.” There’s yer meetup.
The county search and rescue folks were there and they did a much better job of coming out in sufficient numbers for the task.
Our meetups have shrunk considerably. Where we used to see 20 paddlers, there are now 5.
I used to run a free Meetup group for kayaking and other outdoor pursuits. My goal was to gently introduce people to outdoor activities with education and experience.
I gave up after about 3 years because everyone wanted to skip the learning curve and jump right into the bigger stuff. That, or they were only interested in lily-dipping with recreational boats. There were also ongoing issues with no-shows, and I was tired of wasting my time with people. I considered something that involved a monetary commitment from people but that opens up a huge can of legal worms, if the free one didn’t already have enough potential issues.
I’d be happy to bypass the BS and be a part of an elite group of respectful kayakers, but there aren’t enough locally to make this a reality.
Sparky-We had a solid group for about three years, even made some people buy dry suits to paddle with us in the winter. Kokatat owes me a commission. And as long as people wanted to paddle with us they had to at least give a nod to managing basics and have a sea kayak.
But those situations are terribly fragile. Once my husband was out of commission from the cancer and neither of us were able to take the lead in pulling paddles together, it fell apart.No one else stepped up to do what we had been doing.
A Meet Up group is as good as the people that run it. If you open it up to the public that’s what you get. If you put normal club restrictions on it you get a club that uses Meet Up to schedule.
People can be smart or stupid. You have discussions, pictures, trip descriptions including distance posted on the site and they join. Then complain that a “sea kayak” group doesn’t fit their desire to fish more.
We recently went back to our roots and required membership dues. Numbers went from 500 to 70.
At the Jocassee Rendezvous, we welcomed anyone with any craft.
We got an interesting group. Everything from 8’ Swiftys to serious sea kayaks with a canoe or two.
We scheduled short and long paddles and never worried about who did what.
We had people from as far as Pennsylvania and it was all arranged on p.net.
Groups with different skill levels are fun.
@string said:
Our local Meetup coordinator told me it was a trip leaders job to rescue people.
I am always safety first and have always helped when needed, but my job? I am not young any more so she thinks I shouldn’t schedule trips without a qualified rescuer along.
Good point, but it still irritated me.
That’s interesting…our local Meetup (Southern Maine Sea Kayaking Network) very clearly states that participants are responsible for themselves and that the group/other members are NOT responsible for your safety and well-being. Obviously it is a good idea for there to be people on a given trip with rescue skills (and really, everyone should have knowledge of and have practiced at least basic techniques) but the fact remains that each individual is ultimately responsible for his/her own safety.