Paddler/writer
William Nealy observed that people spend more time driving to and
from rivers than they spend paddling rivers. He spoofed this with a
cartoon promoting a bumper sticker for boaters that read “I’d
rather be driving”. Funny as that
is, most of us would rather skip the driving and launch our boats
immediately to score some river time. GCA folks are even more focused
than most people on spending time on the river. This is the common
tie that binds our members together. But even that intense focus has
failed to find a way to avoid the drive to the river. We still have
to plan our adventures, round up some buddies, pack our gear and set
our shuttles. This is the trade off we make to spend time on the
water.
GCA
provides many benefits designed to help us get in our paddle time;
The Eddy Line, club trips, GCA web site, email list serve, meeting
fellow paddlers, and all the other club activities. You will still
have to drive to the river.
More
importantly someone is already driving long before you fire up the
Rambler and head to the Chattahoochee. There are dedicated people
expending time and effort to drive the clubs activities. Fortunately
we have dedicated leaders. We still need members to help plan and
execute the work of these committee teams. All club jobs fall with in
one of these five committees or teams. Each and every one of us
should participate on a committee team and have a role within the
club. The challenge is to fill all the roles required of a very
active club.
The
challenge to you is to have at least one role. We are boaters, but we
must also be drivers. Have you ever participated in an activity and
thought, “This could be better”? Well you can make it
better by joining a team and sharing the drive, much like we do when
we share the shuttle. We would never show up for a river trip
expecting some else to just handle all the shuttle for us. We expect
that there is driving involved and we want to do our share to help
the group.
GCA
needs drivers to drive our activities that provide the opportunities
for us to share some river time. Become a GCA driver and share the
load. Contact any of the club leaders listed in the front of The Eddy
Line or website. Tell them what you like doing and how much time you
have available. We have the perfect spot for you. We won’t need that
bumper sticker, “I’d rather be
driving” when we have done our
share.
– Vincent Payne
