Communique
From the President’s Desk
I am excited about being the President of the Prairie Coast Paddlers. I am returning to my sport of open water swimming and triathlons, so this will be my last year as an active member. I wanted to make a few modest improvements before I left.
Many thanks to Steve for the great job he has done as President. Another thank you to Steve for staying on as Vice President and being my Jiminy Cricket.
I have three goals for the year. My first is to have more social events and an event every month. Second to have more skill building events, both for safety and fun. Third to get more members involved to make this club even better.
New blood is crucial to improving any entity. The addition of Brooke Gabris, Michelle Messley, Bill Silva and Carol Severson to our roster of officers will greatly improve our club. I thank you in advance for your service.
Do not forget to look at our calendar for upcoming events.
Joe Carey
UPCOMING TRIP FROM STEVE MUNTZ
I'm heading down to Carlyle Lake May 13-15 to check out the biggest body of water in Illinois, outside of Lake Michigan. Carlyle Lake is a 26,000 acre manmade reservoir which was formed by damming the Kaskaskia River in 1958. It's a shallow lake with an average depth of 11', so I'm hoping this along with its location about five hours south of us will make for relatively warm water that time of year. The large size and shallow depth of the lake can create waves, possibly giving us an opportunity to work on and refresh the open water paddling skills we'll use on Lake Michigan and Lake Superior trips later in the year. And since we'll be car camping, it'll also be a good time to try out new equipment or food ideas without the commitment of loading up the boat for something like an Apostles trip.
Paddling.net has a fairly recent trip report, and I have reserved the same campsite they used which is Boulder Rec Area Site #1. A link to the article is below. This site will accommodate up to four tents, so let me know if you'd like to share it with me. The authors launched right from this site, which is why I decided to choose this one although there are other camping areas around the lake. There are towns nearby but all will involve a bit of a drive, so I'm planning to bring everything I need for the trip and staying at the site. Of course in case of bad weather we may choose to do something else for entertainment.
My plan is to arrive on Friday, and possibly head out for an evening or night paddle (bring lights!) after setting up camp. Saturday will be a long paddle around part of the lake and some of the small islands, having lunch while we're out. When we're back at the site we may have a good chance to work on rescue and safety skills if anyone's interested, and then we'll have another chance at a night paddle too. Sunday possibly a quick tour of another part of the lake, but then we'll end the trip and head back. Let me know if you can join me.
http://www.paddling.net/places/showReport.html?2624
Steve Muntz
