Larry C wrote:
Well, you might try our clubs model. We decided to forego the PAC
membership since most of it wasn't very relavent and instead became an
Affiliate member. No real advantage but it still gets you access to the
insurance program. Instead of trying to get every member of the club to
join, we just charge the event membership to anyone that doesn't have
an ACA number.

The only real strong point of the ACA is instruction and safety. Their
insurance program allows instructors protection that just isn't
available commercially. And if you do have an ACA certified instructor,
you have some clue to the level of competence that he has acquired.

I would differ with that last statement somewhat, as I've paddled with
an ACA "Open water" instructor who is uncomfortable in 2' seas, has no
endurance and won't paddle within 50 yards of a rock, except when
landing. How this person ever got their rating is beyond me, but I've
heard of several similar situations.

We don't insure any club trips, although one club that I belong does
sometimes. As a SWR instructor, I follow liability issues fairly
closely. As far as I or my fellow instructors can find, there has never
been an incident that involved a club trip and an injury that resulted
in a lawsuit. IMO,
Liability in paddling clubs is an issue that tends to get blown way out
of porportion.

I agree. Our club has gone through a long and painful process of dealing
with problems caused by a few "Chicken Little" types that scared us into
getting overly worked up over risk/liability, despite the fact that we
had never had a problem. While there have been some positive changes
made due to the analysis we performed, overall it's done a lot of damage
to the club. Ironically, the people that screamed the loudest about
risk/liability have all left the club, leaving others to clean up their
mess.