Hints and Tips for Trip Organisers
Preparation
Participants on club trips must be a member, for insurance and not taking the spaces of longstanding members.
Ensure people who ask to join trips have the level of experience required for the trip – get prior experience from new members. Don’t ask if they have paddled before; they always say ‘yes’. Ask them to list what they have done
Trip will be subject to available transport.
Ask if they have their own kayak, car and roof rack.
Also how many kayaks and people they can take. Once the drivers are established then the size of the group is fixed.
Reduce administration
To save on huge quantity of emails – when you advertise the trip – put in a deadline for responding – ideally one week before the trip. Then the list is closed.
After the dead-line and a day before the trip compile trip notes and send out Include latest weather check, plus telephone number of organisers on email.
Include a list of the drivers and which boats they are able to transport and a list of participants and the boats they are using for the trip to avoid confusion early in day when participants are picking up boats from the container at some ungodly hour.
I found it really useful to get the list of sea-boats and descriptions / suitability for different builds.
Warn people they will need to read the final email sent the day before as meeting points /plans may change as the weather does. In the instance of transport plans failing or needing to change!
Printable trip notes that Richard produced were very handy …
If a trip is popular, and transport limited (including boats) – keep track of the date order people indicate they would like to come? ie 1st come first served – and make clear on initial email that this is how selection takes place.
I put date of the trip in the subject header of 1st email and some people didn’t notice this – repeat date in body of email.
On the day:
Bring boat locks in case anyone unable to attend on day itself and boats need to be kept securely at car park.