With COVID fears canceling our classes and public paddles, it would seem NEWP members wouldn’t have had much to review at our virtual Annual Meeting Friday, Jan. 30. There is a new logo, an updated website design and a new online store to buy logowear.
For paddlers, there’s no more promising a subject than plans for next season.
Our guest speaker gave us enough suggestions of places to paddle for years to come. Timothy Bauer, co-founder of MilesPaddled.com with Brady Kalpinski, has photographed, videoed and written about more than 200 routes for kayak trips totaling 2,200 miles. They continue to chronicle anything navigable.
Rather than the life-event paddling trips, Bauer stressed finding the best places to paddle within an hour’s drive from your home. He put his in a book. “Canoeing and Kayaking South Central Wisconsin: 60 Paddling Adventures Within 60 Miles of Madison” from Menasha Ridge Press does just what the title says.
Drawing a 60-mile circle around the Fox Cities, Bauer said there is a great variety of paddling opportunities, from the whitewater of the Red River or the Wolf to the open water of Lake Michigan or urban landscape on the Fox River. He particularly looks for trips that include a bicycle shuttle.
For longer trips, he’s a fan of the wild rivers – the Pine, Popple and Pike rivers in far northeastern Wisconsin.
In the business portion of the meeting, members virtually present elected this slate of candidates, including re-election of all four officers:
- President: Jeff Mazanec
- Vice President: Ken Braband
- Treasurer: Scott Thomson
- Secretary: Will Stahl
Two board members changed with the election of Angela Gruis and Mike Stone. The club expresses thanks to Mike Brown and Jeff Boldt for their service to the Board.