GLSKA - News

Current items of interest to GLSKA members and other paddlers
(Updated October 30, 2009)

GLSKA's Annual General Meeting was held on Saturday, October 24, 2009 at the Barbara Frum Library in Toronto. Karen Granville and Keith Rodgers were returned to the Board of Directors, along with new director Gerry Croney - all for two-year terms. (See GLSKA Officers below for the various office holders.) The proposed amendments to the bylaws were passed. A full report on the meeting will appear in the Winter issue of the newsletter.

Read about GLSKA's stewardship work on Georgian Bay in "Kayakers to the Rescue" in the Autumn 2009 issue of ON nature magazine, published by Ontario Nature (formerly the Federation of Ontario Naturalists).

Canadian Outdoor Equipment, a recently opened store at 199 Lakeshore Road East, in Port Credit has some interesting items of outdoor gear not easily found elsewhere and of interest to paddlers. Woolpower, their line of Swedish thermal clothing made of a merino wool/synthetic blend is particularly relevant, as cooler paddling weather comes along. Trangia titanium cooking pots, a selection of books, DVDs, hats, etc. plus a willingness to obtain topographic maps to order may make it worth your while to check this store out. Call first or go on line to ascertain their hours of operation, which are a little eccentric at present. The store distributes our club brochures and offers a 10% discount to GLSKA members.

The Snug Harbour Marina near Nobel now has an attractive restaurant. Gilly’s is a nice spot to have some food and refreshment when coming in from a paddle at this popular access point for Franklin Island and the Mink and McCoys. The marina is kayak-friendly and distributes our brochures.

The GLSKA Book Shop is a handy source for books reviewed in Qayaq as well as a wide selection of other sea kayaking and Great Lakes books. (It is run in association with Amazon.ca, and other books and recordings they carry are also available.)

PLEASE NOTE: All purchases, including goft certificates, made from Amazon.ca from any link at the GLSKA Book Shop earn commission for GLSKA. So if you plan to purchase anything from Amazon.ca, whether kayaking related or not, please do so via the link at the top of the Book Shop page, and help support our club.

GLSKA member Donna Griffin-Smith, as well as doing pen-and-ink drawings for the newsletter, is also an accomplished watercolour artist. Since retiring from teaching, she is now devoting more of her time to her art. If you have a favourite photo of a sunset, kayaking scene or campsite, Donna will work from your photo to create a realistic landscape in watercolour. She can also include your kayak in the painting (a kayak portrait). Various sizes are available, framed or unframed. You can arrange a studio visit to see examples of her work. For more information contact Donna at don_donna@sympatico.ca.

We are always looking for contributions for future issues of Qayaq: news items, trip reports, paddling destinations, book reviews, articles on equipment, do-it-yourself projects, kayaking techniques, safety – anything that you think would be of interest to fellow paddlers. Articles may be long or short, and may be submitted on paper (preferably typed but also may be handwritten) or electronically in a format readable by Word or Wordperfect. (RTF format works well.)

Please send articles to Qayaq c/o the GLSKA Postal Box or e-mail to GLSKA at glska@canada.com.

Deadlines for each issue are: Spring – March 1; Summer – June 1; Autumn – September 1; Winter – December 1.

Back issues of Qayaq are available for most issues of Volume 1 through Volume 20. If you find any articles of interest in the Qayaq Index, please contact the newsletter editor to obtain back issues. The cost is $2 each, plus postage.

DIRECTORS
Rob Muylwyk, President
Keith Rodgers, Secretary
Karen Granville, Treasurer
Gerry Croney
Melissa Hachkowski
Dawn Lawrence

TRIP COMMITTEE
Bert Millar

GEORGIAN BAY COMMITTEE
Keith Rodgers (Acting Chairman)

MEMBERSHIPS
Linda Ball

NEWSLETTER EDITOR
Sandy Richardson