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Safety first!

The information in this post applies to all paddlers … old-hands, newbies, guests, etc. … there are no exceptions.

In light of the recent tragedy on Lake Ray Hubbard, a new safety policy has gone into effect as of 22 September 2019. [The paddler was on an OC2, not a kayak, as reported. Neither he nor his paddling partner were wearing PFDs.]

1) Every paddler must procure their own personal flotation device (PFD) and bring it to all workouts. Your PFD must be in serviceable condition.

Your steersmen will not provide these.

2) Until otherwise proven / demonstrated to coach / president, Justin McGuire, all paddlers must wear their PDF during workouts.

3) If you can prove to Justin that you can swim 250 meters and / or tread water for 10 minutes, then you will be permitted to paddle without wearing your PDF; however, it must be present in the canoe and ready in case of an emergency. Austin OCC, Inc. still recommend that you wear your PFD.

Please note : It is strongly recommended that any inflatable PFD also have an oral inflation tube.

The U.S. Coat Guard informs us that a PFD is considered to be in serviceable condition only if the following conditions are met :

(a) No PFD may exhibit deterioration that could diminish the performance of the PFD including :

  1. Metal or plastic hardware used to secure the PFD on the wearer that is broken, deformed, or weakened by corrosion;
  2. Webbings or straps used to secure the PFD on the wearer that are ripped, torn, or which have become separated from an attachment point on the PFD; or
  3. Any other rotted or deteriorated structural component that fails when tugged.

(b) In addition to meeting the requirements of paragraph (a) of this section, no inherently buoyant PFD, including the inherently buoyant components of a hybrid inflatable PFD, may exhibit :

  1. Rips, tears, or open seams in fabric or coatings that are large enough to allow the loss of buoyant material;
  2. Buoyant material that has become hardened, non-resilient, permanently compressed, waterlogged, oil-soaked, or which shows evidence of fungus or mildew; or loss of buoyant material or buoyant material that is not securely held in position.

(c) In addition to meeting the requirements of paragraph (a) of this section, an inflatable PFD, including the inflatable components of a hybrid inflatable PFD, must be equipped with :

  1. Except as provided in paragraph (d) of this section, a properly armed inflation mechanism, complete with a full inflation medium cartridge and all status indicators showing that the inflation mechanism is properly armed;
  2. Inflatable chambers that are all capable of holding air;
  3. Oral inflation tubes that are not blocked, detached, or broken;
  4. A manual inflation lanyard or lever that is not inaccessible, broken, or missing; and
  5. Inflator status indicators that are not broken or otherwise non-functional.

(d) The inflation system of an inflatable PFD need not be armed when the PFD is worn inflated and otherwise meets the requirements of paragraphs (a) and (c) of this section.

Congratulations Paddlers on winning Gold at the 2022 Dallas Dragon boat festival

No Outrigger races in Texas this year, but Dragon Boat racing has started again. Many of the AOCC paddlers are also part of the Austin Coolers Dragon Boat team. On Sunday Oct. 2nd 2022 paddlers from AOCC and the Austin Coolers competed at the Dallas Dragon Boat and Kite Festival winning First place for the Mixed Division. Great Job Coolers and Congratulations to all the paddlers that competed.

Austin’s August climate : Fun facts

Weather versus climate

As I type this post, I hear thunder outside and I can see some falling rain. Toss in a relative humidity reading, the current windspeed and you have weather.

Climate is a long-term summary of weather data. Meteorologists use a 30-year summary of the previous three decades (currently, 1981 – 2010) to determine the so-called “norm” for the year, the month, the day.

Your tax dollars at work!

The conclusions / summaries of Austin weather are derived from climate data freely-available from the National Climatic Data Center (NDCD). These are good folks, hard-working and dedicated. They make certain that the probability of bad data being entered into the summary is LOW.

OK, back to Austin

A quick-and-dirty summary of Austin’s August climate is :

  • Average daily high = 97 °F (+/- 2 °F)
  • Average daily low = 75 °F (+1/-2 °F)
  • Average daily humidity = 64%

Would you like a little more? Here are some more Austin August averages based on data from 1981-2010.

  • Number of days with daily high temperature ≥90°F = 29
  • Number of days with daily low temperature ≤70°F = 2
  • Wind speed = 7.4 mph
  • % of sunny days = 74%
    (303 hours of sunshine or
    13 hours and 11 minutes per day)
  • Monthly precipitation = 2.4″

Some Summer records

112°F : The highest daily temperature ever recorded in Austin on 2011-08-28 and 2000-09-05.

90 : The greatest number of days with daily high temperature ≥100°F occurred in 2011.

27 : The greatest number of consecutive days with daily high temperature ≥100°F (2011-08, Camp Mabry). By contrast, as of today, we appear to have broken our streak of 19 consecutive days with high temperature ≥100°F.

We’re nearly out of the woods

The good news is that we are closer to cooler weather. The bad news is that we are not done with the hot weather, yet.

Stay well-hydrated, my friends!

Fundraiser for Austin OCC on 09 November 2019

“A boat is a hole in the water into which you throw money.”

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As you may already know, a boat is an expensive proposition. It is expensive to purchase. It is expensive to operate. It is expensive to maintain. It is expensive to store.

To that end, we are raffling-off two beautiful hand-made items. Tickets for either are $10 each or three for $25.

Print as many as you would like of the two ticket images below. Fill them out completely. Hand them, along with payment (cash or check), to Tracy Quon (treasurer), Joy Emshoff (secretary), or Denise Scioli (vice-president).

If you wish to pay via PayPal, our recipient e-mail address is paypal.payments@austinocc.org

“B-O-A-T = Break out another thousand.”

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The first item is a gorgeous hand-made cedar coffee table with wave design. This table was created by Joy’s husband, Bob Spain, for our fundraiser.

Coffee table raffle ticket
Coffee table raffle ticket

Hand-made red cedar coffee-table crafted by Bob Spain (side-view).

Hand-made red cedar coffee-table crafted by Bob Spain (top-view)

Hand-made red cedar coffee table crafted by Bob Spain (top-view 2)
Hand-made red cedar coffee table crafted by Bob Spain for Austin OCC’s fundraiser (top-view 2)

The second is a beautiful hand-made quilt. The top was designed, hand-appliqued, and machine-pieced by Denise Scioli. Then Denise, Tracy Quon, Tina Ho, and Joy Emshoff hand-quilted this treasure.

Denise has been designing and making award-winning quilts since, at least, the early 1990s.

Quilt raffle ticket
Quilt raffle ticket

Hand-made quilt for Austin OCC fundraiser raffle.

Hand-made quilt for Austin OCC fundraiser raffle

“A boat is a hole in the water, surrounded by wood, into which money is poured.”

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Water advisory for Lady Bird Lake

Update : 2019-08-14 See the City of Austin page on the expanded area affected by the cyanobacteria and their neurotoxins.

As the summer air temperature continues to heat up, so does the surface water temperature.

The increased water temperature, coupled with decreased water through-flow, and consequent nutrient build-up, result in algal blooms. Normally, these are harmless … unsightly and a bit smelly.

At the moment, Lady Bird Lake seems to be having a problem with cyanobacteria (so-called “blue-green algae”). Two genera, in particular, Anabaena and Microcystis, produce neurotoxic compounds, at times.

Anabaena flos-aquae, aquatic cyanobacterium
Anabaena flos-aquae, an aquatic cyanobacterium, is capable of producing powerful neurotoxins. Photo credit to US EPA 2007.

While we await the results of testing by the City of Austin, an advisory has been issued for dogs (dogs are permitted to swim in these waters; humans are not).

With the exception of Barton Creek, nearer to the pool than to the river, you might re-consider going into the water or splashing river water onto your face (keep it out of your eyes and out of your mouth). Individuals with known sensitivity to these compounds should be especially aware.

Microcystis aeruginosa, aquatic cyanobacterium
Microcystis aeruginosa, an aquatic cyanobacterium, is capable of producing powerful neurotoxins. Photo credit to Kristian Peters.

See? Those hundred of hours of environmental engineering coursework back in graduate school might have learnt me a thing or two. 😉