HI All,
Just moved back stateside after living in the Pacific for the last 8 years. Tremendously enjoyed outrigger canoeing during that time as a paddler, juniors coaching, board member, summer series as well as high school canoe race director, etc. I am working on starting up a canoe club here in Southern Idaho and needing any advice how to start up and secure canoes, (eg; purchasing, sponsoring, finding investors, paying out of pocket etc.). Any information or advice on what will work or doesn't work would be great. (Looking at purchasing Mariage- as we only have flat water here in Southern ID)
Submitted by julypaddler on Fri, 12/05/2014 - 11:06am
see if you can get in touch with clubs in the pacific NW. you may have an easier time getting something used/cheaper? as hard as it is to get Hawaiian businesses to sponsor a Hawaiian sport, i'd have a hard time even knowing where to start in Idaho. maybe try to assemble some videos or links to show people exactly what they'd be sponsoring?
http://www.pnworca.org/
http://www.pnworca.org/category/classifieds/for-sale/
#1 Fri, 12/05/2014 - 2:02pm
Always good to hear about a potential new club.
I agree with Jeremy that sponsorship for a fledgling club in what is a very niche sport on the mainland will be a tough road. I'd suggest looking to local community organizations or foundations for grant money, but even bake sales and car washes are great fundraisers. We had a club in Ithaca, NY who raised enough money to buy a canoe selling compost.
I also agree that you're better off looking for a used boat in the area. Along with the PNW, I've heard of canoes in Colorado and I know (from a great guy who paddled with us a few seasons back) that there's at least one canoe in Kalispell, MT.
Good luck!
#2 Fri, 12/05/2014 - 4:29pm
We started up a club here in the PNW last year and I would be more than happy to give ya some pointers on how to go about getting things rolling for your club.
Having an efficient trailer to haul canoes will be your first priority because that will really open up the possibilities in where you can buy canoes from.
California seems to be a hot bed of available canoes right now as a lot of the clubs down there are selling off their older canoes to be able to buy unlimited canoes.
Feel free to hit me up any time with any questions or if you're looking for info!
-Tyler
#3 Sun, 12/07/2014 - 3:03pm
Great info. Such a great sport I'd love to continue. We signed up for a two year GU job but we enjoyed outrigger canoeing and our team so much we stayed for 8 years. We were seriously looking at relocating stateside where there were established clubs, but Southern Idaho is where we ended up. We are 4 miles from a nice body of water that's just begging for a paddle. ;)
How hard is it to get people interested and in a canoe in the PNW?
I've been thinking about a trailer, and that's a good point about working on that firstly. I've done a lot with canoeing and I understand the great effort it will take, (friggin coordinating the high school paddling competitions and making sure canoes were where they were needed and the man power and equipment to make that happen...) questioning of I have the skill set to take on the business (purchasing & finding local sponsors) part of it by myself. I may have to recruit a few business minded people first.
#4 Tue, 12/09/2014 - 6:55pm