Canoe Club Open House April 20 6:30-8:30pm
Please mark your calendar for Thursday, April 20, 2023 and plan on joining us between 6:30 PM and 8:30 PM in Clark Hall, west end of the RA Centre, 2451 Riverside Drive, Ottawa. The Open House is the best time to plan your paddling season and acquaint -- or reacquaint -- yourself with fellow paddlers you might not have seen since last fall. Check out the Flatwater and Whitewater programs and the extensive lineup of Training courses scheduled for the upcoming season. Visit the boathouse, and check out the club’s collection of boats and equipment.
Again this year, we will have our annual gear swap – an opportunity for you to sell the gently-used gear you no longer need, and buy someone else’s! Just bring your gear to the Open House with your asking price clearly marked.
RA staff will be on hand at the Open House to process your registration for both membership and training. Registration for the club’s training programs will be open at Open House – you’ll want to sign up quickly because they sell out quickly: they’re excellent quality at a bargain price.
Looking forward to seeing you there, and bring your friends!
Click Read More for more information on the gear swap.
Club Website Blocked if Membership Expired
On April 30 2023, access to the member only portion of the club website will be blocked for any person whose membership expired prior to April 1 2023. Then, for the rest of 2023, access to the member only portion of the club website will be blocked one month after a membership expired. Note that to participate in club trips or training, you must have renewed your membership.
To determine if your membership has expired, login to the website and then do this in the menu structure: Membership: Club Members: Your Membership Profile: About: Membership Expiry Date. Also, members will be notified by email of the month that their membership is expiring.
For instructions on how to renew your membership, click here.
Winter Seminar Series 2023 Completed
Click here for a complete list of the winter seminars plus click here to view recordings of seminars from this and previous years.
For the seminar on food dehydration, they were kind enough to create a website that people can use as a reference in the future. The website is here. It includes a selection of some of their favorite cookbooks and selected recipes.
Executive Meeting Minutes Feb 2nd 2023
Log in to see minutes from the virtual meeting of the executive on February 2nd, 2023.
2023 Open House - Looking for Volunteers
The first RACCC Open House since the before times will be on APRIL 20 from 6:30-8:30. We need volunteers to come out and talk up the club! Come let everyone know what a great club we have! Contact Maria at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Executive Meeting Minutes January 12th, 2023
Log in to see meeting minutes from the virtual executive meeting on January 12th, 2023.
Ice Canoeing Trip Report Jan 30-31 1988
A trip report from a 1988 club newsletter about Ice Canoeing, republished January 2023
Participants: Glen and Elly B, Leigh J, John S
This trip to a cottage near Sharbot Lake was intended to be a cross country ski weekend. The almost total absence of snow forced a change in plans.
The entire lake was open for skating. The only problem was that much of the lake was covered with several inches of water. As skates were not designed for such conditions, our feet were soon soaking wet and cold (wetsuit socks would have been much appreciated if we had them).
Then we had an inspiration. Why not try canoeing? The cottage Grumman canoe was dragged out of hibernation and launched on the water where it floated serenely. Our enthusiastic voyageurs equipped with paddles and lifejackets stepped aboard. It was at this point that we encountered two problems.
1) With anyone in the canoe, the canoe immediately grounded.
2) Paddles are useless in three inches of water and can't grip smooth ice.
On the assumption that the green house effect is warming our climate and thereby increasing the opportunities for ice canoeing, we recommend that the club purchase the following equipment.
1) A flatwater canoe that doesn't have a keel.
2) Three ice axes to provide a means of propulsion.
Executive Meeting Minutes December 14th, 2022
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2022 AGM Minutes and Presentations
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Executive Meeting Minutes November 1st, 2022
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EXECUTIVE MEETING MINUTES OCTOBER 6th, 2022
Log in to see minutes from the October 6th meeting of the club executive.
Aubrey and Shoals Provincial Parks
August 2022
Please click on the attachment to read the trip report.
 Aubrey Shoals 2022.pdf | [ ] | 1497 kB |
Encounter with a Bear on French River Trip
I was asked to put together a few notes regarding an unusual situation that occurred during a club French River Provincial Park canoe trip that took place from August 29- September 4 this year.
On our only night camping at the Obstacle Island campsite, a large bear (estimated 400 lbs) came into our campsite about 9:00 pm and bit onto a 60 liter full food barrel which was on the ground and proceeded to walk away with it. The barrel was about 15 feet from the campfire that four of us were sitting around while chatting (two people had gone to sleep already in tents). It dropped the barrel after being yelled at and it ran off a short distance. Myself & a fellow camper retrieved the barrel and took it back to our site. When we shone our headlamps into the woods, the bear peered back at us; obviously it was not afraid, which didn't bode well for the rest of the night. It was a big surprise to see this bear as we kept a very clean site, all barrels were sealed and all our meals were dehydrated therefore low food odour.
All of our tents were set up with quite a distance between us all; some on rocky points, others off in the woods. We decided it would be wise for all of us to camp close together near the shoreline, and so we moved our tents into close proximity.
After we hung the barrels and other food bags in a tree, the bear came back about 11 pm when we were in our tents. We heard something loudly bang the canoe stored near the barrels. The bear likely fell/slipped on the canoe trying to reach barrels thus putting a crack on both sides of the hull (which we didn’t discover until later). As we watched, it climbed the tree that had barrels, ripped one nylon bag & chewed up a Nalgene bottle with oatmeal inside. It tried to swat at various barrels but couldn't reach them. It did rip one strap off someone's small barrel.