Policies

Incident Reporting Policy

Members are responsible for reporting incidents and contributing to a culture of safety within the club. Prompt reporting allows for timely responses, promotes accountability, and aids in preventing future occurrences.

An incident is any event that disrupts normal club activities, poses a risk to safety, or results in injury or damage. This includes, but is not limited to:

• accidents
• near misses
• equipment failures
• inappropriate behavior

In the event of an incident, prioritize safety. Report the incident to a coach, beach captain, or board member as soon as it is safe to do so. The parties involved (steersman, crew, witnesses) should complete an incident report as soon as they are able, preferably within 24 hours. The form is available in the hale, and at this link: Incident Report Form.

The board will review all incident reports. As a result of the review, the board may implement additional training, changes to policies, or disciplinary action to individual paddlers. Depending on the cause of the incident, the severity of any injuries or damages, and the history of past incidents, this may include a verbal warning, a written reprimand, or a disciplinary action as defined by Article X of our charter (fine, suspension or expulsion). Repeat incidents will be treated with an escalation of disciplinary action.

This policy will be reviewed periodically and may be revised as incident trends emerge.

Recreational and Visitor Paddle Guest Policy

This policy applies to active members who wish to bring guests to paddle at Kihei Canoe Club.  For the purpose of this policy, guests may paddle with members without paying the visitor fee or making a donation. 

• Only members who have maintained active member status for 2 years may bring guests to Visitor Paddles

• Members should not bring guests to regularly scheduled Recreational Paddle or PaddleCore events.

• Members may bring guests to regularly scheduled Visitor Paddles with the following caveats:
  • members may bring 1-2 guests per month
  • members must accompany their guests during paddling activities
    
  • online registration is not required
  • members must checkin with Visitor Paddle staff at the club, register both themselves and their guest, and assure their guest completes the club waiver
  • registered visitors and supporting club members have priority to paddle at Visitor Paddle. Members with guests have standby status. In almost all cases, members and their guests can be accommodated. Rarely, however, there may not be enough canoes or ho`okele for members & their guest to paddle. To assure guests have a seat, members can register their guests on the website.  Do not log in on the website to do this.  

Canoe and Equipment Use Policy

This policy applies to outrigger canoes, accessories, paddles, tents, trailers, and material or other equipment belonging to Kihei Canoe Club.

• All members are expected to provide their own paddles and Personal Floatation Device meeting the requirements for the club’s insurance. Paddles and PFD's in the club hale are for visitor and guest use.
• Other than regularly scheduled/published member paddles or ashes/wedding ceremonies, all requests for use of club canoes and equipment must be made in writing to a Board member and approved in advance by the Board or its representative. Email requests are acceptable.
• All club policies regarding the use of PFD's and the Two Boat Rule must be followed for any use of a canoe.
• Persons wishing to use the trailer must show proof of a valid driver license and appropriate insurance coverage to a Board member in advance.
• All commercial and fundraising events requesting use of club equipment must be coordinated by the Board or its representative. This includes quoting for equipment use, arranging member participation as required, etc.
• Non-profit or community organizations may make requests for equipment use through the Board or its representative in writing and are invited to make a donation to the club.

Two Boat Rule

Members may paddle at any regularly scheduled and published time.  As a general policy, two club canoes should always be close enough together on the water to support each other during a huli or other emergency. 

On rare occasions, a Board or coach approved steersman with experienced members may take one canoe as long as they paddle within close proximity of shore. Close proximity means all crew members should be able to swim to safety if required during a huli or other emergency. All paddling shall be done between Kalama Park to the south and Maalaea Harbor to the north.  A Board or coach approved steersman is the following:

• has taken the club's steersman's training course and completed the sign off procedure or is recognized by the Board and Paddling community as an accomplished steers person
• has at least two years experience steering OC-6/OC- or canoes in a variety of sea and wind conditions
• knows how to right a canoe after a huli
• carries a signal whistle or horn, AND a marine radio or mobile phone
• will take full responsibility for the crew and canoe while steering it

Canoe "Surfing" Policy

KCC does not approve surfing its OC6 or OC12 canoes on near shore, breaking waves. Near shore waves are those that surfers, standup paddlers, boogie boarders, etc. typically catch and ride to shore. The water is shallow and the ocean floor is shaped so that waves curl or break near shore. Attempting to ride breaking waves in shallow water can lead to serious injury in a OC6 or OC12 canoe and significant damage to the canoe.

However, sometimes there are small 1' to 2' waves ("bumps") in the near shore area . Waves of this size do not break or curl. These "bumps" can help steersmen and their crews safely learn more about paddling while increasing skills. Riding "bumps" in a canoe is permitted with the following rules:

• Steersmen who ride bumps are responsible for assuring all the rules below are followed
• Steersmen must be approved for riding bumps by the KCC Board or one of its coaches. A list steersmen approved to ride bumps will be in the hale.
• Lightning, Mirage, Striker, Matahina and OC12 double hull canoes may not be used to ride bumps.
• NO bump riding on waves that are breaking, during low tide or in shallow water, or when there are others (surfers, SUP's, OC'1, swimmers, etc.) in the vicinity
• Bump riding crew members must take responsibility for each other, wear PFD's, be comfortable with huli's and swimming
• Non-members or guests are not allowed in bump riding crews
• Per KCC By-Laws, any damage to canoes, iakos, ama's must be repaired at the crew's expense