ISKA - Where to from here ?

[alanhorner]

In Martin Guilfoyle\'s posing of 3rd October
He asked us to consider a few issues and indeed to discuss them whether in the forum this year or indeed through the forum of the BB.

His question 5)
I would ask members to consider the future role of ISKA. What sort of Association do the members want? Is it fulfilling it\'s objectives? What do we want from ISKA? Any other comments. I do not envisage this as a topic for discussion at the AGM but would ask members to think about it and maybe have a a forum discussion on it in 2013.

This posting raises quite a few interesting points and issues for ISKA and it\'s future role within Sea Kayaking in Ireland.

So I think it’s worthwhile to look back to where started and to try and get an overview of where we have come from so that we might have a better idea where we are headed.

ISKA was founded by a group of like minded individuals who wanted to develop Sea Kayaking in Ireland.
Some names may be familiar to you all - David Walsh, Stephen Hannon, Paul Butcher, Sean Pierce & Des Keaney were amongst some of the founding / early members.
This was from the out-set an all Ireland/all Island Association and so tried to cross boundaries which national associations like ICU / CANI / BCU could not.
As today the ISKA ran Monthly meets and an annual Symposium and produced the first Treasna na dTonnta newsletter.
The controlling committee or council was a self appointed body which ran much like a beneficial dictatorship and indeed many of today’s committee jobs were handled by just one or two persons.
The membership itself was quite small in those early days perhaps less than 50 members in all and Sea kayaking itself was very much a minority sport within the Canoeing / Kayaking world.
The early ISKA had some simple if perhaps unwritten aims
• To promote & develop Sea Kayaking on the island of Ireland.
• To train it’s members to become independent Sea Kayakers.
Indeed it’s also to be noted that ISKA never developed a constitution or set of governing rules to set-down how to run itself and how ISKA members could take ownership of the association. As the association grew in size some element of democracy has crept in as far as the appointment to the Committee but it’s a very loose and indeed not very clear how it’s appointed and who has the right to sit on the committee.
That said however due to the valiant efforts of the founders and the many committee members that came after the ISKA continued to develop over the years.
Through the actions of it’s members the ISKA has spawned daughter clubs in the regions and Sea Paddlers are active in Dublin, Galway, Westport, Cork, Sligo, Wexford, Dungarvan , Donegal, Antrim, Down and I’m sure in other places / clubs around the country.
So that paddlers interested in paddling on a more regular basis in their own locality could start their own activities.
The ISKA continues to sponser training from ICU L2 through to L5 plus ancilliary courses such as First Aid, VHF etc. Indeed one of the most important roles ISKA can play is to encourage competent paddlers to progress and take on a leadership role as trip leaders acting not only for ISKA but also for their local clubs.
ISKA have also interacted more and more with ICU where we have begun to have input into the development of the sport of Sea Kayaking through influence over the types of training & assessment which are handled by ICU specific to Sea Kayaking.
The International aspect of our sport has also come to the fore with many paddlers taking extended trips & expeditions abroad not just in Wales, Scotland, England but also in the USA, Canada, Mediterranean, Scandinavia , New Zealand and Ushuaia in Chile/Argentina plus I’m sure other excellent paddling destinations around the globe.
The Sport of Sea Kayaking has also developed with some specialised aspects of the sport coming to the fore such as Greenland Rolling, Open water long distance & Marathon Racing, Long Distance Open Crossings Sea Kayaking Fishing and Surf Kayaking.

So where to from here for ISKA ?
I think that if ISKA can hold true to the founding principles
• To promote & develop Sea Kayaking on the island of Ireland.
• To train it’s members to become competent Independent Sea Kayakers.
• Plus continue to manage the Monthly meets and Annual Symposium.
That within these 2 basic ideas and essential activities that we have scope to take on the modern sport of Sea Kayaking in Ireland.

Key questions for future committees will be
• How to interact with ICU/Canoeing Ireland and continue promotion and development of our sport.
• How to interact with the Training & Development unit so that ICU Training is highlighted and that members are encouraged to reach the goal of becoming a Competent Independent Sea Kayaker.
• How to encompass all Sea Paddlers so that although they are first and foremost members of their own local club and indeed likely to be a member of ICU – that they are also encouraged to become a member of ISKA.
• How to grow with the development of clubs and include the clubs and their members in the running of ISKA.
• How to make all members feel included and not to act like an introverted clique which eventually becomes irrelevant and a victim of it’s own success.

I have asked a good many questions there – and don’t want to prompt answers as I think a good old discussion perhaps not for the this Symposium’s AGM. – but maybe a good case for an ISKA EGM which although it would be time consuming might have the desired effect to kick-start some focused discussions on what bearing ISKA takes on it’s onward journey around the coast of Ireland.
ISKA members are known for their “Laissez Faire” attitude and If it ain’t broke – why fix it. So the reaction and debate might be expected to be somewhat muted. Nevertheless I’m hoping that maybe this might be a wake up call for some of us to the reality of how a national association can interact with other Kayaking bodies and indeed must interact with regional clubs and give them some ownership of ISKA but perhaps to maintain leadership as a national association.

See ya next weekend in Mayo.
Alan

[Chancer]

25000 Euro for training and development. Training and development - the solution to the way forward is in this very succint strategy statement. We need initiatives to advance the strategy. Neither at club or ISKA level are we training and developing our people sufficiently or in great enough numbers to sustain and progress the sport.

[Chancer]

What about a series of ISKA/Club sponsored weekends where courses like first aid, navigation, trip planning etc are taught in a modular way leading to advancement to Level 3,4 or even 5.Target people who are active and participating and recommended by their clubs. Opening these courses to everyone sometimes does not get a response from the people who should attend. The old ICU Instructorship qualification was achieved in this way over a year or more attending courses and completing various assignments.

[martinduffy]

Hi all

Training is an issue I have a keen interest in. We do have slightly more represention these days with keen sea kayaker John Pierce representing us on the commitee of the training and development unit, and of course Geo is the chairman of that commitee too. However do we really have our own house in order when it comes to this issue ? The training page for this website only has courses for 2011 - and we are ten months into 2012. All of the providers have run many courses in this time but none of them were centrally advertised here. I have been logging up hours over the last while and I have to say that all of the providers have been nothing but helpful when it comes to logging hours, so maybe we should put their courses up here. If we put ALL of their course up then there could be no suspicion of favouritism, or even allow them the facility of putting up their own courses if they wish to. Having said that I want to be clear that Im not blaming the webmaster here - Im sure he/she has a lot more important things on hand - maybe some of us could offer them some help ? If we all do a bit then everyhting should get done and no one will be snowed under.

Nobody knows it all and training is something we could all do with but are probably a bit lazy about - maybe we should do something about that.

Martin Duffy

[DaveWalsh]

With the Symposium coming up , may I wander through Alan’s thoughtful piece (and others’), to add historical perspective, about the only really valuable contribution I can make these days .
David Walsh, Stephen Hannon, Paul Butcher, Sean Pierce & Des Keaney, yes, but also off the top of my head Donal O’Dowd, Geo, Joanna, Fred Brian and Mark Cooney, MTB (Martina?), and of course she who conceived the whole idea Ursula McPherson (which therefore probably means Dave Elwood, Ger Lally, Suzanne Kennedy, Karen Weekes). There were over 40 in that room in Gartan, and who they were should be on record. They spent IR£2.00 each for the first (turned out to be for three) years’. Geo ?
We were 32 county by default. All new peripheral activities who organise have to be as inclusive as possible. There was no political statement, just reality clicking in. Mountaineering, hang-gliding, scuba etc etc
Meets were never once a month and never exceeded 4 a year (in one year it may have gone down to 1) but always + the Symposium, which were independent of the ISKA at first. The first ISKA run Symposium was by Des Keaney in Achill, about 1999. It made a huge profit off a modest charge and, with REC course(s) by Paul Butcher, first made the ISKA financially confident.
Geo ran ISKA 1991 to 1994 then I ran it until my heart attack in 1997, in each case solo, - newsletters, subscriptions, meets, webpage (ISKA was the first ever Irish canoeing operational webpage, even got there before ICU, May 1995), everything. The term then used was “benevolent autocrat” not “beneficial dictator” – Alan, please, a little decorum? Des came on board as TND editor in late 1997 and later as joint – autocrat benevolent.
As soon as possible I (we?) wrote down our constitution –
Promote Irish sea kayaking
Communication as between Irish sea kayakers
Communication as between Irish sea kayakers and other sea kayakers
Save the planet
That was our set of objectives, the most important aspect of any constitution.
“Governing rules to set-down how to run itself and how ISKA members could take ownership of the association” is a different matter. We didn’t do that, didn’t need to in my day. I got out when I needed to devote all my time to Oileáin, about 2004, which happened to be when an “element of democracy crept in”. Coincidence, not cause. I don’t approve of democracy for situations like ours, never did. I despise democracy, and think it is a weak, pandering PC nonsense. I acknowledge that this isn’t a widely held view.
I would think that Cork, Antrim and Down had their local clubs, however informally, before ISKA, maybe Wexford too. Dublin followed. I was its Daddy, Des was midwife?
ISKA always avidly promoted training. Des and I lead by example, as did many others, at Stephen’s insistence. Both of us and other inner circle types went all the way. ISKA paid 50% of the cost of doing just about anything, up to a ceiling, and for members of one year plus. Not just ICU stuff, REC, whatever. ISKA always treated ICU with suspicion. ICU are (were?) control freaks. Further, their TDU were always the worst of the bad lot. When you sup with the Devil, you should use a long spoon. I see from Alan’s input that peace may have broken out there, but my advice is caution.
Where to now asks Alan ? That’s up to paddlers, current paddlers, not has beens, sorry.
Conor says there is no sea kayaking representation on ICU. In my time I was perpetually pressured to take the position as sea kayaking officer. ICU constitution reflects (at least it used to) an inclusiveness that meant that if a new discipline turned up, an officership would be created for it. Truth be told I would guess you might be pushing an open door if you asked them ?
Conor, any big money in canoeing, and there is little enough of it, is for competition, especially Olympic stuff. Stephen years ago did get a trailer full of Skerrays out of them, but he put his heart, his soul and his life into it. Those Skerrays ended up comprising the first ever “Come and Try It” weekend in 1995, in Shielbaggan. Don’t wish for what you aren’t prepared to sell your soul for !
Chancer, you are so close, so close, so very close ......
DWalsh

[alanhorner]

Jeasus - we might get another book out of you yet.
ISKA - A Political History
Part 1 - The first 15 years...

PS. I was one of your ducklings in a yellow Skerray down in Shielbaggan 1995

[JamieD]

I don\'t normally get involved in debates like this and unlike the previous contributors I have never had an active part at organisational level. I may not even make any sense but here goes.

I was just interested to hear if people see ISKA as a club itself or as an representative group for Sea Kayakers who would all be members of other clubs or groups? Is it ISKA or the local clubs that should be affiliating with Canoeing Ireland? It must be remembered that there are many Sea Kaykers who are not members of ISKA or any other club or organisation for that matter.

I don\'t think Geo has said anything particularly controversial, he has just laid out a few facts. It is an inevitible consequence of a group increasing in size rapidly that the average ability drops somewhat, it may be an indication of how welcoming the group is to novice members but it is true that we must be mindful of keeping standards up.....and so we are back to strategies for Training and Development............

I can\'t make it to the Symp but hope it goes well, Geo there are plenty of people who will sit beside you and even some who might not throw anything at you!

Jamie