SEE BELOW CLARIFICATION OF DAY LICENCES / AFFILIATION TO GCU / CSA – FROM COPPER SIMPKINS:
AND….. ALSO BELOW – GCU ADVICE TO UPGRADE SOCIAL AFFILIATION TO FULL RACING AFFILIATION…..
THANK YOU…
“Social membership” and “Day licenses”.
Many paddlers, who don’t wish to race an entire season, find the annual subscription fee (CSA and union) to be excessive.
They either choose to sneak into 2 races unregistered, giving the organisers headaches, or they don themselves in a lot of lycra and ridiculous looking sunglasses and climb onto a bicycle seat that looks like it was designed by a pervert.
The CSA and union fee (approximately the price of a dinner with the family or a round of golf) is often viewed as a “barrier to entry”. (Even for some who have daughters who ride horses).
The CSA board, in its immense wisdom, made a decision a year or so ago, to introduce the category of “social member”.
This membership category costs the princely sum of one hundred SA ront. It officially registers you with CSA and allows you to enter club time trials, minor flatwater races, and inshore surfski races (once you have completed the respective proficiency test). It does not allow you to enter any major races, provincial championships, river races, or open ocean races. So, paddlers wishing to enter the short inshore surfski series races such as the Marine Series, the Seadog series, the wall and back series, etc, plus some of the flatwater races (like the Vaalies do around all sorts of ponds), can do so with no guilt by parting with one small buffalo.
The organisers of races who allow unregistered paddlers to participate in their races are putting themselves under massive exposure WRT public liability.
They are also compromising our delicate relationship with SAMSA.
Those paddlers wishing to register themselves under this category, who then decide to become full members (because their mate convinces them to do the Fish or Berg), will need to then register themselves as full members (and kiss their Buffalo goodbye).
An indication of why Gauteng is the economic hub of the country is the fact that in a single club alone in that province, there are over 400 registered social members.
In the Western Cape – zero.
We have even gone one step further.
We have introduced a “day license” for major races.
Many paddlers complain that it is unfair that are obliged to pay an entire years’ worth of registrations when they only ever do one race a year. Whether it be the Drak, the Fish, the Umko, etc.
They threaten to invoke the “lycra clause”.
To combat this exodus, CSA has introduced a “day license”.
The way it works is this.
If you have been a fully registered paddler before, you can elect to race one major race per year without having to pay a CSA or union registration fee.
You will, however, be charged a fee equal to 50% of the race entry (over and above the actual race entry).
Also, if you have utilised your one “day license” and you then decide to do another major race, you will need to pay a full membership, and kiss your 50% goodbye.
Life is full of choices.
These dispensations (social and day license) have nothing to do with club fees.
Your club fees should be aligned with value received in the form of facilities and cold beers.
We, as a federation are trying to grow the sport and encourage participation.
We have to do this within the parameters that are dictated to us by outside agencies like SAMSA, SASCOC, SRSA, SAPS, Events act, ex-wives, etc.
Many of the rules that we have had to introduce are not put there out of our own free will but because we have to comply with certain conditions.
The CSA rules that are in place have not been handed down to us by Pontius Pilate.
They have been formulated, over the years, by paddlers such as yourselves.
If you do not like them, make an effort to have them changed (or just opt for the lycra).
Your SG Copper 1111
FROM GCU / RENE: TO UPGRADE FROM SOCIAL MEMBERSHIP TO RACING MEMBERSHIP:
If you are registered as a social member and wish to participate in races, you need to upgrade your registration to a full membership PER process below:.
Should a social member now want to upgrade to a full senior, they will unfortunately forfeit the period remaining on their social licence.
When they purchase their new licence, they will obviously get a full year’s licence from that purchase date again.
Email info@gcu.co.za to edit existing licence expiry date in order to be able to purchase a new licence.
Thus, if you want to upgrade your membership, please send the information through to me asap so we can sort it out in time.
Thank you
Rene
Gauteng Canoeing
083 267 7184 Tel
086 619 2378 Fax