Our Crowdfunding Groups
Thank you to everyone who made a gift to this project! While this round of weR Gold closed June 30, you may still support students with your gift by visiting the Rensselaer Giving website.
As a leader it’s imperative that I can trust my gear to keep both me and my participants safe so that I can focus on leading and teaching during moments of intense whitewater.” – Tim Schwed, whitewater kayaking and rafting leader, guide, and instructor.
Your gift will help us open up new doors for students to experience the niche opportunities involved in whitewater kayaking. We encourage students to get outside and embrace the outdoors while learning and developing leadership, teamwork, and camaraderie.
The Rensselaer Outing Club prides itself on offering access to new hobbies for a diverse student population. We emphasize safety and develop leadership through our activities. This project will impact Rensselaer by providing us better materials to train more students and cultivate a culture of responsibility and integrity.
Why should you support us? Cause we’re the coolest club on campus! Currently we have 7 functioning whitewater kayaks, all of which have had numerous repairs and have been fixed by students. While these kayaks are “sea-worthy” they are approaching the end of their lifespan. One of the club goals is to build students' leadership abilities by introducing them to new sports such as whitewater kayaking. It is difficult to achieve this goal safely with this number of boats and their current conditions. At the last training session, we had 26 students enthusiastically show up to learn this new outdoor activity. It is normal for us to receive more than 30 requests to join any kayaking trip. We do the best we can, but we are confident everyone would have a better experience if the equipment was in better working condition.
These boats are also approximately 35 years old (based on model research and past budgets). As students of this prestigious institute, we recognize how quickly technology changes due to research development and advancements. We feel it is part of our responsibility to update club equipment as technology enhances to keep our members as informed and prepared as possible. The design of our current boats adds an element of complexity to our simpler trips in taking beginners down a river. New boat models are more friendly to novice paddlers and would be easier to handle and learn. They would also promote our ability to enforce proper techniques in swift water rescue with the most efficient tools possible.
Our goal is to purchase 6 new boats that are made of better materials; boats that are stronger, more durable, and designed for the rivers in the northeastern part of the United States. The new boats we anticipate purchasing are designed and shaped for beginners. The inside of the boats will have adjustable seats, back straps, and foot pedals, along with pads for hips and knees. These features are important to mold the kayak to the handler. These are both important safety characteristics and enhance the comfort of new paddlers. The current boats represent outdated standards and do not have sufficient amounts of these attributes. This adds to the intensity and stress involved in training.
The outside of the new boats will also have different handles, ones made of plastic rather than the current cloth handles. This is an industry standard for boat manufacturers today that will enable the boat to be easier to grab in the event of a rescue situation, allowing all to be focused on the quick and efficient recovery of the student and their equipment should this situation arise.
The purchasing of the six new boats with the upgraded features and technology will assist in the continued enjoyment, stress relief, and overall well-being of RPI students.
As one of the oldest and largest clubs on campus, the Rensselaer Outing Club is a student-run club operating under the Rensselaer Union in Troy, N.Y. Our goal is to provide our club members of all skill levels the opportunity to go on wilderness trips, rent an assortment of gear, and attend affordable wilderness training to further one’s knowledge of the outdoors and outdoor adventure sports. For more information, please visit the Rensselaer Outing Club website.
A fiddler crab will sketch your name in a plaque for our whole club to see!
Your name will be passed down through the club for generations via the mystical grey fox!
