North Lake Tahoe Bonanza: When the summer temperatures heat up, cooling off in Lake Tahoe is the way to go for at least a dozen Incline Kayak Club members.

The Kayak Club, offered free for Incline pre-teens by the Incline After School Organization, meets every Friday in either the morning from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. or the afternoon from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., schedules and weather permitting. Club outings include instruction, games, drills and often times a destination.

"It's been fun and the club has actually been helping me with my paddling," said eighth-grader-to-be Sharon Golery. "It's fun to paddle with the other kids."

Unlike many of the club members, Sharon grew up kayaking on Lake Tahoe with her family. Her first trip was in a tandem kayak with her dad from Incline Beach to Sand Harbor when she was in third or fourth grade, and after that she was hooked. So far her expeditions have taken her almost all the way around the lake, from Incline Beach to Emerald Bay.

But for many Incline pre-teens, the chance to kayak is more limited.

That's one of the reasons the Incline After School Organization exists, to give the chance to any child who wants to kayak, play soccer, take dance classes, snowshoe, mountain bike, cross country ski or do any after school activity. In the first year of its existence IAO helped bring 21 different after school activities to 200 Incline pre-teens, half of which IAO founder Chris Laramore says come from households where both parents must provide for the family.

Laramore became interested in the after school involvement of Incline's pre-teen population after coaching soccer teams for a number of years, and found the amount of time kids spend watching T.V. and playing video games to be startling.

"We did a survey, with the middle school's permission, to see what kinds of activities the kids would want to participate in if money wasn't an object," Laramore said.

Kayaking made the list, but it took more than a year to establish a working club with a coach and kayaks.

At last Friday's weekly club meeting more members showed up to kayak than Laramore had anticipated, leaving kids on the beach with no boats to use.

But instead of turning potential club members away, Laramore thought fast and ran over to talk with Gary Scott, manager of Action Watersports of Tahoe.

Scott, whose business rents tandem and solo lake kayaks to paddle on Lake Tahoe, donated two tandem kayaks and six paddles for the Kayak Club to use for the day. Other Incline kayak owners, Marnie McArthur, Chuck Swing, the Goleries and Sierra Nevada College have also been generous with their kayaks and equipment.

"It's difficult to raise money for this organization," Laramore said. "But it's important for the costs to be free because even with a small fee you'd lose some kids and we can't afford to do that. By doing what we've been doing we've been able to unite the community."

Laramore is hoping through fundraisers - like the upcoming Kayak-a-thon on Aug. 12, Bingo nights and through private donations - IAO will be able to continue to offer free programs to promote positive youth activities, while expanding to offer more activities in the future.

For more information about IAO visit www.inclineafterschool.org or contact Laramore at (775) 745-6484.

 

Wendy Lautner
Special to the Bonanza