Martin Myers appears to have solved the insurance problem for this
year. I have received two of the three indemnification certificates I
need for the Lake Sammamish race, and Martin is working on getting me
the third one.

Thank you, Martin!

Race directors, if you need to provide proof of insurance for permits
or participation by outside organizations, contact Martin.

FYI.

--Michael Lampi

--- In SoundRowers@..., "Michael Lampi" <lampi@m...> wrote:

Martin Myers appears to have solved the insurance problem for this
year. I have received two of the three indemnification certificates I
need for the Lake Sammamish race, and Martin is working on getting me
the third one.

Thank you, Martin!

Race directors, if you need to provide proof of insurance for permits
or participation by outside organizations, contact Martin.

FYI.

--Michael Lampi

For those of you whom I did not contact directly via e-mail, there has
been quite a flurry of activity in the past couple of days regarding
Sound Rowers' insurance coverage.

It turns out that our would-be insurance through US Rowing did not
cover paddlers. We ended up getting insurance through the Masters
Rowing Association. The MRA seems to be the only organization that
can cover paddlers and rowers. They will cover pretty much any human
powered boats - even pedal boats. :-)

If any Sound Rowers member is currently a member of the Masters
Rowing Association, please make that fact known ASAP as it will
reduce our costs. As a side benefit, each SR member will have MRA
"racer membership" and be eligible for discounts at other MRA
sponsored events.

We will also need to get signed MRA waivers as soon as possible from
each SR member that we can forward to the MRA.

Nonmembers will have to pay $8 for insurance at each race, though
the various race directors might roll this into their nonmember racer
fee. I know that for Lake Sammamish I'm going to have to raise the
rate for nonmembers to $15. Who knows? It might even cause more folks
to join Sound Rowers, as the break even point is about 3 races.

Details regarding the basic program can be found at the MRA web site:
http://www.mastersrowing.org/articles.cfm?action=read&cat=1&column_ID=393

Some additional benefits:
1. No additional fees for our races.
2. No additional fees for indemnification certificates.
3. Volunteers are included in the coverage, whether they are SR
members or not. They just have to sign the MRA waiver.

I think there will be some discussion about this at La Conner this
weekend. Martin Myers and I will be available to try to answer any
questions anyone might have.

See you there!

--Michael Lampi