Duty Officer

The Duty Officer is responsible for ensuring that everything is unlocked and in the right place at the beginning of a club session, and that everything is put away properly and locked up again at the end. No club basin session can run without a Duty Officer, however, this doesn’t necessarily need to be established in advance of the session. For the usual Tuesday night sessions this is best done in advance, by signing up to the role on the coaches rota forum. There is no role specific training or experience level required to be the duty officer, and every member of the club is encouraged to take their turn. It is a great way to learn your way around the site and make introductions.

Things to note

The duty officer must have a mobile phone for use in an emergency.

The role does not need to be carried out by one individual per evening, as long as everything is taken care of. For example, a paddler who intends to go on the river may not be the best person to hang onto the basin keys during the session, or be expected to open the cages at the end of the session as they will not be there in time. Further to this, a member may not be able to arrive by 6:30 to collect the keys at the beginning of the session, but can stay to the end etc. To faciltate the above, add a note to your sign-up stating “Can’t be early” or “Going on river” etc. Another member can then sign up to fill in the gaps.

If you are coaching that evening, you will most likely not have time to carry out the DO role.

At the start of the evening

• Arrive by 6:30pm or earlier if you can.
• Get the keys from John. John lives in the right hand of the two houses on site (H on the Basin site plan).
• Unlock the Club office (A).
• Unlock and open the doors to the paddle store (B) and the three boat cages (C, D, E). You must not go onto the pontoon without a BA.
• Unlock and open the doors to the buoyancy aid room (F) and move the cag rack into the corridor.
• On a busy evening, unlock and open the "Garage" paddle store (G).
• Put up the whiteboard and make sure there are marker pens available.
• Put out the river log folder on the whiteboard.

As people arrive

• Greet and help any newcomers.
• Help people find kit and remind them to put it back where they found it.
• Remind people to sign up on the white board.
• Ensure that all river paddlers complete the river log.

When everybody is on the water

Around 7pm

• Take a photo of the white board. A list of attendees may be needed for Track and Trace purposes, and is very handy for the Social Rep’s food shopping prediction!
• Put the whiteboard and the river log folder back in the office.
• Close and lock the office, the paddle store and the three boat cages.
• Close the buoyancy aid room.
• Go and paddle yourself!

During the evening

• Keep the high visibility vest on when on the water, so that everyone can easily see who has the keys if they need them! (Tie it through one of the grab handles if you prefer.)

At the end of paddling

Around 8:30pm

• Unlock and open the cages and doors.

At the end of the evening

• Check the club paddle store - are all the spray decks actually ours and are all the paddles actually ours?
• If it was opened, check the basin paddle store - are all the paddles actually theirs?
• Check the buoyancy aid room again (all BAs are zipped and clipped, all cags are hung up). Put the cag rack back inside and lock the door.
• Ensure that those open canoes that are kept on the water are tied up at their far end with the rope that is attached to the walkway so that they do not blow about in the wind. Make sure that they are all secured to the basin by their painter and that they are secured from theft by running the wire through each and securing the wire with the padlock.
• Lock all of the cages, the river gate, the basin paddle store, our paddle store, our office and the buoyancy aid room.
• Return the keys to John (no later than 10:30pm)
• Go to the pub and collect the drink that somebody will have bought for you.

More

• Basin site plan
• Coaching rota forum