Candidates for the 2025 CCC Board

The Nominating Committee is proud to present to the CCC membership the following candidates for the open positions on the 2025 Board: President, Secretary-Treasurer and Member at Large. Electronic voting begins on November 1 and continues for twenty days.

-President Candidate Jason Jones 

I got into sea kayaking and kayak touring in college at NC State around 2007 and worked several years with their Outdoor Adventure program leading paddling (and other) overnight trips on the coast. At that time, I was planning on a career in the outdoor industry and obtained my Wilderness First Responder and later my Wilderness EMT from Landmark Learning in Sylva, NC. I also have rock climbing certifications. These pursuits instilled a lifelong appreciation in me for the benefits provided through technical safety skills training (I hope to seek the ACA L3 River Canoeing certification in 2025). By the time I graduated law school in Chapel Hill in 2015 I officially owned my first personal boat: a 17’ aluminum canoe I painted candy apple red.

For many years I was a flatwater paddler hunting sunrises and moonlit paddles to catch up with friends or just to have a quiet time with my dog. Around 2020 I began exploring the Haw River and watching a lot of Bill Mason and Ray Goodwin videos. I eventually found the CCC and its awesome community. The CCC led me to many great connections, including memorable New Year’s Day whitewater paddles with Bob Brueckner in 2022 and Zach Schiada in 2023. Getting to know Alton Chewning really stepped up my involvement in the club; he caught me shyly sneaking away from the 2023 CCC holiday party with my son and he kindly caught up with me at my car to chat and make a real connection. Fast forward a few months and Alton is inviting me to graffiti (I mean paint paddling gauges) on bridges, help shoot video footage on the Mayo, and was picking me up on the road sometimes during my solo running shuttles for the Lower Haw.

I’ve greatly enjoyed (understatement) bringing my two boys, age 3 and 5, on the canoe as much as possible and am proud to say they’ve each seen sunrises from the boat, done river cleanups with the CCC, taken naps as babies in the boat, and even dabbled in some tame whitewater (mis)adventure. I am part of a group that does an annual 3-day thru-paddle of the Haw from Guilford County to Jordan lake, which is always a highlight of my year. The Lower Haw is my normal run now, still in the OC2 (I’ve humored myself taking the old Grumman downriver a few times, but mainly paddle either my Old Town Camper or Old Town Kineo 169).

I still enjoy coastal paddling, though now by canoe and usually as a means of reconnecting with old friends who live down that way, getting out in the marshes or making the short jump to Masonboro. Allegedly there have been sightings of a red OC2 in the surf at Atlantic beach the past few years; only rumors, I am sure. In 2024 I started working some with the Haw River Canoe & Kayak Company in Saxapahaw, assisting in paddling instruction for their summer camp as well as having the pleasure of guiding some river trips with the amazing Ben Clarke. Canoeing is the current show in town, but I have other former outdoor hobbies that inform my approach to paddling: I enjoyed triathlons for several years culminating in an Ironman event in 2009; I bike toured for many, many years and soloed the Blue Ridge Parkway in 2012; and I rock climbed extensively from 2007 – 2018 in western North Carolina and other states, coming to love the more remote places like the north side of Looking Glass, Laurel Knob, and Linville Gorge.

Candidacy Statement: I am happy to volunteer my time for the benefit of the CCC and have reason to think my skillset and outlook may be of service. I have held leadership roles often in life: varsity swim team captain, college outdoor guiding, leading a cancer-focused estate planning pro bono clinic in law school, serving on a legislative committee for substantive estate law development in North Carolina, serving on the Board of Directors for the North Carolina Civil Collaborative Lawyers Association, and serving since 2020 on the 18th Judicial District’s Mentorship Committee which I have chaired since 2023.

Since 2022 I have been involved with CCC events like the Haw River cleanup, the bridge gauge repainting process, providing logistical/trailer-pulling support for the Kayaking 101 safety day in May of 2024, and weighing in as I have been able on some of the legal questions that come up online. While I am happy to not be constantly tied to my phone and email, I am reliably responsive and deliver on action items I commit to. When thinking about any goals or areas of interest were I to become the President three ideas come to mind: (1) establishing a committee to recommend options for club involvement in supporting WNC relief after hurricane Helene, such as organizations to support financially, opportunities to volunteer in person, and opportunities to conduct fundraising as a club through some type of event; (2) considering ways to highlight and honor and tell the stories of mentorships in the club to both pay homage to those mentors but also to show newcomers “how” the club works; and (3) considering ways to ensure paddlers feel represented statewide through different paddling opportunities, such as offering clinics or events in the coastal and mountain regions.

Secretary-Treasurer Candidate Helga M. Trocha, CPA, MST, NY/NJ

Seeing how, I am from NY/NJ, most people don’t know much about me, except I have been showing up for the past couple of years to Week of Rivers.   Therefore, I apologize, but my intro will be longer than most.

I am from the Tristate area of NY/NJ/(CT).  Lived in NYC most of my life and where I went to school.  Most of my life was in the city, specifically Queens NY.  My childhood was split, spending a good amount of time in the Catskill Mountains of NY, where my parents had a second home with 25 acres of land. Where I developed my love for the outdoors.

At our “farm” I grew up mountain biking before it was a “thing”.  Roamed the woods and fields, from one farm to the next, my city friends called it “Hiking” I called it walking.  Learned how to swim in a creek 3 miles down the road, on a bad swimming day sharing the swimming hole with the cows.    I tried to learn how to ice skate on the neighbor’s frozen pond and learned you wear long pants for blackberry picking.   November was hunting season, for men only, women stayed home.

When I got older, partying and dancing in Manhattan or Long Island, college, work – normal stuff.

Fast forward, once settled in my career, work took over my life.  From a sort of revelation, I decided to seek out fun stuff, to enjoy life.   I went back to my roots: mountain biking and downhill skiing and then picked up new hobbies like scuba diving and indoor rock climbing.

Someone suggested kayaking, a boat in the mountains on a river.  Why not try it?  I booked a two-day trip, the outfitter refused to book a three-day trip for this city girl. Expressed concern I may not like it.   The first thing I learned from my instructor was – what a kayak was.  I had no idea at all, never saw one.  He walked me into the barn and said, “this is kayak”.    26 years later, I own my 3^rd boat.   I have kayaked the Rouge river – Montreal, Ottawa – Ontario, Mexico, Scotland, France, Austria’s Salzar and Salach rivers, and the famous Soca River in Slovenia.  Also in many states, new this year was Tennessee.

The summer is kayaking, winter is skiing, fall is biking/hiking and year-round I do martial arts Karate (going for my second-degree black belt) and Jujutsu (still white belt), and some other stuff.  My work is seasonal Spring and Fall tax seasons.

Now the boring stuff – I am a CPA, practicing in public accounting for my entire career. My undergraduate degree is Accounting, my Masters is in Tax Law.   As a CPA, I understand bookkeeping and have done it. I review and compile financials as needed.  My experience is pretty much taxation, entities and HNW (high net worth individuals), with multiple state tax returns and sometimes international tax reporting and compliance, something I enjoy.

Most relevantly, I have experience with non-for-profit accounting and tax compliance, not much, but some.   I am involved with the NYS Society of Certified Public Accounts, the Multi-State committee and International committee.   I have been the chair for the International committee for two years and the chair for the international conference for the past four years.   After being forbidden to start the conference with the pledge of allegiance, I did it anyway.

I am a former Board member for the KCCNY, Kayak and Canoe Club of New York and for one year the treasurer. As an active member with KCCNY, I have organized a couple of trips. I was their training chair for a year and attempted to organize safety and rescue training.  I couldn’t get that off the ground.  I am also a member of AMC (Appalachian Mountain Club) – NY/NJ chapter, not very active.

CCC impressed me from the first day I showed up on my first WOR.  Everyone I met was just amazing, the event is run flawlessly, obviously with a lot of behind-the-scenes work, planning and teamwork.  Teamwork with friends.  I am happy to volunteer and be your new treasurer, and/or assist CCC in any other capacity as you would see fit, and as feasible for me being here in NJ.

Member at Large Candidate Lorraine Burnham

In 2006, I reignited my curiosity for white water kayaking, after a current CCC member took me on the Nanty, from Ferebee through the Falls, for two consecutive days using borrowed white water kayak and gear. (My only previous experience was a NOC beginner clinic in the late 90’s.)  Despite 3 swims in 2 days, I was still interested in paddling whitewater and took my friend’s advice to attend roll sessions in Raleigh over the Fall and Winter, and join CCC so I could meet other paddlers and take clinics with certified instructors.

Nearly 20 years later, I am still a member of CCC, despite moving to Charlotte in 2012, then north Georgia in 2021.  Over the years, I served as secretary/treasurer for a couple of terms, organized club trips on NC and TN rivers and the Russell Fork and was interim education chair in 2012.  My favorite rivers over the years include the Nantahala, the middle Ocoee, the Middle Fork of the Salmon, and the Tellico.  I also enjoy flat water paddling, especially Mountain Island Lake in Charlotte and the beautiful, pristine lakes in Upstate South Carolina.

Now that I am an older paddler, and live away from the North Carolina I feel that I have experience and perspective to bring to the table for this position, since I have had memberships with six other paddling clubs in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.  These other clubs achieve some of the same goals for their members, but I have always been drawn back to the CCC for the annual Week of Rivers, and great friendships built over the years.  It is time to once again “give back” to the club I love.

The Nominating Committee encourages you to please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the candidates and the voting process.  Another announcement, closer to the start of voting on November 1, will review the process of voting. The most important thing to do is vote.

Nominating Committee,

Diana Haywood, Joe Berry, Alton Chewning, Chair