In keeping with my I'm On a Boat annual theme and following my adventure down the Missouri river I held a Geocaching boat event over the weekend. I always strive for safety, fun and originality with my events. As such I took steps to ensure I had everything worked out in advance so that those attending could rest at ease. Despite my best efforts though the geocaching goal post was moved. Countless boating events have occurred by myself and others in the area and around the world however after my event went live it was unpublished and I was forced to modify it.
Timeline
8/1 - Boated the MO River in my kayak to get a feel for safety
8/2 - Spoke to US Army Corp of Engineers for rules and regulations
8/4 - Spoke with Reviewer about expectations and necessary steps to be incompliance
8/4 - Arranged rentals so that anyone that doesn't own a kayak could still participate
8/11 - My event publishes on geocaching.com (GC9EQ3K) and Will Attends begin to be posted
8/14 - Event retracted citing, "HQ just sent me a message stating we cannot force people to have an event over water. This is news to me since we have published and attended many of these in the past. There must be a place, reachable by land where the log can be signed."
8/15 - I emailed the appeals address at the recommendation of the local reviewer
8/15 - Having already promised an event to the rental company and local cachers I modified the listing to comply with this rule changing the name from "New Waters" to "Moving Goal Post". The Reviewer is unable to quote the website citing the need for this change.
8/23 - Another boating event in the area is retracted with similar but not the same verbiage
8/23 - Still not hearing from the appeals team I email them again
8/27 - A local boating event that was never retracted or asked to be modified occurs without issue (GC9EYYK). It is held on the exact same lake as previously mentioned event.
8/28 - My event goes off without a hitch and it is wildly popular with attendees
8/30 - As of today there are nearly 60 Boat Required Events still published for future dates
8/30 - I email the appeals group again
8/31 - Response from appeal group stating HQ will not ban boating events and it is up to the individual reviewer
9/1 - MrHarmonica the MO reviewer says he still wont allow events that require a boat
Despite the frustrating inconsistencies my friends and I were steadfast in holding to our event. To my pleasure many cachers took it upon themselves to arrange rides, help newbies, snap photos and make everyone who attended feel welcome. Of the 25 names on my log only 1 claimed an Attend without boating.
8/29/2021