Read this. It gives up legal rights, including the right to sue, for you and for your family.
ASSUMPTION OF RISK, RELEASE OF LIABILITY, COVENANT NOT TO SUE, AND INDEMNITY AGREEMENT
READ THIS CAREFULLY. IT AFFECTS YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS. BY ACCEPTING IT YOU GIVE UP THE RIGHT TO SUE FOR INJURIES, INCLUDING INJURIES CAUSED BY OUR NEGLIGENCE, AND YOU DO SO ON BEHALF OF YOUR FAMILY AND YOUR ESTATE.
1. WHAT THIS EVENT IS
Paddle Laguna Beach is a 12.5-mile open-ocean prone paddleboard race from El Moro (Crystal Cove State Park) to Capo Beach (Dana Point), held in July. It is a point-to-point crossing conducted in open, unprotected water, well away from shore, and it is an extreme test of physical and mental limits.
2. THE RISKS, WHICH I ACCEPT
I understand that open-ocean paddling is inherently and unavoidably dangerous, and that this event carries a real risk of DEATH, drowning, permanent disability, and serious injury. The risks include, without limitation:
- Drowning, near-drowning, water aspiration, and loss of consciousness in the water.
- Hypothermia, heat illness, dehydration, cramping, exhaustion, and cardiac events.
- Surf, shorebreak, swell, chop, wind, tides, rip and longshore currents.
- COLLISION WITH VESSELS. This course crosses and parallels active boating water, including traffic entering and leaving Newport Harbor and Dana Point Harbor. Powerboats may not see a prone paddler.
- Collision with safety craft, jet skis, escort craft, other paddlers, or their equipment.
- Rocks, reefs, kelp, and shallow hazards, including the passage at the Bird Rock gate and the beach-run and re-launch at the Three Arch Bay isthmus.
- Marine life, including sharks, rays, and jellyfish.
- Sun and heat exposure over three to four hours with no shade.
- Equipment failure, including board, leash, fin, and paddle.
- The condition of the water and the weather, which can change during the race.
- The acts or omissions of other participants, volunteers, safety operators, escort craft, spectators, officials, and the organizers themselves, INCLUDING THEIR NEGLIGENCE.
- Risks that are not foreseeable and are not listed here.
I EXPRESSLY AND VOLUNTARILY ASSUME ALL OF THESE RISKS, known and unknown, and I accept full responsibility for any harm that comes to me.
3. THERE IS NO GUARANTEE OF RESCUE
Safety craft may be present. THEY CANNOT GUARANTEE MY SAFETY. They may not see me. They may not reach me in time. They may be occupied with another paddler. Medical care on the water is limited or unavailable, and evacuation from open ocean takes time. I am responsible for my own decisions on the water, including the decision to stop.
4. MY CONDITION AND MY EQUIPMENT
I am physically fit and sufficiently trained to complete a 12.5-mile open-ocean crossing. I can swim. No medical professional has advised me against this. I am not under the influence of alcohol, illicit drugs, or any prescription medication that would impair me. I am solely responsible for the condition and adequacy of my own board, leash, and equipment. I am not relying on the organizers to judge my fitness, my ability, or my gear.
5. THE RULES, AND THE AUTHORITY OF RACE OFFICIALS
I have read the race rules and I agree to comply with them; failure to comply is negligence on my part. I agree to abide by any decision of a race official regarding my participation. I acknowledge and AGREE IN ADVANCE that race officials, safety operators, and safety craft may refuse my entry, remove me from the water, or end my race at any time and for any reason, including if I am behind a cutoff, if conditions deteriorate, or if in their sole judgment I am unsafe or unable to finish. I will follow the instructions of safety craft immediately. If I withdraw or do not start, I WILL NOTIFY RACE STAFF IMMEDIATELY, because an unreported missing paddler triggers an emergency search and can end the event for everyone.
6. MEDICAL TREATMENT AND WHO PAYS
I authorize the organizers, medical personnel, and safety operators to provide or summon emergency medical care, rescue, and evacuation for me, and to make decisions on my behalf if I cannot. I ACCEPT FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY for all costs of that care, including treatment, medication, ambulance, boat rescue, helicopter or other evacuation, and hospitalization. I have my own health insurance, or I accept that I have none.
7. WHO I AM RELEASING
"Released Parties" means: Paddle Laguna Beach and the entity that produces it; Lundquist Surfboards and Lundquist Inc.; Blake Lundquist individually; the race directors, officials, timers, volunteers, safety operators, jet ski and escort craft operators and their vessels; the event sponsors; every other participant in the event; AND, to the extent they have any involvement in or connection with this event: the State of California and the California Department of Parks and Recreation (Crystal Cove State Park); the City of Laguna Beach and its Marine Safety Department; the City of Dana Point; the City of Newport Beach; the County of Orange and OC Parks; the Orange County Sheriff's Department Harbor Patrol; the United States Coast Guard; and all owners, lessees, and operators of any property, beach, launch, or facility used for this event. It includes each of their officers, directors, employees, agents, contractors, representatives, and volunteers.
8. RELEASE, COVENANT NOT TO SUE, AND INDEMNITY
For myself, AND ON BEHALF OF MY SPOUSE, MY CHILDREN, MY PARENTS, MY GUARDIANS, MY HEIRS, MY NEXT OF KIN, AND MY EXECUTORS, ADMINISTRATORS, PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVES, SUCCESSORS AND ASSIGNS, I:
(a) RELEASE, WAIVE AND FOREVER DISCHARGE the Released Parties from any and all claims, demands, damages, and causes of action of any kind arising out of or relating to my participation in this event, my travel to and from it, and my presence at it, INCLUDING CLAIMS ARISING FROM THE ORDINARY NEGLIGENCE OF THE RELEASED PARTIES, and including claims for my death;
(b) COVENANT NOT TO SUE any of the Released Parties on any such claim;
(c) INDEMNIFY, DEFEND AND HOLD HARMLESS the Released Parties from any claim brought by me OR BY ANYONE ON MY BEHALF, including my family and my estate, and from any resulting loss, liability, damage, or cost, including attorneys' fees.
THIS RELEASE DOES NOT APPLY TO, AND I DO NOT RELEASE, any liability arising from the GROSS NEGLIGENCE, RECKLESSNESS, or WILLFUL MISCONDUCT of a Released Party, or from any liability that cannot be released under California law. This agreement is intended to be an EXPRESS ASSUMPTION OF RISK and shall be construed as broadly as California law allows.
9. PHOTOGRAPHS AND VIDEO
I grant Paddle Laguna Beach the right to use my name, image, likeness, voice, and race results in photographs, video, and other media, in any format, to report on, promote, or document this event or the sport of paddleboarding, without compensation. This is NOT consent to use my likeness to endorse any product or service, which would require my separate written permission.
10. COMMUNICABLE DISEASE
I understand that gathering with other people carries a risk of exposure to communicable disease, and I assume that risk.
11. THE REST
If any part of this agreement is held unenforceable, the rest remains in full force. This is the entire agreement between me and the Released Parties about liability, and no oral statement by anyone has induced me to sign it. It is governed by California law, and any dispute will be brought in the state courts of Orange County, California.
I HAVE READ THIS AGREEMENT. I UNDERSTAND THAT I AM GIVING UP SUBSTANTIAL LEGAL RIGHTS, INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO SUE. I SIGN IT FREELY AND VOLUNTARILY.
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