[Paddlewise] 2009 CKF Fest

I figure it's quite enough here, I may as well bore people with a recount of
our CKF Fest last Sunday.
As I mentioned, Duane was in charge this year and the festivities benefited
from, shall I say, his regimented nature!! No more dilly dallying all day,
Duane was always ready to blow his conch shell to start the next activity.
Of course it was mostly a gab fest, but early birds paddled the Naples
canals or gamboled about by the shore. It was a nice, warm and a bit
overcast day.

Near 10:00, Duane started to get people lined up for a relay race. In the
past, these water games have often fizzled out due to lack of interest and I
personally was looking to save myself for the rolling competition. Still, I
figured I'd better join in in case the teams looked a little meager. Fat
chance-we had 20 people ready to go and broke up into two teams. I figured
I'd go first for mine so I'd have time to rest and maybe in the back of my
mind, I thought I didn't really have to paddle real hard, but at the
signaled start, Chris got the jump on me and I started paddling for all I
was worth!

Seemed to me I was closing in on Chris when he turned the buoy. I was a bit
wide and thought I'd throw a real big sweep stroke to get me on a good
angle. Perhaps it was because I'd borrowed Barb's short 205 paddle for the
rolling, but when I planted my blade, there was nothin' there! On this
simple, flat water paddle, I was going over. Can you say embarrassing?? Of
course, Duane had told us we didn't need our spray skirts, so my boat was
full of water. I was a bit short of breath from my sprint and despite my
usual luck with reentry rolls, was getting nowhere! Matter of fact, I'd
never tried rolling the Sapsucker full of water, but I can't believe it
would be that much harder than the Lollygagger! And all the while I was
thinking: "I'm supposed to be in the rolling competition later"??? Anyway, a
teammate came out and gave me a bow and I hurried to shore, but Duane
decided the best course of action was to restart the race, a decision he'll
probably be hearing about for quite a while!!!

Now I was last in line and first was Ken, who couldn't help heaping a bit of
shame on me before he left. Turns out, he should have kept it to himself,
because right after he rounded the buoy, over he went! We were glad he had
more success rolling back up and despite the setback, the race was on.
Needless to say, the universe was put right as despite our glitches, we
cruised to an easy come from behind win.

The rolling contest was quite a spectacle with a good turn out of
participants including quite a few women one of whom tied for first. It
turned out to be a 3 way tie for first with 10 rolls in 30 seconds, even if
Duane did cheat by just using his hands!! I'm afraid I was a bit winded from
my double race duties and settled for just 7, but when I think of my lack of
rolling prowess just at the beginning of the year, I can't complain too
loud.

The rest of the day was spent with food and entertainment. Steve Wilson
provided most of the music although accompanied usually by some other member
of the CKF Music Dept. I helped him out with both tambourine and washboard.
There was swag to be handed out and Duane sold an excellent redwood GP he'd
carved just for the occasion. I'd brought a GP I'd carved to sell as well,
but lent it out on a zero down lease with option to buy. Ended up going home
looking like a lobster after a fun and eventful day on the beach.

Various pics at:

http://www.duane.smugmug.com/gallery/8256700_xFe4G#540154194_NKweL


http://www.hbkayaker.net/albums/fest_2009/

Mark Sanders
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