[CKF Info] Surfing at the Aqua Adventures' Symposium

Mon Mar 31 10:00:29 PDT 2008

The pleasure is ours Pat,

We encountered friends that treated us with great hospitality. We enjoyed
very much the course. We thank Jen for organizing these events and the
camaraderie of the Old Farts is unsurpassed.

I noticed how they get along and how they tease each other and how each
would give his safety to help the other.

I’ll write my report when I get home.

Thanks Patrick for the nice words and all others that I shall mention later.

Best Regards,

Rafael.

De: info-bounces at list.ckf.org [mailto:info-bounces at list.ckf.org] En nombre
de P Martin
Enviado el: domingo, 30 de marzo de 2008 23:09
Para: P Martin; CKF email list
Asunto: Re: [CKF Info] Surfing at the Aqua Adventures' Symposium

Having read what I just submitted, I just slapped myself in the forehead.
I've got to add that we were honored to have Raphiel and Gustavo Mier join
us in the class and for the festivities at the Symposium.  These guys came
all the way from Mexico to paddle with us.  Not only are they great paddlers
with some very interesting adventures to share, they are also a couple of
the nicest people one could ever hope to meet.  I wish that we could spend
more time with them.

I hope you guys enjoy your stay and have a safe trip home.  Thank you for
coming so far to paddle and socialize with us.

Mucho gusto,

Patrick Martin

----- Original Message ----- 

From: HYPERLINK "mailto:Captainkayak at earthlink.net"P Martin 

To: HYPERLINK "mailto:info at list.ckf.org"CKF email list 

Sent: Sunday, March 30, 2008 9:30 PM

Subject: [CKF Info] Surfing at the Aqua Adventures' Symposium

Wow!  I think I may have had too much fun.  I've had this big grin stuck on
my face since Friday's surfing class, and as Mark Sanders speculated, it may
be a permanent feature.  And, as if the surfing wasn't enough, everything
else I experienced at the Symposium just bonded the grin deeper into my
psyche.   

So now I'm confused.  I started the week out  grumpy, stressed out, and
weary of work.  This was a perspective that I had grown accustomed to.  I
knew my roll, and although my cynicism may have been a little harsh at
times, I was functional.

But now I'm not only happy, I think I may even be exuberant!  When I go to
work tomorrow, people will not know how to relate to me and I won't know how
to relate to them.  They will likely get suspicious when I don't scowl at
them.  Being upbeat and optimistic may cause them to shy away from me.
Hmmm, on second though, I'm seeing an advantage to this; maybe I will have
an opportunity to get caught up on my work if people try to avoid me for a
while.

It all started with Friday's surfing class taught by two English men, Shawn
Morley and Nigel Foster.  Right from the beginning I was a bit apprehensive
about this class because my classmates included Mike Bode and Mark Sanders.
Mike and Mark are well known as excellent photographers and great story
tellers.  I knew that if I screwed up they would be able to document every
detail to such an extent that it would be useless to try to come up any lame
excuses.

Then, they put me in this silly little boat that looked as if a shark had
nipped of the front and back ends.  And as I tried to paddle what was left
of this boat into the surf, I found that it wanted to go every direction but
straight ahead.  With every stroke the boat tried to spin around and head
back to shore.  Then it dawned on me, having had both it's ends bitten off
by shark attacks, the poor little boat was afraid to go back into the surf;
it just wanted to go someplace safe and hide.

I decided I needed to act like a "Boat Whisperer".  I told the little boat
that it need not worry about being gobbled up by a shark because it was
being paddled by an Old Fart.  To date, no Old Fart has ever been eaten by a
shark because our scent tells the sharks that not only do we taste terrible,
we are so putrid that a shark would get poisoned if it so much as tasted an
Old Fart.  The pep talk convinced the little boat to cooperate with me and
let me paddle it into the surf.

Before I knew it, I was in the surf with a squirrely little boat that wanted
to spin in circles.  I soon found that this boat could run from the surf
going frontward, sideways, or backwards.  There were times when the boat
went in the direction that I wanted it to go.  And there were times when the
boat went into auto pilot and took me where it wanted to go.  And just as I
was beginning to appreciate the little surf boat's sense of humor, Dumpy
showed up and decided to make things interesting.  I found myself being
hoisted high into the air on a big green wave.  The wave was so steep that
it scared my little boat which tried to duck and cover.  The nose of the
little boat dove under water, and as I was being pitch-poled, the noise
coming out of my mouth was the sound of Scrat meeting Dumpy,
"WHAAAAAAA......"

Getting pummeled by Dumpy is definitely an E-Ticket ride.  Not only do you
get bounded and spun all over the place, but Dumpy tries to rob you while he
is bouncing you around like a basketball in a Harlem Globe Trotters game.  I
found Dumpy trying to pull my helmet and goggles off my head.  Then he tried
to pull me out of my boat so that he could pick my pocket.  Fortunately the
little boat did not want to let go of me because it needed me for protection
against sharks.  And with the little boat on my side, I discovered that my
combat roll still worked.

That's when the fun really began with the little boat.  I caught some nice
rides and surprised myself when I found I could actually maneuver the boat
in a limited sort of way.  I've still got a long way to go before I can
boast of any surfing proficiency, but I was off to a great start and having
the time of my life.  All told, I had pulled off about 8 combat rolls while
dueling with Dumpy.  I got knocked over so many times that I was actually
starting to get relaxed while being under water.  Fortunately my roll and my
timing worked so that I did not have to go swimming.

At the end of the day, I wasn't the only one with a case of happy face.
Mike and Mark were also sporting big grins.  It was a lot of fun to be out
there in the surf with those guys and seeing them catching some great rides.
It was also an eye opener to watch Nigel Foster surfing; he was so graceful
cutting back and forth on the front of a wave that he made it look easy.

My thanks to Nigel Foster and Shawn Morley for coaching us in the surfing
class.  And I can not express enough appreciation for Jen Kleck, Jake
Stachovak, and the Aqua Adventures crew for organizing and hosting such a
fantastic Symposium.  

One special moment comes to mind, I was standing next Jen at the bonfire
with a light rain falling.  I commented that the Symposium brought so many
wonderful people together that I was torn between spending time with people
that I didn't get to see very often vs. meeting new people.  Jen summed it
up when she said the Symposium is like a big family reunion.

All the best,

Patrick Martin

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