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<DIV><SPAN class=843504121-14062008><FONT face=Arial
size=2>6/14/08</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=843504121-14062008><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=843504121-14062008><FONT face=Arial size=2>When I got to the
Secret Beach, Ken and Barb were sitting on the sea wall looking like two beached
seals--all clad in black rubber ready for our Saturday Wet Works. They head over
to the CG beach while I got ready and when I joined them I found Pete and Jeff
Libby there to join us as well. To the side of the beach was another, large
group of paddlers getting ready to head out under the expert tutelage of George
M.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=843504121-14062008></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=843504121-14062008><FONT face=Arial size=2>We all headed
to Pirate's Cove and we could see a couple yakkers already there who turned
out to be the Pilchard bunch. Clearly, they were there to show off their nifty
new two-piece</FONT> <FONT face=Arial size=2>Superior GP's and had already
warmed up with a coastal paddle. The sun wasn't out yet, but the water didn't
seem too cold, but I quickly had to acclimate to the chill. Barb was just
getting out her face mask when it slipped out of her hands heading for the briny
deep. The briny deep only being 10 to 12 feet here, I donned my mask hoping for
a quick retrieval. Sans my PFD, I still was rather buoyant with just my wet suit
top, but managed to make it down, but the Eel Grass in the area was too high and
after a few tries we left it as a sacrifice to the rolling
gods.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=843504121-14062008><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=843504121-14062008><FONT face=Arial size=2>It didn't take long
for Kathy to start to show off with her new paddle. They claimed they were still
getting used to them, but Kathy showed off a real nice butterfly roll that had
her looking like a pro. She gave Ken a few hints and he was able to do one too,
so we already had people learning new skills on the day. About this time, Ben
paddled up from his launch site at NAC and joined in the
practice</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=843504121-14062008><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=843504121-14062008><FONT face=Arial size=2>Every one kind of
paired up to work on sundry skills. H&K worked on more Greenland skills and
Ken helped Jeff try out a paddle float reentry roll. Barb and Pete worked on
reentries and I just seemed to paddle around watching. Jeff wasn't having
any trouble with the paddle float roll, so I graduated him on to my kickboard
paddle float. It helped him add a bit of sweep to the maneuver and soon Ken was
schooling him in the finer aspects of real rolling. Off to the side, Henry was
helping Kathy get set up for a nice static brace. I looked over to see Ben
swimming, the victim of a broken paddle shaft on his roll
attempt.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=843504121-14062008><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=843504121-14062008><FONT face=Arial size=2>After a while, I
asked Jeff if he wanted to come closer to shore where I could stand up and help
him with his roll attempts. Just trying to repeat my rolling class with Jen, I
had him do some hip snaps just holding my hands and he came up rather smartly.
We moved on to me holding the back of his boat and letting him try to roll on
his own and it wasn't taking a lot of help from me to get him up. We gave him
the story of keeping his head down and after a couple more tries he rolled
up all by himself like a real pro. We figured it best he stop on a high
note.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=843504121-14062008><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=843504121-14062008><FONT face=Arial size=2>Since I was already
in the water, I worked with Pete trying out my kickboard paddle float. He was
doing well with that and we moved on to trying some real rolling. With Henry
giving advice and demonstrations, I think we got Pete moving in the right
direction, but we didn't have two new rollers on the day. Still I was glad to
see him doing well with the paddle float roll.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=843504121-14062008><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=843504121-14062008><FONT face=Arial size=2>By this time I
hadn't even tried a real roll yet myself. I'd done a reentry roll earlier only
to find I should have recharged my bilge pump battery last night! My roll of
late has been at the best, iffy. I asked Ken to borrow his boat and despite the
tight fit, enjoyed rolling a boat that seems meant to be rolled. Not to be out
done, Barb was showing some excellent rolling technique. Of course, Ken in
my boat didn't look to have too much trouble rolling my
barge.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=843504121-14062008><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=843504121-14062008><FONT face=Arial size=2>We had had a busy,
successful morning of practice and all decided to head to the Fireside for
lunch. It was nice to be on hand for someone to do their first successful roll
despite the weakest roller giving the advice!</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=843504121-14062008><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=843504121-14062008><FONT face=Arial size=2>Mark
Sanders</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=843504121-14062008><FONT face=Arial size=2><A
href="http://www.sandmarks.net">www.sandmarks.net</A></FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=843504121-14062008><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=843504121-14062008><FONT face=Arial
size=2>#</FONT></SPAN></DIV></BODY></HTML>