Peter O'Sullivan rolling 12 times in 30 seconds to maintain his title 1.5 MB WMV movie or .5 MB WMV movie

Duane Strosaker rolling 11 times in 30 seconds (soooo close!) 1.6 MB WMV movie or .6 MB WMV movie

Dave O'Connor rolling 10 1/2 times in 30 seconds for a close third .5MB WMV movie

Rafael rolling 4 times (plus a handicap of 6) puts him a close fourth .5 MB WMV movie

Pictures by Ray Roux
click to see larger picture

CKF Booth	Boats ready to go	Boats for sale
Len introducing CKF coordinators, staff, and speakers	Gregg Ecker from Xstreamline showing us new toys	Jenn Kleck from Aqua Adventures tells about her recent BCU 5 star rating and essential equipment to pack
Wayne Horodowich of USK talks about rescues and how to store/wear equipment	Joanne Schwartz of Southwind Kayak Center tells of the history of CKF and warns how regulators are limiting access to kayakers	Lots of food and hungry people

Reports

My wife, Susan, my daughter, Nicole, and her friend Adrienne, as well as I had an awesome time at the CKF Fest today! It was the third CKF Fest, and by far, the best. The talks by the pros, Greg from Extremeline, Jen from Aqua Adventures, Wayne from USK, and Joanne from Southwind, all covered different aspects of kayaking and provided their own very interesting views. The potluck had a lot of goodies. The rolling contest was quite competitive, with a big congratulations going to Peter O', who won with 12 rolls in 30 seconds. Len's idea of a pie eating and kayak racing team relay turned out to be very exciting, with Nicole, 12, and Adrienne, 11, kicking butt paddling and holding their own against the adults. There were plenty of good prizes to go around in the raffle. Of course, there was all of the chatting too. I do have to say that we are a wonderful group of people.

A big thanks has to go to Len, for his continuing leadership of the club, and to all of the many others who help in so many different ways! Without them awesome days like today couldn't happen.

Duane Strosaker

This was a terrific event. Each year it gets even better. I agree that the talks by reps of the various local kayaking companies gave a new depth of information to the club.

So much fun rekindling friendships with old friends and starting new ones too.

Kudos to Len for being our fearless leader and hanging in there and to Madeline for being the constant power behind the throne.

Thanks to Rafael and Ken for making the LONG trip from Queretaro, Mexico and Corpus Christi, Texas and bringing those beautiful Mayan Seas kayaks produced by Rafael and so generously donated to raise funds for local paddling oriented chariities.

Thanks everyone for coming and sharing your enthusiasm & energy.!!!

Ann & Emmet Berkery

Len, Madeline, Mike, Ann, Ray, oh how the list goes on...........those who brought the chow, got pie and paddled, sold boats of every kind and the list goes on.......

It was a pleasure meeting a local neighbor from Mexico, Rafael! I hope one day I will be able to paddle in Mexico with you and your club. Please keep us posted via your emails and tell us of your events and who knows when you might see one of ( or a bunch of ) us in your beautiful back-yard.

It was great hearing the latest from Joanne about our need to "protect" all of our precious resources/paddling areas. And Jen I would love to join you in an "Ladies Day Only" in your neck of the woods. Wayne it's always a pleasure to hear your words of wisdom-THINK don't just react! Greg from Extremeline it was great to hear you talk about your approach to kayaking and show us some of your products.

My personal congratulations to Chris Wood for out-bidding me in the auction. I'm sorry now that I didn't outbid you and get that beautiful glass boat that Rafael designed and manufactured!

And now for the fun all you CKF'ers......Chris has the choice of how to spend the $600.00 donation he made to the Channel Islands National Park when he out-bid me for the Mayan kayak. And he needs your help with some ideas as where the money should go with-in the Park. I have already received some input and I invite you to send me your idea's how the money should be spent. When I get plenty of ideas I will forward them onto Chris then meet with the Park Superintendent Russell Galipeau, Jr. to see how best this money can be used at our Park. I will keep you posted on the results.

Muchas gracias Rafael, for your generous contribution of the Performa Sea Kayak! We'll never know how many folks will enjoy the benefits of your generosity.....and that's the beauty of giving!

A huge thanks to each and everyone, about 60+ of us, for making our 3rd Annul CKF Fest the best! Give yourselves a pat-on-the-back, a big hug or a Hershey's kiss!!! You did get your "kiss" from Mike when you renewed your membership didn't you???

Everyone pitched in to make it a fun-tastic day! Even the kids on the newest kayak-design of the horse and bull! I heard one of them say this was going to be the next boat to cross over from Channel Islands harbor to Anacapa! Check out the website for pictures!

I can't wait for our next event.....oh yes..... that should be the Green River in Utah this coming weekend!

Happy paddlin'
Paula

That was the best kayak club land event I've ever been to! There was something for everyone-- wonderful food, gossip, free training, prizes for almost anyone, swap meet, contests, harbor paddle, kayak auction and good comradeship. PyroPeter won the roll contest and bragging rights again, but Duane and Dave were very impressive and others are coming up to speed. Let's see if Pyro can hold off geezerhood for another year and triumph in '05!

Special thanks to Len for organizing it, the CKF officers for filling out the events and to our commercial kayaking partners, such as Jen and Gregg of Aqua Adventures, Joan and Doug of Southwind and Greg of Extremeline.

Last, but not least, thanks to Rafael of Mayan Seas Kayaks for loaning us the Performa kayak for two years, donating it for the auction, to raise money for The Channel Islands National Park and providing us with the latest top of the line model for CKF'ers to try out and play with. It is now available to people to be used, with oversight from a known, reputable club member who will assume responsibility for it while loaned out, then returned at the agreed upon time. I'll be bringing it to CKF events occasionally and on request.

Regards,
George Miller

As you all, I got back home and wrote my report on the first chance. It is just that it took me three days to get home and one night to talk about it with my kids and wife.

With my sincere thanks to Ken Johnson who gladly accepted crossing half the USA with me, and more thanks since he accepted to do it again backwards.

Also to Ann and Emmet Berkery who opened their house for us. Besides excellent hospitality we could enjoy the magnificent way in which they have decorated it to stay up with its age. All old furniture exquisitely arranged with all kinds of details of curiosities belonging to those days. Old crank phones, early century freezer, etc. I even looked at the computer tag date, you never know. They know how to get the most joy of life. Thanks a lot.

Thanks to Jen and Gregg at Aqua Adventures for getting for us in such short notice all the things we needed to bring back. They are so professional and friendly. Thanks to Doug and Joan at Southwind Kayak Center, for receiving us so warmly and providing us with some good stuff.

I had not had the pleasure to meet Len Goodman, and he surpassed all my already high expectations. He is our leader and his good spirit, love for the sport, commitment with the club, and great human being captured all of us. Thanks Len for organizing such a fun, fluent, great, great day, and for continuing as head of our Club. Thanks too to Ray and Paula for their good collaboration.

I had only exchanged mails with many members, but it was such a moving experience to see them come and introduce themselves, expressing joy to meet me and sharing my enthusiasm for the final person to person encounter. Dave Dublin O'Connor, Mike Condit, Duane Strossaker, Steve Hullckracker Wilson, George Kullakowski, Ray Roux, Paula Chavez, Carol, Charlie, Chris, Carola, Carol Miller and others whose face and smile I have in my head but whose name escape me at this moment.

We did paddle, and were very pleased to meet again with: Mike Brown, Don Peterson and of course Ann and George Miller.

George deserves a special place for his continuous friendship and encouragement. He kept for us for two years, in excellent condition, one boat. He showed it around and cleaned it and polished it every now and then. This is the boat that was auctioned for charity purposes. Nice gesture of you George. Time was passing and I was not able to come and get it, and when I asked you to make the best use of it, you and Len suggested this auction and charity approach. So myself and Mayan Seas made a bow with a borrowed hat. It was our pleasure to see the outcome. I am sure Chris will enjoy it.

The good thing is that the changes we made in the new Performa L, based on all the suggestions you all had made seemed to be of general approval, which is very flattering coming from such excellent paddlers. The circle had to be closed with your evaluation.

Thanks George and Carol for keeping again one boat, the Performa L to continue getting feedback.

Jen (BCU 5star), Joan (founder of CKF and ex Tsunami Ranger) and Wayne (University of Sea Kayaking) talks were very interesting and made a good point for reflection. So much expertise and experience in them yielded profound thoughts, worth taking for some homework.

Only once had I made three rolls in a row, but Mike asked me to join the rolling contest and I did with pleasure, since we all were so happy and friendship and fun were all over the place. I also thought that if we added several guys rolls, might beat Peter's number. Never pretended to win, but it was quite an experience to notice that centrifugal forces also apply to rollers, which said in not so physical terms means, next time eat less or eat afterwards. I'll prepare myself for next year. Congratulations Peter O'Sullivan. Watch for the Mexican challenger next year. I am planning to eat some ballast, and once started I'll go forever.

Ken Johnson did great in the pie-and-race, and recovered for our team the second place. Congratulations to Duane's daughters. We say in Mexico "Offspray of tiger bound to have skin lines". BTW, congratulations Duane for your great design and construction, what a plywood boat, just the ideal boat according to my dreams.

My final comment. When a party is good nobody wants to leave, and we could see how the sun was setting and we all were chatting and pretending to be loading our stuff. Didn't want the day to end, and we are still flavoring it by writing about it and watching at pictures, some of which you can see at

community.webshots.com/user/johnsonkw1
community.webshots.com/user/cayucochief

Please feel free to download any ones you may want, to enrich the album of the event, or ask for a direct copy. Also if somebody took a picture of the Mexican Outrigger during the demo, I would appreciate it if you can send me a copy, to see how it looks on the water.

Best Regards and thanks a lot to all,

Rafael
el cayucochief
Mexico
www.mayanseas.com