2014 SK102

This is my chronicle of this year's SK102, the Chesapeake Paddlers Association's annual training weekend at Lake Anna:

Friday

April means the beginning of kayaking season for those who aren't crazy enough to paddle through the winter, which means it's time for SK102, the Chesapeake Paddlers Association's annual training weekend at Lake Anna. I'm here for my fourth time - the first was as a student, and since then as an instructor. Actually, it's my fourth-and-a-halfth time. One year Teddy and I camped at the state park and dropped in on SK102 for the Saturday night socializing and a little commando accordion playing. I agreed to bring an extra kayak to lend to a student and I got a distinct smile on my face as I loaded two kayaks, two instruments, two microphones and stands, camping gear and a six-pack of Lost Rhino Face Plant IPA into the car. I was well-equipped for a fun weekend!

The ride down I95 was dismal as usual. I left at about noon, which got me out ahead of the main wave of traffic, but all the express lanes were blocked by an accident so things were bolloxed up anyway. Not too bad - just some slow-downs here and there (the fact that I took this so calmly means that my commute must be inuring me to traffic). About half-way down I stopped for gas at a WaWa Market where I also grabbed a nice pseudo-cappuccino. Ted & I are big WaWa fans so I texted him a picture.

For Ted: A Stop at the Aquia WaWa

 You definitely enter the South as you get near Fredericksburg; along the road there was a billboard that said, "What will you tell your grandchildren when they ask what you did for your country? Join the Tea Party!"

I arrived at Lake Anna at about 2 PM to find it already abuzz with activity. I unloaded my boats and then helped set up the cluster of pop-up shelters for the Friday instructor pot-luck, then finally my tent. The array of pop-up shelters proved essential about an hour later when the heavens opened up. I mean it rained like crazy, man, crazy. The storm got really bad for a while - drenching rain, thunder and lightning. We probably shouldn't have been sitting under the aluminum frame shelters during a thunderstorm, but we really didn't have nayplace else to go (I guess we could have gotten int our cars, or banged on the door of teh house)? As the rain kept up it became clear that the evening paddle wasn't going to happen, at which point wine and beer began to be consumed (we don't drink before paddling). The instructor meeting was held at 5:30 as planned, and David and Theresa (our hosts) were good enough to let us have the meeting on their porch rather than out in the rain. After the meeting we returned to the pop-up shelters for the pot-luck and just generally schmoozed the evening away. SK102 is not a late night event and so well before 10 PM people had for the most part retired to their tents. I simply can't go to bed that early and so I futzed around with my iPad for a while, writing and reading. At least some others stayed awake past 11  - I heard them talking and laughing loudly. 

Lake Anna

 Saturday

It was cold overnight - cold enough that I got up in the middle of the night and put on my fleece jacket. Cold enough that when I checked my watch and saw it was 6 AM I couldn't believe it because it appeared to still be dark outside - until I realized that I had burrowed so far down in my sleeping bag that I couldn't see the light of day. Still, I could tell it was the kind of morning where I'd be warmer once I got out and started moving and so it was with only a little reluctance that I dragged myself out of my sleeping bag. There are some wonderful volunteers who start a couple of giant coffee urns going at 4 AM and so by the time I got down to the lakeside coffee urns six-ish the coffee was ready to go. I grabbed a cup then went back up to my tent where I mixed trail mix with a plain Greek yogurt for my breakfast, which I ate in pop-up tent city, socializing with other folks as they started their day. About 3/4 of the way through my yogurt I remember the packet of honey I had gotten at WaWa and squeezed some onto the remaining yogurt for an extra treat. I also had a little bit of teh oatmeal Stephanie cooked for the group. I grabbed a second cup of coffee, which I promptly knocked over, then a third to replace it. 

 

Breakfast in Camp

Between the traffic and the weather quite a few people chose to come down early Saturday instead of Friday evening and so there was a steady stream of arrivals at breakfast-time. SK102 has a new organizer this year (Cat, taking over from Brian) and I will say to her credit that all of these changes and last minute arrival were handled smoothly.

SK102 Instructors

Soon it was time for the morning meeting and class. In the morning I taught Basic Strokes, Wet Exits, and Kayak Design with Jenny Plummer-Welker. Jenny is an excellent teacher, very supportive and very knowledgeable. She's also very laid back and so we really taught as a team. The culmination of the class is getting everyone to capsize and do a wet exit - all of our students fell out of their boat successfully!

Instructor's-Eye View of the Morning Meeting

Lunch break is an hour, which goes by really quickly. I ate the leftovers of the tortellini with vegetables and veggie pepperoni that I had brought for Friday night's pot-luck. Someone had mixed my leftovers with the remains of Rob P's kale & sprouts salad, which made the whole thing yet more yummy. Then it was back to the boats.

My afternoon class was Rescues and Towing with Bela. Usually in rescues the instructor describes what to do and the assistant demonstrates, but Bela wanted to do a lot of the demonstrating himself and so I had a pretty easy time of it. I did wind up in the water to give students a chance to practice being the rescuer, but unlike last year I didn't have to demonstrate each and every technique. A couple of students had some trouble (not unusual in rescues class) but eventually everyone did some successful self and assisted rescues except for one woman who had never been in a kayak before and was a little out of her depth, so to speak.

Goofin' on the Water (Cat's picture)

After classes were over at 4 PM I spent a half hour or so knocking around the waterfront testing boats and rolling, then relaxed a bit before dinner. Saturday night dinner at SK102 is always a big BBQ with hamburgers and hot dogs, this time with some rather tasty veggie burgers as well. I had to eat and run because Paul C. and I were providing music as part of the evening entertainment.We got some volunteers to drag my equipment down from my car (keyboard, amp, accordion, mics & stand, music). Paul and I played for close to an hour before taking a break while they did a rescue flare demonstration. I thought we were done for the evening but just then some boisterous singers (I think they were one and the same as the party group from the previous evening) came up wanting to sing - so we played some more songs with them singing as a group. When we finished and were packing up another guy got up and played some cowboy harmonica tunes. I feel I'm successful when I get others up and involved in the music and that was sure the case on Saturday.

 

The Entertainment

 After we finished I downed a   beer to help soothe my throat (too much "singing") and headed off to bed. Two classes and an evening of entertaining was a long day.

Panorama View from My Tent

Sunday

Saturday was warmer overnight and so I slept better. Stephanie once again made oatmeal. This time I took a full portion, which served as my breakfast.

Sunday is always a slower day at SK102. After the hectic and tiring Saturday everyone needs some downtime. I didn't participate in any of the formal activities, preferring to just hang out and socialize. It had been my original intention to get on the road early but Susie wanted to use my boat for a while to practice rescues and so I wound up only slowly breaking camp with lots of interruptions. I browsed the gear swap. I eavesdropped on some of the on-land classes. I chatted with people. I had another cup of coffee, and another.

Finally around noon I headed for home. Traffic was miserable. I kept switching between Rt. 1 and I95, using the traffic display on Google Maps on my phone to attempt to route around traffic but it really was no use. Well, if I'm going to be stuck in traffic I'd rather have the selection of redneck commerce along Rt. 1 to look at (pawn shops, fast food, restaurants with names like "Southern Cookin'") than the empty landscape of the highway. It took close to three hours for what should have been a two hour drive but no matter - I was feeling good from the weekend and that was that.