SK102

Ahhh, SK102, a tradition in my life (on and off) since 2001. I took a long break after my first few visits, but have been a regular attendee as an instructor since 2013 - except, of course, for last year which I had to skip for health-related reasons. This was the 20th SK102 and over the years it had grown from a handful of people to a rather large event before being intentionally scaled back in size last year. While the raw numbers aren't that different (maybe 10% reduction), the smaller size did feel more intimate. Also, with the passage of time there's been some turnover of the volunteer crew and it to me it seemed a little strange strange to not see some of the old familiar faces there: Greg and Jenny, Rich and Sue, Dave I., Rob, Tom, Frank, and so on. Another thing that seems to have fallen by the wayside is what I call the CPA letterman jacket. In years past, CPA would give out little kayak-shaped patches known as "rockers" to people for various kinds of volunteering. People would sew these rockers onto jackets  and the instructors walking around SK102 would look very impressive, like senior military officers festooned with medals (or Eagle Scouts - take your pick). In any case, I brought my jacket this year but didn't see a single other old-school CPA jacket.

My CPA jacket, with one unique patch

I arrived at about 2 PM on Friday, having gotten a later start than anticipated and having hit some traffic. I bring lunch and usually stop along the way to eat, but on this trip I felt I was running behind and so to save time I did something I usually hate to do: I ate my sandwich while I drove. There are a number of reasons why I don't like eating meals while driving: I think it takes away from the mindfulness of eating, it's dangerous, it's sloppy, and in an all too frenzied world it's a step beyond the level of multi-tasking I find acceptable. Needless to say, drive-through windows don't get a lot of my business.

Upon arrival I found the property set up slightly different than in the past - a new owner (a gay couple, if I understand correctly!) is building a house next door and so we couldn't expand into the adjacent property as in past years. Plus, the Porta-potties were situated in one spot near the top of the property rather than being split up in the middle of the property. The combination of the two (less space plus people not wanting to be too far from the bathrooms) led to everyone squeezing their tents together in a fairly tight area. The morning was cool and damp and so I deliberately chose a shadeless spot to pitch my tent, figuring any sun which came along later would help keep me warm. To prevent David and Theresa's yard from getting chewed up by vehicular traffic (as has happened many times over the years), you weren't allowed to drive down to drop off your camping gear. I had anticipated this and had purchased a very cool folding beach wagon, which made moving my gear from the car to my campsite relatively painless, at least compared with my past approach of multiple trips schlepping big blue Ikea bags filled with gear. Over the course of the afternoon the instructors and then the students trickled in. Soon the place was filled with tents, with all of us cheek to jowl. Some folks set up a pop-up canopy pretty much right in front of my tent, which proved to be a bit of an issue (more on this later).

Friday night at SK102 several things happen in rapid succession: the instructors' pot-luck dinner, the instructors' briefing and then the evening paddle. Dinner was quite yummy - a large selection of salads, vegetarian pasta and quinoa dishes, plus various meat-based dishes and desserts which I avoided. The instructors' briefing was the same as always - maybe a little more detailed than usual since planning for the event fell behind this year and so there was more to cover last-minute - but we each got two thank-you gifts for instructing rather than the usual one! Woo hoo! The two gifts were a headlamp and a mesh duffle bag (good for carrying wet gear). I volunteered to be one of the leaders for the evening paddle. It was a beautiful evening and my group (the medium speed group) got a nice four mile paddle in, returning just as it got dark.

Oh, I almost forgot - just before the evening outing I stopped to do a quick Friday night Shabbos kiddush with Ron K. Ron, perhaps the only other Jew there, is observant enough that he wears a kippah and does Friday night kiddush on all the trips I've been on with him (plus he brought kosher chili for the pot luck), but doesn't seem to have a problem with kayaking on Shabbos. While this seems a little inconsistent, I guess that most Jews except the ultra-Orthodox pick and choose from among the religion's zillions of rules (like the rule prohibiting wearing of garments that contain both wool and linen), so who am I to question if his subset is different than mine?

Returning from the evening paddle

Once back from the paddle I could finally dip into the alcohol. I enjoyed a beer and shot the breeze with various folks before heading for my tent a little after 10 PM. I mentioned the problematic pop-up shelter earlier - it turned out that it served as a gathering and evening party point for a group of people who I think all knew each other from one of the kayak meetups. They hung out and talked loudly until well after 11, but fortunately my childhood experience of having to sleep through the noise of subway trains going by all night long serves me well to this day and I fell asleep quickly despite the conversation (the 9.2% ABV beer I was drinking might have helped as well). I slept pretty well - waking once to use the restroom, which got me outside to experience the gorgeous bright light of the almost full moon.

Saturday morning I made my usually camping breakfast of instant hot cereal, plus was able to have a yogurt thanks to the cold-keeping ability of my awesome Yeti cooler. The event provides morning coffee; however, they understandably don't brew decaf and so to get my usual morning hot and barely caffeinated beverage (I've been almost totally off of caffeine since my surgery) I mixed up a Starbucks decaf Via brew and added a splash of the provided coffee. We watched the mist on the lake and had those half-awake sorts of early morning conversations.

Instructors and students assembled at 8:30 to begin the day's activities. Brian gave his introductory talk, which I have heard often enough that I can almost recite it by heart by now - including the Porta-potty instructions (put the lid down after using) and accompanying joke ("Ladies, please remain seated for the entire performance. Gentlemen, please stand close; it's shorter than you think") though this year Dubside ad-libbed an additional joke ("Hey Brian, why are the sinks in the porta-potties so low down? I had to really bend over to wash my face"). Who knew Dubside has a sense of humor?

Instructors on Saturday morning

I assisted teaching Kayak Design, Basic Strokes, and Wet Exits (the most basic class) with Jim Z. Jim is a very skilled and knowledgeable kayaker but in the on land part of the class he was whizzing through material at what I thought was too rapid a pace and advanced a level for our beginner students. While Jim would have preferred that we divvy up the topics, instead I let him lead and interjected where I thought appropriate to clarify what he was teaching. Once we got on the water Jim did an excellent job of teaching the basic strokes while I demonstrated and talked through what I was doing. We finished the class with wet exits - making everyone dump out of their kayaks so they know how to do that safely (to lessen the risk of getting stuck upside down in the boat should they ever capsize). Every other time I've ever taught this class the students have had to do one wet exit. Jim makes everyone do three!

After morning class came lunch break, then everyone headed back out for the afternoon session. In previous years I found teaching morning and afternoon, then hauling music gear, then playing music, then packing and loading the music gear to make for an exhausting day and so requested relief from teaching in the afternoon (one of the reasons I volunteered for the Friday evening paddle was because I felt I needed to make up for teaching only half the day). I had before never been ashore while classes were out on the water. It's amazing - when it's time for afternoon classes all of a sudden the place goes from the hustle and bustle of lunchtime to being a ghost town. I used the time by myself in camp to rummage through everyone's tents for valuables.

Kidding!

I used the time to take a brief siesta in what was at that point a rather sweltering tent (remember, I pitched my tent in a shadeless location and Saturday afternoon was sunny and warm). Then I slowly (using my cool new cart) hauled my music gear down. Finally, I went out for a brief paddle on the lake, returning at around 4 PM - the same time as the afternoon classes.

The time between the afternoon session and dinner is an unstructured time of schmoozing, playing around in boats, Dubside's rolling demo and in my case, drinking bourbon with Cat and Bill W (in this case, being a friend of Bill W lead to increased drinking). Eventually I staggered down to the waterfront and got dinner - a veggie burger, couscous, veggies and fruit. Once again I showed self control and ignored the chips and home baked sheet cakes. As folks finished dinner, presentations were made honoring our hosts (who have been putting up with us for 20 years) and Cat (who has been organizing the event for the last five years). Then the bonfire was lit and the music started. Unfortunately, the good lord does not like me playing music at SK102. Last year he made that fairly emphatically clear by smiting me just weeks before the event. This year he delivered the message in a still-dramatic if less life-threatening way via a rogue thunderstorm cell. Just a few songs into our set we got word that a brief but intense thunderstorm was headed our way. The day had been clear and sunny. The night and the following day would prove dry. But out of nowhere popped up one little rain cell - maybe 45 minutes of intense downpour - to break up the party. As the breeze abruptly picked up we hustled to pack away our instruments. One trip up the hill with amplifier and accessories. Another, with the first raindrops falling, to retrieve my keyboard and stand. By the time I made my third trip back down the hill to retrieve my camp chair from around the fire pit, it was pouring and everyone was gone; mine was the last chair left. I returned to my campsite, quickly threw everything under cover, and retreated to my tent. After the rain stopped I came out and walked around, but no one was out. The rain had ended the evening's socializing, except of course for my noisy neighbors who had a raucous party involving Almaden wine, gummy bears and some sort of card game. I had just enough cell phone connectivity to stream Netflix, so I put in my earphones and tuned out the noise. Fortunately they broke up fairly early (maybe 10:15?). By the time I finished an episode of House of Cards, they had quieted down for the night. Y'know, if they had invited me (sitting an arms length away) to join them I would have been more tolerant of them, but no, I didn't get so much as a hello.

Performing for the crowd

Sunday at SK102 is a mixed bag. There are classes, but they're a little more informal. For example, Brian gave people an introduction to using a wing paddle, Paula taught how to deal with emergency incidents,  and a class on packing a kayak for camping was taught. For a lot of people, it's more time for schmoozing, messing around in boats and slowly packing out. I was in the latter category.

After a cold but restful Saturday night I dragged myself out of my sleeping back and went down for morning coffee (my decaf Via brew with a splash of regular concoction again) and chatted with the assembled folks - including getting an update from Bill W. on the Washington Canoe Club's endless struggles with DC and the Park Service. I felt a little bad about having left Valerie for the weekend (she had had a bad day Thursday) and I wanted to get home, so I decided to skip any Sunday activities and head home on the early side. Still, it's hard to get out of SK102 quickly. After extricating myself from the coffee group and eating breakfast I broke camp and loaded the car, however that was interspersed with lots more conversation as I ran into this and that person. I talked with Ed S. for a while (including heart ailment talk), spoke with Cat some more, said my farewells to Susan and to my band mate Manuel, and so on, loading gear in between conversations. It was pushing towards noon by the time I got on the road, happy from another good SK102 weekend.