Minglers in front of \linke{http://www.riptidesandrapids.com,Riptides and Rapids in Mountain View, CA
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Dontcha love these longer days and more daylight! I sure do!
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Check out the spread. All veggies (except for those bags of chicken that Melissa snuck onto the table ;-)
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The lovely chef at work chopping goodies. (Pat her on the back: she's been chopping veggies for 3+ days!)
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More pre-meeting mingling.
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And mingling and mingling.
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John chop chops.
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And mingling and mingling.
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And a little extra business while mingling doesn't hurt, either....
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A Yummie Burrito.
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Waitin for the meeting.
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Andy takes the floor. Sans bell or gavel, he calls the meeting to order by pounding a bootie on a table.
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The newest WSKer: Jane, introduces herself. Actually, she stood up and introduced herself as "I'm Eating." To which everybody responded, "Hi, Eating!" What a sense of humor kayakers have!
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Trip reports. Dick starts.
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Don't forget the BCU Skills Symposium as advertised by this poster.
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Vicki reports on the Sta Cruz Kayak Surf Contest.
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Vicki won 3rd place in the surf contest! Buck took first!
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Cass concentrates on copious notes.
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Another new member, Bill. Welcome, Bill.
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Turning to see the report giver in the back of the room.
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More attention in the back.
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...back to the front....
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Ray holds up kayaks in the corner.
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Buck reports.
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Daylight. Ahhh, sweet daylight out the back. Dontcha love daylight and palm trees!
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Steve, ever the laid back Dude.
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Paul McHugh - outdoor feature writer for the San Francisco Chronicle for the past 20 years, attends the April WSK meeting to share insights into the terrors and joys of the adrenaline experience. Paul read passages of a work-in-progress. Paul then engaged the audience in a discussion of his many adrenaline-enhancing experiences. Of course, Paul's quote du jour was, "Unchecked adrenaline surging leads to gastro-intestinal motility. Or, in layman's terms: Experts pee in their wetsuits, beginners sh*t in theirs!" ;-)
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Andy remains in firm control.
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The crowd sits in awe of Andy's hypnotic leadership skills.
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John reports.
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Recouperating Steve.
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Heh, it's Dualing 50th Birthdays!
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Happy Birthday to You.... Here comes the cake....
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Andy delivers Cake #1 to Steve...
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...while Buck delivers Cake #2 to John....
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Then, the chow-line commenced.
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Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Andy introduces Paul McHugh....
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Paul reads from a work in progress.... He draws a NUMBER of adept analogies like (Dean's disclaimer: I'm not quoting Paul, I'm merely reporting my impressions from fuzzy notes that I might have been misunderstood.)
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Wouldn't be a WSK meeting without Ray chowing down in the back....
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My favorite: Adrenaline leads to gastro-intestinal motility. That is: experts pee in their wetsiuts. Beginners sh*t in theirs!
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Paul reminds us to modulate our response to terrifying situations. Courage does not equate to absense of fear: if we're calm and detached in a life-or-death situation, chances are we're sociopathic. Studies of B17 pilots in WW2 show that crew psychiological problems typically vanish during a mission, but reappear when the mission is finished. In other words, if a man's hanging is a fortnight away, his mind will be gloriously concentrated.
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One of Paul's boats. Check out that brace!
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The trick is to understand, thru experience, and moderate our own biochemical legacy.
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The trick is also to understand the relationship between our inner assessment of the situation and the real outer situation.
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The human animal is not just a fight-or-flight animal. The human animal has 4 options: 1) Fight, 2) Flight, 3) Freeze, 4) Figure it out. I sure hope that I'll be able to do #4 a bit more often thanx to Paul's talk.
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Paul can be reached at pmchugh@sfchronicle.com
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