Re: Texas Builders Bash

Posted by Kurt Maurer on May 2, 2005

Boy-haddy, y'all ain't justa whisslin' Dixie!! The BASH was a HUGE SUCCESS in every way, form and fashion!!! WOO-HOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

Ol' Doug is gonna haffta to win some sorta posthumous award, as it were, of some sort or another (why, we never thought to provide one in advance!) for making it the ***furthest in the K1***. LOL!!! Gerald gave 'er some impressively tenacious hell, but Doug simply covered (a little :) ground in the monster before retiring to the "the green room" (repeatedly :), and gave us a genuine taste of what it actually looks like when handled ably. She really clips along, eh Doug?

Yessir, the people are what made it so spectacular. No doubt about it. All we did was laugh our collective ass off the whole damn time! (please Scuze my French...)

John and I tried to be a little bit serious. We performed numerous self- and assisted rescue demonstrations thorughout the day, but I haffta admit I'm not so sure too many folks were payin' attention. The rolls and inverted reentries were crowd-pleasers, however, even if (I fear) they were viewed as mere stunts. But hey, y' never know when a seed gets planted in someone's noggin...

We had hoped to see 25 to 30 boats, and as already said, got a solid fifty at least. The best count we managed was 48 on the grass, and everyone agreed that another half dozen or so were out on the water at that particular time.

The Texas Kayak Builders' Bash owes a huge debt of gratitude to CLC for providing a wonderful box of goodies to hand out as door prizes -- those folks who won stuff were surely given a thrill (one builder got a Shinto Rasp, but had little idea of what the hell it is... but happens to be already "under my wing", as it were, and will absolutely come to understand what she now has). Cool stuff, man!! The Duckworks provided a single prize, but it was a super cool one: a set of adjustable foot braces unlike anything else out there. I examined 'em closely, and loved what I saw with no reservation whatever. I hope they are properly detailed on the Duckworks website - ain't had time yet to have a look myself. Heck, I've just now got home!

Thanks to John Caldeira and Gerald Kennedy, my cohorts in this mess, for their vast contributions. And to Charlie Tuna also, for his superbly Good Taste in providing such a splendid Saturday night (cat)fish fry! Looks like we're shapin' up to be a pretty fair team, if you ask me...

I think we're gonna try t' get next year's Bash headed off a little later in the year, like in May maybe, or otherwise aim for warmer water to play in. But still, Inks Lake would have been absolutely picture perfect given a warmer spring, which is surely something nobuddy can perdick. As it was, the water was great... it was gettin' out of it, and into the cool breeze, that was givin' me a goose bump or two. Still, the weather was no disaster by any means. I had a blast, and I HATE cold!!!

We'll all have some pics posted soon, somehow, so don't worry 'bout that...

Cheers, Kurt

In Response to: Re: Texas Builders Bash by Doug Rhude on May 2, 2005

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