By far the most experienced Appleseed in recent memory. Many returnees and that speaks volumes for what Appleseed has to offer.
Iron sharpens iron and it seemed that the word of the week was competition. Whether it was with yourself or with your friends and family.
Chris spent a weekend with his son (Nate) getting dirty, tired and achy...quality time. I don't know what the side bet was but I do understand that Nate has to pay up since Dad was up in the 200s. William was consistently in the 200s but had equipment issues as the weekend wore on. Yes, it was frustrating to watch but he grit his teeth and kept at it. Travis, Derek L and his son came along to make it a family event. Aiden was drinking from the firehose but he toughed it out all weekend. I don't care how green you are when you arrive. If you can be safe, work hard and not give up you are welcome on my line any time! Andrei recovered from last month's Appleseed and fought equipment and elbow problems all weekend. Derek quietly plugged away at everything and did quite well for his first time. I believe that everybody got out of boot camp!
William and Derek both had instruction down pat and made our Sunday vacation pretty easy. For all of you so inclined...I have a free hat once you get that pesky patch thing out of the way.
Oh yeah...Derek L (who will always be a Marine...he just isn't serving at the moment) and Andrei (who stood an opposite watch tower) easily earned their patch. Both scored above 225. Congratulations to both of them! To everybody who didn't earn a patch, don't beat yourself up. To cherry pick from my closing quote
(from Teddy Roosevelt):
"It is not the critic who counts...The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena..."
Thanks to all for a great shoot and the opportunity to be among Americans who chose to spend quality time with family and friends, work hard and improve themselves.
Hope to see y'all again "in the arena",
-Peter
Pete, Nate and I had a great time on the line. You and Tom did an exceptional job both training and teaching the history. We both look forward to getting out again in a month or so. Again, thanks for the time and effort you both put into this event.
BTW, I misplaced your contact info, but would like to know how the trip went.
Hey Ya,
Glad to hear from you and I'll Private Message (PM) you my info. Thanks for the praise. Let me know where you end up and I might see you on the line. We would of course love to see you out here but I'm not sure what future dates Tom has planned at the CFRPC. Just keep an eye open for dates.
As far as the trip to the Keys..."There be monsters about!"
Because of the rain we elected to only surf cast. I'll probably use your contact the next time out there since we know a bit more of what to expect. Between downpours we had a great time. My cousin came back a humbled man. He had 9 huge hits that snapped his 40lbs line. I've seen him play out and bring up huge rays and sharks with 15lbs test so I know he has the chops. It is just a whole different game down there. The highlight for me was hooking into some nurse sharks. Nothing to eat but plenty of good fights. I can't wait to get back out there.
Safe travels Sir!
-Peter