Banquet: Rob Rhew’s Clubhouse

UCLA recruiting table

Saturday, December 14, 6:00pm @ Rob Rhew’s Fiesta Palace - Irvine

What a year! The 2002 calendar year has been absolutely insane: seven races (there were actually a few others that individuals attended) and numerous ridiculously fun team outings. It feels like we were organizing something every weekend.

We not only spent more time, money and energy racing, but we invested many hours into recruiting new paddlers to be -- One of Us. We even had a recruiting table setup at UC Los Angeles with Scott, Oliver, and Jason manning the booths. I believe William Lin stopped by to help out which wasn't too big of a trip for him since he was attending UCLA at that time.

Some of us spent weekend after weekend discussing and arguing about how to incorporate the team and file for non-profit status. A few of us spent an equal amount of time creating the next generation website to create a web-presence for the team [in retrospect, it was ahead of its time as many of the goals were not technologically feasible until 2009].

The 2002 team banquet was held at Rob Rhew's clubhouse, a community area for his apartments. We all brought food, splashed in the pool and had a fantastic time with the gifts and prizes that night.

We had some system where people could take the gift from one person and the LARD clock was a hot item, as were the "boxing" gloves.

All in all, it was a great way to finish up the year. The team was moving in a new direction and while we were still dreaming of becoming a competitive team, our recreational roots are what make us who we are today.

Kenny (2010)

Winter Gunnel

Hello,

I've truly enjoyed the team and the people on the team...we've come so far in the 2 years I've been with you! I know we will kick @$$ next weekend and in S.F. I can't wait to see you next year as the strategies and little things are tweaked...I'll be cheering you on!!! Some of you know that I spent 5 months with the Guppies when I first moved to So. Cal., and was hating the technique, the leadership style, the philosophy, etc etc. One day Guppies and LARD combined practice for a full boat, and I met Jason and other lard-mates, and switched teams the next weekend... I'll never regret that! And I'll never forget Guppies' astonishment :-) hahahaheheheee. You're an awesome team, and I'm glad I could be a part of it! Thanks everyone!

Not having dragonboats is the *biggest* drawback to moving...what the heck will I do on Saturday and Sunday mornings?! Who knows, maybe a Kansas City team will surface ;).

I'll miss you!

:-(

Sharon