INDEPENDENCE DAY BREAKFAST AND KAYAK RACE

Breakfast:

Good weather favored the very large gathering of Grandview neighbors and friends at the very patriotically decked-out lakefront of Dan and Judy Hoyt.  They even had a checkered flagged banner to mark the start/finish line for the kayak race.   A golf-car shuttle service operated by Hoyt grandchildren  took participants from the road down to the  

lake and back, leaving us with a little more energy to entertain guests at our own lots upon our return from the breakfast!

As usual we did not forget the reason for the holiday and took a moment to acknowledge the world-changing Declaration made on July 4, 1776, and the reason for it. And we cheered the freedom the red white and blue stars and stripes of the American Flag are intended to represent.

Thanks to Dan and Judy Hoyt and their family for their enthusiastic hospitality!   Participants also thanked them and the Sanders family for staying up late the night of July 2 to make all at that delicious home-made ice cream the two families served at the Sanders lot to all comers on July 3^rd.  

 Some  photos will have to be removed before
Labor Day for obvious reasons!

Red (sort of), white and blue - well done!

(Well... if you can)

Kayak Race:

Max Henry coordinated and sponsored the annual kayak race and provided prizes for the winners.  Thanks Max! And thanks to Jim Riffle and Tom Schroeder for helping out with some course logistics. 

The exciting two-lap race had the brothers Gall, John and Jackson, in a close battle in the first lap in the men’s division.  

Jack and John battle for lead early in race

But John pulled ahead and stayed well ahead for the remainder of the race leaving Jack to fight for second place with Sam Hoyt.  Jack kept the lead until shortly before the finish when Sam pulled ahead and finished just ahead of Jack. 

John sits at finish and watches as Sam pulls ahead of Jack, followed by Malachi

Kyle

Malachi Henry, just back from a fine 3rd place finish in an "Iron Man" competition out west,  came in a close fourth followed by his brother-in-law Kyle Turner.  

Tracey

Tracey Day, borrowed a kayak at the last-minute and, paddled hard to a first place finish in the women’s division. 

Jack Gall was racing the historic forerunner of the modern plastic variety of kayak used by most of us.  This, in fact was the maiden voyage for the hand-built frame-and-fabric kayak he just completed building.  

Jackson Gall in his just-completed kayak and paddle

He also used a “Greenland paddle” which is much different than the paddles most of us use.

A little background on that paddle:  “The ancestors of today's Greenlanders, known as the Thule culture, moved east from Alaska and northern Canada only about a thousand years ago, about the same time that Eric the Red was settling southwest Greenland. Since a different style of paddle with a longer loom and much shorter, leaf-shaped blades was used until recently by many Inuit west of Greenland, the Greenland paddle may have evolved after the Thule Inuit reached Greenland” -by Chuck Holst:  Making a West Greenland Paddle