The thank you thread

Just wanted to thank all of you. Great people, great food and the great Mooch. Im greatfull to be associated with NCKA.

Just wanted to thank all of you. Great people, great food and the great Mooch. Im greatfull to be associated with NCKA.

Ditto that.  I was so touch by everyone's generosity.  A BIG THANKS to the organizing crew and to the many raffle prize and potluck contributors.  Special THANKS to Mark and Karen of Hook1 for their continued support of NCKA and making the long drive up from SoCal for the Mooch.  They donated one very sweet T160i.

Big Hand to all those that set this up!!!!

  Outstanding job...

 And Great Turnout...  Well Done NCKA!!!!

 Once Again,

 We show that The World would be a much better Place if Everyone

     was a Kayakfishing type of Person...

                                                      

 Wish I could have spent more time talking with everyone but I had The Fellas surfing in a Rip tide and it took much of my time on the Beach.

Then Kuba went a little illin after wards so off we went...

 Stay Strong Mooch and see ya soon      

Looks like I missed another great NCKA event this one for a great cause

Im so glad to see so much support for our buddy Mooch!! Thanks NCKA for helping our lifelong fishing buddy.

That was a really great event with great food, great weather, and great people!!     Thanks to the folks who were workin hard, it was a great cause and Im proud to have been a part of it

wow what a great day for a great guy. I was nearly brought to tears when they announced the total amount raised. thank you to everyone that made this event possible. also so very proud to be a member of such a great group. I am not sure who donated the net the lever drag rod and reel...thanks!. keep the faith Joel!

This was my first "big" NCKA event, and it exceeded my expectations by far.  The love  for our Brother Mooch was evident everywhere you turned; it made me all warm inside...even more than what I felt from the 9:00am Patron shots at the Mile Buoy. 

Instead of thanking people individually & risk forgetting someone I'll just say THANK YOU to everyone who helped organize this event, and to every single NCKA'er and their friends and family who supported this wonderful cause in any way.  You guys are awesome...and I'm not just saying that because I won some cool prizes either!    I'm looking forward to next year's sequel (suggestion: holding it at a location where there might actually be fish would be great). 

Love ya Joel!

What can I say that hasn't been said.
Even the rare santa cruz thresher shark was there to celebrate.

Huge thanks to Brent & Jim, Sledge & Stoggie, Art & Angel
Onshore, the friends and family that held the spot all day until it was swarmed by relatively rugged, famished kayakers.

For the fryer & raffle -Andy ruled the show.
FishMaster1, Dude you could probably talk about banking regulations and make people laugh . love ya man.

Thank you to everyone who made the time & effort to get there & make it all happen. As I look out at the pile of unrinsed gear awaiting me after I finish posting, I know it's work just to get out paddling.

I'll admit though, this is one heck of a way to become the center for a huge party Mooch. 

 I think the reason no one caught any fish ( I did see two 'dines brought aboard-that guy deserved a award of his own) was, well think about it....if YOU were a fish & saw the immeasurable amount of fish catching skill gathered together there in the floating village at the Mile Bouy, I think you would blow town for the day too.

There's lots more fishin & chillin to be done this summer Mooch, I'll see you soon

-Sean aka Piscean

So many great memories from yesterday. PatR's paddle up open bar at the mile buoy. Joel and the Mexican Free Dive Team in the support skiff. Tossing a swim bait on my new handline and accidentally hitting someones forward hatch (sorry whoever that was).  Confirming Joel's opinion that there are no fish in Santa Cruz. Andy's fried chicken. The epic raffle. So special thanks to:

1. Joel (Mooch) - thanks for being a good friend and inspiration. I know it was hard to make the event 2 days after chemo, but everyone really appreciated you being there.

2. A Hulls - you really pulled off a great event. Thanks for putting in the hours and days of work. Raising over $6,000 is something you can be proud of. I promise to never to refer to you as the Santa Cruz Slackers or No-Pay Hulls again. 

3. NCKA Family and Friends - Gary and I were talking about the differences between NorCal kayak fishing and Socal kayak fishing on the way home. Although there are alot of small differences, the real difference is that NCKA is a brotherhood like no other. Yesterday was a testimony to the quality of people who comprise NCKA.

4. Hook 1 and Raffle Donators - That raffle was off the hook. Special thanks to Hook 1 for being there and supporting our sport. Also a personal thanks to Craig (Ravensblack) for donating the Revo Toro, hope to break that drag in soon. 

BTW, I will be fishing the Steve Moyer Memorial on 9/11 in San Diego. Some of the proceeds will go to Joel and it would be nice to have a group of NCKA for the event.

Scott

Thanks to EVERYONE who put this event on. Andy and Jim you guys rule! There have been a lot of NCKA events in the past, all great, but this one was over the top with the love shown for the true reason behind NCKA, Da Mooch!

What a day!  One can only hope to have so much love bestowed upon him     My belief is that the thresher jumping clear out of the water in front of us, twice, was an omen that good things are coming for our dear friend.

As Art and I were waiting for Mooch to arrive we heard him say "...I"m on the beach" over the radio.  We had to help him to understand that a beach launch in a skiff at our skill level was probably not going to end up with favorable results.  It may work pretty seamlessly for the commercial fishers in Big Sur but we haven't achieved that level of skill yet. Eventually he met us at the harbor where it was a bit safer.

He greeted us with a fresh new look...



As we were cruising around it was hard to imagine how many yaks were out there, I think I counted upwards of 50 but I may have missed a few.  Mooch stared in amazement and shed a tear or two.  Eventually, he hardened up and decided to throw up his gang sign..



As we pulled up to the crowd at the "Mile Buoy Lounge" people came around and spoke with Mooch a bit, sharing stories and just talking about the good times they've had both with and because of him.



The impact he seems to have had on the sport itself and on people within NCKA is nothing short of amazing.

Later, we went to the beach where the festivities continued...



and FishMaster (Andy) was putting on his world renowned cooking class (this is where Sponge Bob got his start) ..



After some eating, drinking, and story telling the raffle began where many people won some pretty awesome prizes.  Myself, I really wanted one of Bills portraits... the man definetely knows when to click the shutter.

After the raffle there was a bit more BS'ing and things started to thin out a bit.

Art and I said our goodbyes and headed out glad that we had the pleasure of not only hanging out with Mooch on the skiff all day but having had the opportunity to capture the day on camera.

We took a lot of pictures that will end up here but time is limited so I'm posting these and will try to post others tonight.  I'll be taking off on vacation so I'll have to send what I have over to Art so that he can post them.


One final thing...

Mooch (Primo), I'm telling you that if love, caring, and respect could cure what you have we would have been there for a totally different reason.  There's not a doubt in my mind though that you will pull through this and we'll share many more fun times whether they be on land, in a kayak, in a PB, or in wetsuits.



==============

As usual, when Art and I hang out silly stuff happens...

Here's Art, whom I now call Auto, setting up for a shot.  He was setting up for quite a while, I figured he was setting his shutter speed, the appeture, or adjusting the ISO to get the perfect shot... turns out the man owns a D90 and shoots it totally on auto like it was a polaroid or something...for christmas I'm going to buy him a Kodak disposable camera and let him go crazy with it.

Same thanks to all the paddlers and ticket buyers and especially the core crew who held it all together.

It was your day Joel, and I'm happy to have been able to share a part of it. Your thanks are appreciated, but Joel I feel it is we who should be thanking you, for helping us all come together and be better human beings.

Kirk

As a side note, please don't respond in this thread, as I don't want it to get sidetracked,  but I may have dropped my Standard Horizon HX270 VHF radio around the party area. Maybe behind the raffle tent where I had my pack. If you've seen it please PM me.

Wow, what a great day. Stoked have met you all. Thanks for making this AMAZING... $6589.00.. WTF??? How cool is that! Not sure what to say but thank you for being so kind to my wife and I, specially since were sorta new to the your group!

I think Joels family was very moved! Thanks to every single person for making this go so well! Thank you ALL!

Im gonna post a few key pics here now, then more tomorrow, got to go to my mothers B-DAY bash.

Shit, I also won a XXl NCKA hoody.. I busted it out this morning and the back of its reads "Angler of the year!" This was no mistake, you guys must be trying to tell me something You bet Im gonna wear it too!!

Also Thank You Hook1, Mark and Karen, you two are great. Doing business the old school way, getting invloved and keeping customers and friends very happy!