2014 San Diego, Day 2 - a few more

[Richard Lodge]

Some random photos from the day, starting with this shot of 3 reels Dan Brock used in his presentation about rare reels of the West Coast. These are all made by and marked J. Brauen or Jean Brauen, Paris. Beautiful!



A very cool and truly rare reel by an angler named (and I have to check this tomorrow) Rudolph Wenzel, a jeweler from San Francisco who made probably less than 20 of these. Wenzel held the patent for the Pflueger Medalist drag, and you can see clear evidence of that inside this beauty.



Breakfast with the board this morning included some of the ORCA board, from left, Roger Schulz, John Elder, Brian Funai and Butch Carey....



And quite a few ORCA members who attended and had a good discussion and some good ideas:



And finally, before I crash tonight from operating on East Coast time (3 hours difference from these California surfer bums), I went for a walk along the harbor earlier tonight and admired the amazing statue to the memory of the many tunamen who have died fishing. On the back it lists scores of names of the men who died at sea fishing for tuna. And the statue itself reminds me how dangerous and backbreaking this work must have been, as teams of men hoisted their rods as one to bring in giant, powerful tuna.



Until Friday...
Richard

[fishhead]

The convention was great. Lots of fun activities, terrific seminars and great people to hang out with. A lot of the members had beautiful reels to display on Saturday. The buying, selling and trading was really good. The banquet was awesome and the food was delicious. You guys picked the best location in sunny San Diego, California. Hopefully you will have a convention here every couple of years or so. First class all the way. It could not have been any better. Thumbs up! Thank you to everybody that helped organize this convention.

Sincerely,
Paul Berinson

[Bud Chaddock]

I had a ball at the show. GOOD to put faces to people I have talked on the phone with and via computer over the years. Great venue. Top notch for sure. Wish I could have stayed one more day or so to take in the fishing in the area that is off the hook good right now. Some great history with the talks that were held at the various halls. Some amazing reel that humble what I have but give reference to what I might find out there. The Commercial Tuna statue was a reminder of my younger years and glad to have been a fisherman in that respect. I have lost friends to the water so it hit me hard to look at it as well to admire it as a tribute to those fisherman. Thanks to those who took the time to talk and share a meal and a drink with me. And of course John for your hard work and the others that helped get this thing in gear instead of free spool as you would. Thanks again Bud Chaddock