Coldwater Clinic 2001

Get Stoked "Coldwater" Clinic 2001
Stories from the Road by Paul Stokes

When: June 22-24, 2001
Where: Coldwater, Michigan - The Brunsy Compound
Who: Robert Bruns - Clinic Organizer - Ft. Wayne, IN
Why: Aimee’s Birthday with some foot’n fun.

I met Robert at a clinic in Elkhart, IN a couple of years ago. A couple of weeks after this experience, he invited me to his friend’s cottage in Coldwater, MI where I met and skied with several of his friends. This year he wanted to throw a cool party at his new cottage for his girlfriend on the lake near Coldwater. We got in touch and put together a weekend of lessons and partying. The plan was to arrive Thursday night, foot serious Friday, foot for fun Saturday morning, party Saturday afternoon and night, and more foot’n on Sunday before returning.

Heather and I were supposed to arrive in Toledo, OH and have Robert’s friend, Randy Strebig, pick us up in his private plane to fly us to Coldwater, but after missing a connecting flight in Chicago we had to rent a car and drive the rest of the way (about 3 hrs.) Oh well, we got there just fine and our new friend, Randy, got some practice on his instruments flying to Toledo with a 400 ft. ceiling at night.

We hit the water early and skied all day Friday. Participants in the clinic were Paul Lagoman, Randy Strebig, Robert Bruns, Myra Moehle, Josh Greve, Darren Eby, Rob Wirt, Kevin Richardson, James Mark, Ric Zehr, and the birthday girl Aimee. The water conditions were superb, and everyone learned something.

At lunch time, Randy set me up to foot behind his sea plane. His plane is a MAULE M7235 with Baughman Straight Floats. I took three passes behind the beast. The third of which we tried to get the plane off the water. Randy had me at 60 m.p.h. which is normally enough for lift off, but the drag I was putting on the floats drug him down too much. It was an experience that I will never forget. A big THANKS to Randy Strebig.

Saturday we skied in the morning, but by lunch time, the party was on. We played beach volleyball, listened to the live band that rocked, and floated a few kegs. The party was awesome. All of Robert and Aimee’s friends were a pleasure to meet and all had good times. There were only a few minor injuries, involving fire crackers and digging volley ball, but everyone got home safe.

Sunday was a nice day of skiing and relaxing. A nice afternoon nap and an uneventful trip home made for a nice end to a killer weekend. This was a unique clinic in that half the point of my trip was to enjoy the party and just have fun. Robert was a grand host, and I look forward to coming back to the Brunsy Compound for more good times.

Stokeman OUT!!!

Check out the cool video of Paul footing behind Randy's Plane

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More pictures from the Coldwater weekend.

Rob Brunns	Randy Strebig & his plane
Where is my Silver Bullet Suit?	Paul checking out the plane