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The

Adventurers’ Club News©

Volume 59 July 2015 Number 7

Xuan Kong Si Hanging Monastery94th ANNIVERSARY YEAR!

See page 2

July 2015 ADVENTURERS’ CLUB NEWS

The Adventurers’ Club NewsThe Official Publication of the Adventurers’ Club of Los Angeles®, California

Table of ConTenTs

FRONT COVER: XUAN KONG SI HANGING MONASTERY NEAR MOUNT HENG IN HUNYUAN COUNTY, DATONG CITY, SHANXI PROVINCE, CHINA

PHOTO: PATRICK STREULEDIRECTORY .............................................................................. INSIDE FRONT COVERPRESIDENT’S PAGE ................................................................................................... 1UNUSUAL CHINA ....................................................................................................... 2THRAWN RICKLE ....................................................................................................... 8BOOK REVIEW: THE RETICULI DECEPTION ............................................................. 7THURSDAY NIGHTS AT THE CLUB ........................................................................... 10LETTERS-TO-THE-EDITOR ........................................................................................ 20ANNOUNCEMENT..................................................................................................... 20FORTHCOMING PROGRAMS ................................................................................... 21

PRESIDENTVince Weatherby

1ST VICE PRESVince Weatherby

2ND VICE PRESPierre Odier

TREASURERRobert Zeman(

ADDRESS2433 N BroadwayLos Angeles, CA 90031

MAILING ADDRESSPO Box 31226Los Angeles, CA 90031

DINNER RESERVATIONS(323) 223-3948 Deadline: Tuesday Noon

SECRETARYJeffrey Holmes

Volume 59 ............................................................................................... Number 7Publisher .......................................ACLA President, Vince Weatherby (#1060)Editor .....................................Robert G. Williscroft (#1116), Centennial CO 80122

Cell (818) 613-9445; [email protected]. Editor .................................................................................................[OPEN]Club Phone (323) 223-3948 (24 Hrs) ...............................www.adventurersclub.org

July 2015

ADVENTURERS’ CLUB NEWS July 2015

The year is passing by

quickly, and I am happy to report that a l l is well at the Club. Our board is co-hesive and self-

less in its attention to keeping the ship headed in a positive direction. Everyone is carrying his fair share of the load, and several are going the extra mile, for which I am deeply grateful.

Our dramatic increase in guests and the many new applicants to our membership can be directly attributed to the array of outstanding programs we’ve seen recently. I would like to thank our program chairman, Pierre Odier, for the innumerable hours of dedicated time that goes into coordinating these events.

With these excellent programs come excellent men. It’s a proven formula for success that will swell our ranks this coming year.

Our annual black tie event, the Night Of High Adventure, NOHA, is just around the corner – this October 24th – and ticket sales have begun. I

encourage you to buy your tickets now, before we are sold out. Rick Flores is handling ticket sales. We sold out last year. Don’t get caught short for this

m o s t p o p -u l a r

event in our calendar.Our meeting for September 3rd will

be a celebration of our military and Club members who have served. It will also be a ladies’ night, and I en-courage those of you who have served to wear your military uniforms for this event. We will have live entertain-ment along with notable personalities attending. You will not want to miss this evening.

I look forward to seeing all of you at our meetings and encourage you to bring guests to share in our

camaraderie and spirit of adventure on Thursday evenings.

The

ADVENTURERS’ CLUB NEWS©

Volume 59 July 2015 Number 7THE PRESIDENT’S PAGE Vince Weatherby (#1060) - President

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I would like to thank our pro-gram chairman, Pierre Odier

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Our annual black tie event, NOHA, is just around the corner


Unusual China

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Unusual China Bill Altafer (#1095)

I started my China trip by a four-teen-hour flight from Minsk via

Dubai, to Zhengzhou on Etihad Airways, through Shanghai. My Air-bus 330-300 was a most outstanding experience in service.

Zhengzhou is a prefecture level city on the Yellow River. Neolithic settlements have been found nearby, showing that the area has been settled for thousands of years. Since 1949 Zhengzhou has been a major indus-trial and trade center.

First we visited Luoyang – the home of Kung Fu at the Shaolin Temple. Built in the shadow of Mount Song, one of China’s sacred mountains. The Shaolin Temple has a history of housing practitioners of Chan (Zen)

Buddhism. Shaolin monks are best known as Kung Fu Monks. They prac-tice a form of martial arts and Bud-dhist philosophy with great intensity. Today the Kung Fu traveling shows for profit have tarnished the monks’ image throughout the world. The origin of this once-secret art came from India. Monks were not allowed to defend themselves from robbers with weapons, and so open handed fighting evolved. However, this is China today, but still the spot where the mystical art began. Today, there are over 100 schools, and the largest school has over 30,000 students.

Aside from the commercialism, we were among the few foreigners in the interior of China. If you have not been to China in the last few years, it has changed. More modern and clean attractions are everywhere. Resort hotels are everywhere, and there are many top restaurants.

We continued on to Luoyang which was one of the seven ancient capitals of China during 13 different dynasties.

Zhengzhou Greenland Plaza

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Unusual China

(Unusual China continued on page 4)

Dating from the eleventh century BCE, the near-by UNESCO World Heritage site, Longmen Grottoes, is a cave complex decorated with over 100,000 images of Buddha; the Luoy-ang Ancient Tombs Museum is the only tombs museum in China.

Luoyang’s flower is the peony. The Luoyang Museum celebrates the histo-ry of the original capital of China. It’s is a very large and modern facility with many school children on field trips. I was surprised to see how intrigued were the students in seeing foreign-ers. Among 500,000 items displayed are many unique pieces of the Tang Dynasty’s three-color pottery. We

visited the White Horse Temple and Monastery named after the horse that carried the first Buddhist manuscripts from India into China. In the late afternoon we boarded a high speed train to Xian – the provincial capital of Shaanxi and the beginning or the end of the Silk Road.

Under the ancient name Chang’an, Xian was the home to eleven Chinese dynasties and in one of China’s old-est cities. At the peak in the eighth century, over a million people lived in Xian. Next we took a two-hour

drive to Mt. Huashan, one of the five sacred Taoist mountains. Its name means Flower Mountain because it resembles a flower from afar. Narrow

Dazu rock carvings Baoding Buddhas

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Unusual China(Unusual China continued from page 3)

stone stairs, some with dizzying vistas, lead up the steep crags, and temples, statues and pavilions are tucked in among the rocks.

Xian’s most important historical site is the tomb of China’s first emperor – Qin Shi Huang. Guarding the tomb is the magnificent Terra Cotta army of 7,000 life-size figures. Peasants dig-ging a well in 1974 stumbled on this vast archaeological discovery. Over the years you can see the improvement of the display. Today it has many buildings housing the artifacts.

There we inspected the original crafted warriors, horses and chariots.

At Xian’s modern new airport, we took a two-hour flight south to Lijiang in Yunnan Province.

The entire city of Lijiang is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The temperature becomes cool in the mountain environment. It is very alive with shops and restaurants. Its cobbled stone streets, curve around a network of canals where people live and work. This alpine hamlet is located near the northern tip of the Himalayas. This is where we met the Naxi people, a matriarchal culture

related to the Tibetans. Their early hieroglyphic written language is the only one of its kind still in use. The architecture of our five-star hotel, the Crowne Plaza Lijiang, is a true work of art, and is considered in the top ten best hotels in China.

Today we visited Black Dragon Pool Park, featuring 500 varieties of flowers set against the majestic backdrop of the Himalayas. The Dongba Museum displays scrolls and artifacts. We vis-ited a school for embroidery where students are trained free-of-charge to keep this art alive. The pieces were of the highest quality. The Five Phoenix Temple dates from the Ming Dynasty was a short stroll.

Taking a cable car to the meadows of Yunshanping where yaks graze, we also pass the highest golf course in Asia. It was interesting to note that this alpine area was on the route of Mao’s Long March. In the Baisha Nazi Village, we learn about their culture and cuisine by having dinner in a pri-vate farmhouse in the village. In the evening we attended a performance

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Unusual China

of classical Chinese music performed by the Nazi Folk Music Orchestra

where most of the elderly musicians are performing to keep the traditional instruments known and continued.

Driving to Zhongdian, we wind above the turbulent Yangtze River surrounded by 10,000-foot peaks. Climbing down to The Tiger Leaping Gorge, we see the rapids up close.

The Gorge is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site – Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan protected area of great biodiversity due to its location in a climate convergence zone. The temperature zone meets the tropical zone here, and wildly diverse flora and fauna have arisen. I noticed on this

trip a broad program of reforestation throughout China.

Zhongdian is a part of Shangri-La County, newly renamed to stress its Tibetan influences. All the buildings

and especially the airport have kept with the Tibetan tradition of color and style.

Here we visited the Songzanlin Monastery dating from 1679 in the traditional Tibetan style of Lhasa’s Po-tola Place. Crowning the top of a hill at

almost 11,000 feet, the Tibetan Bud-dhist monastery complex includes two lamaseries and many living spac-es for the monks. The main prayer hall holds 1,600 monks, and i s beautifully deco-rated with frescoes

and sculptures. We again had a meal in a local farm house of exquisitely carved wood and with private rooms for a monk from the family. Interest-ing to note that here in Shangri La is

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July 2015 ADVENTURERS’ CLUB NEWS6

Unusual China(Unusual China continued from page 5)

the world’s largest prayer wheel that takes over a dozen people to turn.

The next day we visit Pudacuo National Park, established in 2007

with the help of the Nature Con-servancy. The wetlands surrounding its two lakes are a favorite habitat of migratory birds, particularly the rare Black-necked Crane. Over a hundred endangered species are found here, as well as twenty percent of the country’s plant species. This is China’s first na-tional park and it is exceptional.

After dozens of trips to China, starting in 1979 with the first group of tourists on board the Marco Polo where we had to import our own bus-es from Japan to Shanghai and where there were no accommodations for westerners, today I see the most scenic freeways with magnificent landscaping on the islands and stay in five-star accommodations with detailed ame-nities. Everywhere are a plethora of construction cranes building immense condo and apartment complexes with contemporary architecture.

Our next stop was a four-hour flight through Kunming to the ancient city of Ping Yao. It is an outstanding ex-ample of Han architecture during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The Ping

Yao city wall was first built in the Ming Dynasty. It covers a length of 6.4 km. It’s a very impressive thirty-feet high-wall with seventy-two ornate towers. It is called the first city in North China. It is a very photogenic place with a spec-tacular outer city wall. Bronze statuary graces the other wall every few hundred yards. Climbing one of the ornate wall towers, you get a unique view of the narrow streets and roof tops. Shops are everywhere with unique quality items. The first bank in China was our first museum. No vehicle is allowed inside the city, and you are in a special place when the guides are taking pictures.

A long drive to the northwest found us in the low mountains and much cooler. Here we explored from top to bottom one of the five Sacred Mountains. Wutai Shan, one of Chi-na’s four sacred Buddhist Mountains, was declared a UNESCO World

Pudacuo National Park

Photo credit: Yunnan Provincial Tourism Administration

Ping Yao

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Unusual China

Heritage Site in 2009. It is dotted with fifty-three monasteries. There is a fine timber building from the Tang Dynas-ty. The five flat peaks of Wutai Shan have been tended to and beautified for

2,000 years. Nine different emperors made pilgrimages to Wutai Shan to honor the bodhisattva of wisdom, Manjusri, believed to have lived here.

We had dramatic views while visiting the Tibetan Yellow Hat sect Pushad-ing Temple, reminiscent of the Potola Palace in Lhasa.

On our long drive to Datong we climbed to the Xuan Kong Si Hanging Monastery, built 1,400 years ago with

Wutai Shan Pushading Temple

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its precipitous cliffs and old pines. Some of our group felt that this was the most impressive place on the trip.

The following day we toured the coal mining capital of Datong. It was founded in 200 BCE near the Great Wall and Inner Mongolia. Here are the Yungang Grottoes. The fifth century

caves have over 50,000 carvings and statues. On a kilometer of bluff you can see the Indian Buddhist art evolve to a Chinese style. A new ultra-mod-ern museum presents the finer pre-served pieces from the ancient caves.

The last chapter of our China so-journ ends as we fly on to Beijing to collect our visas for North Korea – the Hermit Kingdom.

Yungang Grottoes

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Afternoon in Beijing

Photo credit: Conquer The Wall Marathon 2015


Thrawn Rickle

THE THRAWN RICKLE From the Ancient Scottish: thrawn = stubborn; rickle = loose, dilapidated heap

Robert G. Williscroft (#1116) – Editor

It’s almost the end of July,

and I’m finally getting the July Adventurers’ Club News out . At least it’s getting out – that’s re-

ally all I can say. What with relatives visiting, college prep for the twins, an orientation trip to University of Oklahoma for Bob, and a summer chemistry class at School of Mines for Arthur – plus my new novel going to press, it has been a busier than normal several weeks.

Speaking of my new novel, let me tell you about it briefly. Slingshot is the story of the construction of the largest machine in human history, the world’s first Space Launch Loop. It’s hard science fiction, but it focuses on the human drama of this project. It is on pre-sale right now on Amazon.com through August 15, the official release date of the book. I will be launching the book at the International Space Elevator Conference in Seattle at the Museum of Flight on August 21. If any of you plan to be in Seattle for this weekend, I would love to see you.

Incidentally, I have been working with Mark Budwill, the voice of the Oakland Athletics, to produce an au-dio version of Operation Ivy Bells, my novel about Cold War submarine and diving espionage. I’ve never done this before. It’s a fascination process. I’ll

let all of you know when the project is completed and the audio books are available.

Did you know that most of the books written by Club members are available to read in the Club Library, and many of them can be purchased, as well. Our library contains many of the world’s best adventure books. It’s well worth your time to visit the Library and get to know what’s there.

This month’s book review is a novel of adventure that takes place mostly somewhere else, that is to say, not on Earth. Although I reviewed book two in the series, I heartily recommend the first book as well. Hannibal Carson is a starfaring Indiana Jones. He comes across as real, the technology he uses can be extrapolated from what we have today, and the mystery he is try-ing to solve will keep you guessing. A third book is in the works, and should be out soon, but I wouldn’t wait. Check the series out now.

Last month I brought you all up to date on my activities as Editor. What I didn’t say is that I seriously need an Assistant Editor, someone who will step to the plate, learn the programs, assume an active role in producing the News each month, and eventually, succeed me as editor. The alternative is that, at some point, I simply will resign and turn my materials over to the Board. A smooth transition will be in the Club’s best interest, so give it some thought.


Book: The Reticuli Deception

BOOK REVIEW: THE RETICULI DECEPTION - A novel of archaeological adventure in T-SpaceAlastair Mayer, Mabash Books, Centennial, CO, 2012, 6 x 9 in trade pback, 244 p, ISBN: 978-0615711027. Reviewed by Editor with additional material from online resources.

The Reticuli Deception is a sequel to The Chara Talisman. While it helps

to have read the first book, The Reticuli Deception stands by itself. Before you can understand any of it, however, you need to know what T-Space is.

T-Space consists of suns that have one or more terraformed planets, worlds that have been made Earth-like long ago by a mysterious race that, apparently, is no longer with us. The T-Space Se-ries is about archeology, about discovery and learning the who, what, why, where, and when of this mysterious race.

Of course, every good story has to have bad guys. In this series, the Velkaryans, a radical cult that embodies the worst of extremism, play this role very well.

Mayer has populated this series with non-humans as well as humans. The Kesh are reasonable extrapolations of how bird-like creatures might evolve into intelligence. Mayer develops their personalities to parallel humans, but with affectations and differences that add an interesting twist to the stories.

In order to make interstellar adven-tures work, unless the story is about

relativistic starships, science fiction au-thors typically postulate some form of faster-than-light drive, some method of overcoming the limitations of light speed. Mayer accomplishes this with an interesting twist on modern physics. It could even work – who knows?

In The Chara Talisman, archaeologist Hannibal Carson and starship pilot Jacque-line Jackie Roberts trace an alien talisman to a mysterious pyramid on a distant world, only to barely escape when the Velkaryans try to hijack what they have discovered.

Now they’ve found even more talismans. Combined, these could lead them to the mys-terious aliens’ home system. But they also suggest a connection to

a legendary UFO abduction back on Earth, a connection which the Velkary-ans are deadly serious about pursuing.

But that pales when compared to what Carson and Roberts discover about the aliens’ past and their combined futures.

The Reticuli Deception is available at Amazon.com and other online sources, and by special order wherever books are sold.


Minutes – May 7, 2015

THURSDAY NIGHTS AT THE CLUBMay 7, 2015Scott Warner (#1184)

Guests

Dodie Filler, Casey Sheppard, Tom Potase, Toni Strand, Diane Flandon,

Arthur Francis Tyde, Jake Schwartz, Bill Prize, Joy Shelton, Carey Brenner, TJ Korst.

through Japan, and talked about sites he viewed, including a visit to Mt. Fuji.

Scott Warner (#1184) discussed a trip he was taking to Isla Mujeres, a small island off of Cancun. He talked about some of the dives he would be complet-ing, including some Cenotes in Playa Del Carmen.

Returning from Adventure

Scott Warner (#1184) returned from a trip digging gemstones at the Califor-

nia Gem Mine. He talked about benitoite, which is the California State gemstone, and some nice stones he found valued in the two to three thousand dollar range after cut. He announced that he would be inviting any members who wanted to go with him on any future trips.

Steven Bo Keeley (Guest Speaker) re-viewed a trip he took to the Amazon and talked about how he was attacked by wild dogs. He discussed his return trip back to Miami and his travels to Mississippi. He then reviewed four books he had written.

Leaving On Adventure

Martin Bloom (#1147) announced he was taking a trip with his wife

Trish, where they were picking up a boat and sailing to Trinidad, Tobago, and throughout the Caribbean. He said it was the anniversary of Steve Peterman’s death and they would be celebrating his life, and honoring him by putting his ashes out to sea during the trip.

Bob Walters (#1047) talked about a trip he was taking to Washington DC to participate in a ceremony honoring our American Fighter Pilots.

Blair Fuller reviewed a trip he took

Executive Hobo

I was born a common man raised to uncommon adventure. My life follows

the vicissitudes of Buck the dog in Jack London’s Call of the Wild. We were raised by the hearths in comfortable California homes, then allowed into measured back-yards, left home after a customary youth, and then broke loose, until a final pursuit in a Call of the Wild.

Steven “Bo” Keeley is a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, holistic healer, for-mer national racquet champion, and has traveled the world. His Wikipedia page reads like Indiana Jones. His preferred method of transportation: rail boxcars. “Bo” is short for “hobo.”

He coined the term “Executive Tour-ism” two decades ago while taking corporate presidents, doctors, attorneys,

Traveling by box car

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(Minutes continued on page 12)

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talk- show hosts, professors, and musi-cians in boxcars across the country, deep into Mexico, and the headwaters of the Amazon. The trips are customized ac-cording to the executives’ taste.

Bo is a great raconteur, and he recently entertained many of us at dinner with

stories of his adven-tures. Hopefully, he will have time to talk about such exploits as his application for a Guinness world re-cord for most near-death experiences (which he scores on a one-to-nine scale

of “Catman points,” based on how many of a cat’s lives would have been snuffed out), and his being robbed over 100 times.

Pierre Odier (#988) introduced the speaker and asked the club members to submit ideas for speakers on the speaker form.

Jeff Holmes (#1148) introduced Bo and gave a history of how they met. Bo is well known for offering tours to executives which is a com-bination of “Outward Bound” and “Burning Man.” He is nicknamed the Catman, based on all his near death experiences.

Bo came on stage and talked about his childhood and all the places he lived, including California. He talked about becoming a veterinarian and discussed his ten years as a profession-al Racquetball player during the 70s.He talked about playing in the United States and South America and his rating as the second best player in the world. He then discussed his self-discovery

period where he spent his time trying to set world records for Guinness for such things as bike riding and not trying to blink for a year.

He started detailing how he got into it and all the places he has traveled, which included Europe, Asia, South and Cen-tral America, Africa, and the Amazon for a total of 105 countries. He mentioned a trip he was leaving on the next day out of San Bernardino, and invited any interested members to go on the trip. He said he did not know where they would be headed as it depended on which train they hopped on. He then told a story of when he was backpacking across Death Valley and came across a pack that had no trails leading to it. He found some private info and letters and contacted the man’s daughter. The Parks service was notified and the man’s remains were found not far away. The parks service questioned Bo and he said they actually suspected him of killing the man. He reviewed his travels around Peru talked about the Akitos revolution where the culture changed drastically due to the addition of computers to the area. He talked about ayahuasca, that he said was the street drug of the future.

Drinking Gatorade

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(Minutes continued from page 11)

Bo then shared his biography from Hobo to the Catman period. The catman period is in reference to all the near-death experiences he has had. Nine Kittens or near-death experiences equals one Cat. He then talked in depth about his person-al near-death experiences that included all the times he has been robbed, once in Caracas by two men wielding Machetes. He talked about the many robberies, ill-nesses including malaria and hook worm.

Other near death experiences included almost freezing to death on a rail cart in Colorado. He said he was freezing due to the extreme cold weather, and threw himself off the train so he could crawl on the tracks and generate some heat to stay alive. He told the story of being attacked by a bear in New Mexico, and said that you either make yourself look bigger or get into a fetal position. The problem he had with this bear is that it mimicked every move he did. He raised his hands and so did the bear, he raised them higher and jumped up and down and so did the bear. He then talked about problems you will encounter in third-world countries. He said if you want to be treated properly for exotic diseases, you need to go to the

locations where they occurred for proper identification and treatment.

He reviewed all the times he has been arrested in his travels and the processes involved, which included being held in a psychiatric ward for a three-day obser-vation. He has hoboed and logged over 400 trips and discussed the legal ramifi-cations which are mostly misdemeanor charges like trespassing. He then talked about returning to California and living in the desert in an underground trailer he had built. He was a teacher in the city of Blythe, and was sometimes given difficult assignments and students to work with. He reviewed all the books he has written, including Hobo Riding and the American Dream, Racquetball Mafia, and a story about Elvis Presley among others.

Question and answer session followed. He was asked how you hobo up and down the Amazon River. He stated that it was easier than hitchhiking in LA, and explained the process and hand signals you use to get the locals to stop and pick you up in their boats.

Bo put on a very interesting, infor-mative presentation and was presented a recognition plaque and medallion by Vince Weatherby for speaking at the Club.

Pierre Odier announced an upcom-ing Memoria l for John, who was the assistant to the chef at the club. He an-nounced the up-coming speaker for May 14th who would be speak-ing on Abraham Lincoln.

Crossing the Rio Grande

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May 21, 2015Scott Warner (#1184)Guests

invitation to all members to join him on this adventure.

Kevin Lee (#1163) thanked Roger Haft (#1098) for setting up the guest speaker. He introduced Stephen Wright and gave an interesting account of his accomplish-ments that include extreme kayaking, mountain climbing, cinematography, and producing many shows including The Deadliest Catch.

Tom Potase, Nicole Stranz, Panchita Stranc, Erich and Sharon Grosse,

Dominique Chipot, George Seluki, Matt Oawin, Stienay Wans, Omar Padilla, Bill Price, Nanette Lestrud, Robert Nicks, Sarah Haft, Carey Brenner, and Veronica DeLara.

Returning from Adventure

Scott Warner (#1184) returned from a trip to Isla Mujeres, a small Island

off Cancun. He talked about climbing the pyramids of Coba, and about all the great diving around Cancun. He reviewed some beautiful dives he completed in the Cenotes around Playa Del Carmen and diving the colorful reefs around the islands. He talked about all the sea life he viewed, including sharks, rays, eels, and a huge number of mating turtles off of Punta Sur.

Mike Clark (#1171) just returned from Mexico City where he was completing filming of the Zapatista’s, which make up the army of National Liberation located in Chiapas.

Steve Bein (#1057) reviewed a trip to the Grand Canyon and showed a beautiful slide show of photos from White Pocket, Horseshoe Bend, Monument Valley, and a great photo of a California condor.

David Grober (#1068) talked about returning from a music video shoot where a beautiful girl gets eaten by a shark.


Stewart Deats (#1168) announced a trip they were taking to Isla Mujeres

to dive and photograph the migration of the whale sharks. He extended an

Deadliest Catch

The Deadliest Catch is a reality television series produced for the Discovery

Channel. It portrays the real-life events aboard fishing vessels in the Bering Sea during the Alaskan king crab fishing sea-sons. The Aleutian Islands port of Dutch Harbor, Alaska, is the base of operations for the fishing fleet. The show’s title de-rives from the inherent high risk of injury or death associated with the work.

The series follows life on “the vast Bering Sea” aboard six crab fishing boats during two of the crab fishing seasons, the October king crab season and the January opilio crab (C. opilio; often referred to as “snow crab” or “opies”) season. The show emphasizes the dangers on deck to the fishermen (and the Discovery Channel

The Deadliest Catch promotional collage

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camera crews recording their work), as crews duck heavy crab pots swinging into position, maneuver hundreds of pounds of crab across a deck strewn with hazards (i. e., holding tank hatches, uneven surfac-es, maintenance access plates, wet decks), and lean over the rails to position pots for launch or retrieval as gale-force winds and high waves constantly lash the deck. The series also documents the dangers of being on a boat in the Bering Sea, in the midst of some of the coldest and stormiest waters on earth, where even a minor problem may become complex, with the nearest port often hundreds of miles away.

Each episode focuses on a story, situa-tion, or theme that occurs on one or more boats, while side stories delve into the backgrounds and activities of one or two crew members, particularly the “green-horns” (rookie crew members) on several boats. The fleet’s captains are featured prominently, highlighting their camara-derie with their fellow captains and rela-tionships with their crews, as well as their competition with other boats in the hunt for crab. Common themes include friendly rivalries among the captains (particularly between Sig Hansen of the Northwestern, and Johnathan and Andy Hillstrand of the Time Bandit), the familial ties throughout

the fleet (brothers Sig, Norm, and Edgar Hansen, who own the Northwestern; the Hillstrand brothers and Johnathan’s son Scott on the Time Bandit; brothers Keith and Monte Colburn of the Wizard), the stresses of life on the Bering Sea, and the high burnout rate among greenhorns.

Because Alaskan crab fishing is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world, the U.S. Coast Guard rescue squads stationed at Integrated Support Command Kodiak (Kodiak, Alaska) and their outpost on St. Paul Island, near the northern end of the crab fishing grounds, are frequently shown rescuing crab boat crew members who fall victim to the harsh conditions on the Bering Sea. The USCG rescue squad was featured prominently during the ep-isodes surrounding the loss of F/V Big Valley in January, 2005, the loss of F/V Ocean Challenger in October, 2006, and the loss of F/V Katmai in October, 2008.

Stephen Wright was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay area, and by the age of fifteen he was obsessed with skiing. At about the same time he was introduced to rock climbing as well as photography. He envied his heroes, the French ski mountaineers Sylvain Suadan and Yvon Chouinard, for what they called the “Golden Era” in the Yosemite Valley.

The Wizard in heavy seas

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The “Valley” was a world class mecca, and it was theirs and theirs alone to pick off first ascents up to 3,500 clean granite faces... all they had to do was figure it out.

After high school Steve attended the University of California at Chico and received a degree in English Literature. His time at university was rarely spent focused on school as he quickly fell into a crowd passionate about the relatively new sport of whitewater kayaking. Steve and a core group of friends found their own “Golden Era of whitewater kayak-ing.” California was a perfect set-up for classic whitewater runs that had yet to be explored. Always with a video camera at hand, Steve participated in over thirty first descents of steep class-5 rivers through-out California and later the world.

After college, Steve immediately moved to the ski town of Truckee, California. He did all of the “classic” climbs pioneered by his heroes in Yosemite. Leaning on the craft of producing videos, Steve and a college friend, Todd Stanley, managed to travel, kayak, and shoot video in over twenty countries. Little did they know they would be honing their skills to land them-selves later careers shooting a brand new genre of television called “Reality TV.”

Thom Beers had heard about what OSHA called the world’s most dangerous profession of winter-time crab fishing in the Bering Sea. With virtually a 100% injury rate, and a backdrop of the violent storm-driven ocean, he knew that if we doc-umented these salty characters with cameras it would no doubt produce exciting drama. The phenomenon of The Deadliest Catch was born. It is now in its eleventh season, and is the top-rated show in its genre, seen in sixty-five countries by 100-million viewers

annually. It was a perfect match, and a career in reality television was started. Steve and his twenty-five year friend, Todd Stanley, remain as the two producers on the show from the beginning.

The next fifteen years were spent shoot-ing television, traveling to another twenty countries, and documenting larger than life characters. Steve has received three Prime-time Emmy awards for his cinematography for The Deadliest Catch. Steve also worked with National Geographic documenting Air Force PJs (ParaJumpers) performing com-bat rescue in war-torn Afghanistan.

Without really knowing it, and letting the years pass by, Steve found he was filling a life full of off-the-beaten-path adventures, and really knows no other way of getting by. An office job would “kill him.”

The Adventurers’ Club of Los Angeles thanks Roger Haft for recommending this speaker.

Steve thanked Roger for inviting him and talked about his time spent at the Club and how Bob Silver (#728) was his favorite member. He said he was always fascinated with adventure, including kayaking, mountain climbing, skiing, photography, and that Deadliest Catch was the culmination of his long career. He then showed a video of The Deadliest Catch, dubbed the most dangerous job in the world. His video show included huge waves hitting the boats and the many accidents that occur. He showed the dif-ficulties to the film members, and damage to the cameras just filming the show. He mentioned that salt water plays havoc on the cameras, and then showed some of the new equipment they use for filming, that includes the use of drones with cameras recording the overhead shots



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from above the boats. He then showed some hilarious footage of all the film crew members getting seasick from the rough seas and hurling their guts.

Steve showed video from early in his life. He talked about the trips he took and the countries he had traveled to, living the ad-venturer’s life. His videos were breathtak-ing, showing him kayaking off waterfalls, and major rivers he had navigated. The scenery was beautiful and the action was unbelievable. He then showed a wonderful video of him and his friends traveling to China to kayak the entire length of the Tsangpo River along the Tibet border. This is a huge, fast moving river. They chose wintertime to take the trip, so water flow was at its lowest. He showed the filming of the trip, that took 180 days, and included visiting a Buddhist monastery to have the trip blessed by the Tibetan Monks.

He talked about breaking his back in 2000, and how he was laid up for a year.

It changed his life, and caused him to focus more on cinematography and pro-duction work. He then showed video of his friend Shane McConkey, skiing off of huge cliffs, skydiving, and base jumping. His friend then started base jumping with the new wing suits. Unfortunately, he was killed in a tragic accident recently.

It was a great presentation of his friend, who was an amazing adventurer and had accomplished some great things.

Steve then showed videos of all the shows he had filmed and produced, which included The World’s Dirtiest Jobs, The World’s Deadliest Roads, Sons of Guns, and a show called Venom Quest that showcased deadly snakes from Vietnam and around the world. He then showed video of him traveling with a special forces unit out of Kandahar. This unit specializes in rescue missions of our soldiers. The members have trained with every one of our country’s special forces units.

Steve finished by talking about his life and how much he loves what he does. He finished by showing photos of himself with all the crew members of The Dead-liest Catch, and some of the huge crabs they had caught in Alaska.

He ended the presentation by answering questions from the mem-bers. He talked about how impressed he was with James Cameron (#1129) who is an ACLA member. He talked about the rough seas and storms, and the weather patterns that cause them. He said the last few years have been warmer than usual on the Bering Sea.

Steve’s presentation and his video and photography were fantastic. It was very much enjoyed by all attending. Kevin Lee present-ed him with a recognition plaque and medal l ion for speaking at the Club.

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Kevin Lee with Steve Wright


Minutes – June 4, 2015


June 4, 2015Scott Warner (#1184)

Guests

report written by TE Lawrence. The book was about the difficulties in changing the Arab culture in the Middle East.

Steve Bein (#1057) was wearing an interesting “Hair Hat” and showed some great photos he took of hummingbirds.

Terry Stern, Tom Potase, Bruce Coo-per, Brad Ritter, Doug Jones, and

Dave DuganShane Berry introduced three friends

from his class reunion that were attending his lectureReturning from Adventure

Jay Foonberg (#1126) reviewed his son’s wedding he had just attended.

Steve Bein (#1057) was just returning from his hotel in Wyoming and men-tioned a letter he received from the IRS that said he owed 75 dollars for a 2 dollar shortage.

Roger Haft (#1098) talked about his membership in AARP and a notice he received stating he was three cents short on a check he had written.


Steve Bein (#1057) heading out to the Colorado plateau to visit Goblin

Valley and some of the same areas that Shane Berry just returned from.

Bernie Harris (#1063) was leaving for Chicago to attend his oldest granddaugh-ter’s college graduation.

Announcements

Pierre Odier (#988) announced that he wanted to honor our veterans by

having Club members post photos at the Club.

Pierre announced that next week would be a Ladies’ Night.

Bob Silver asked for two minutes and talked about the previous weeks speaker on Afghanistan and Iraq, then did a book

Venezuela – The Lost World

Venezuela is one of those countries in South America that people have

heard of, but very few have visited beyond a cruise stop or the capital city of Caracas. Venezuela is a land that should be visited and explored. It is a land of incredible variety and beauty, from snowcapped Andean peaks to the Caribbean, from the Amazon jungles to the wildlife-rich savannas where tenuis (flat-topped moun-tains) evoke images of a lost world. One of those tenuis is the world famous Angel Falls (Salto Angel) that drops 3,211 feet (979 meters). Another famous tepui is Roraima that is one of the Gran Sabana’s

greatest adventure destinations, made fa-mous by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s book, The Lost World.

Shane traveled all over Chile in 2003 and Argentina in 2004 with fellow Ad-venturers’ Club member Gary Mortimer

Angel Falls

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(#1086). John Lustick of Michigan was also on those trips. With only a few weeks’ notice, Shane joined John in Venezuela in

Jan. 2005. Shane traveled from Caracas to Cuidad Bolivar, and then flew by single engine plane to Canaima National Park (Angel Falls). After exploring Angel Falls, Shane continued his travels to Santa Elena (Gran Sabana) and Roraima, then onto the Orinoco Delta (home to Wareo boat people), and finally ended at Mochima National Park .

Shane discussed some of the social and political problems in the country, including a high amount of kidnappings that occur. Hugo Chavez was the president of Vene-zuela when he visited, and the country had a high rating as a dangerous place to travel

in. Shane said he felt a little uncomfortable while traveling in Caracas, but said that once he was outside of the city, he was fine traveling around the country.

Shane started by reviewing articles, books and a slide show of photos taken at Victoria Falls. He then showed a photo he shot at the falls that he later found published on a calendar. Unfortunately, he was unaware the photo had been published and he received no royalties for his work. He then continued with some

great photos of gorgeous Venezuelan woman participating in a beauty pageant. He provided some interesting maps of Venezuela and the routes he had taken on his travels through the country. His route included travels from Caracas, Cuidad Bolivar, Canaima, Santa Elena de Vairen, Tucapita and back to Caracas. He showed photos of his travels through the country that included buses he had taken that had so many bullet holes in them that they looked like Bonnie and Clyde’s vehicle after they were ambushed.

Shane talked about the history of Angel Falls and its original discovery. He showed some awesome photos of Angel Falls, beautiful waterfalls, mountain ranges, riv-

Wareo Children in Canoe-Orinoco Delta-Venezuela – 2005

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area. He covered the Wareo Canoe People who live in houses built on stilts due to the high rainfall averages. He talked about

their lifestyles and the process they use to make their canoes, which consists of burning one side of a tree while it is still standing, and then cutting it down and carving out the canoe. He showed many photos of the people, their homes, and

canoes they built. He showed photos of different fruit trees in the area, including cocoa, and the many insects found in the area.

Shane ended his presentation with a trip he took to the coast, and showed photos of many beautiful beaches and bays he visited. The friends he made in the area said he could live there and have as many wives as he wanted, as long as he could afford them all.

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ers, and rainforests. He then showed some outstanding photos of the flora and fauna of the country, and mentioned that 80% of the plants and flowers on Angel Falls are found nowhere else in the world. He also showed photos he took flying over the rainforests and falls, as well as some great shots he took from a canoe head-ing up river through the mountains, with multiple waterfalls during the dry season. He then showed photos of Paul Straub’s induction into the ACLA in 1971. Talk-ed about flights they took to Venezuela and around the world. He showed some unbelievable close up photos of Victoria Falls taken from their plane from above and next to the falls.

Shane showed photos of the Roraima mountains and the Gran Sabana, which consist of tabletop mountains of color-ful red jasper rock. He talked about the exploration of the mountain tops by Sir Conan Doyle and the famous book he wrote, The Lost World, about dinosaurs living up on the Tabletops. Shane talked about climbing Roraima, which takes about five days with a guide. He showed photos of the wildlife, including mon-keys, sloths, jaguars, and a wide variety of beautiful and interesting birds. He showed pictures of tribal people who live in the

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Letters / Announcement

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Thanks, Shane. Now I know that at least one person read last month’s News. – Editor

We are updating the Club’s 3-ring bind-er that contains a brief biography of each member. To be included, please submit yours as soon as possible to [email protected]

Announcement!

To the Editor:Was visiting a friend who had recently been

admitted to a rest home. Upon leaving his room, I noticed the names on the adjoin-ing unit as being Bob Sandwick and Ruth

Okay, you local guys, this is something you can sink your teeth into – Editor

To the Editor:Just got the new issue of The Adventurers’

Club News at the Club last night. Everyone loved the articles and the photo and story of Abe Lincoln at the Club. Great issue!

Scott Warner is our newest member and gave an outstanding talk on gold mining in the rivers of California. – Shane Berry (#1093)

Sandwick. Bob is a long-time Club member whom we have not seen for several years

and apparently fell off the mailing list due to recent address changes. He was one of our avid sailors. I called upon them and had a pleas-

ant but short visit. Their present home is “Sunrise of Claremont,” 2053

N. Towne Ave., Claremont, CA 91711. (Just north of the 210 FWY at Towne Ave.) The main phone is (909) 398-4688. Bob said he very much misses the Club, as Ruth said about Ladies’ Nights, and I am sure he would appreciate hearing from us. – Bob Walters (#1047)


July 2, 2015 – [CLUB DARK] Independence DayJuly 6, 2015 – BOARD MEETING – 7:00 PM. The Adventurers’ Club

Board of Directors meets the first Monday of every month un-less there is a schedule change. All Club members are welcome to attend. The location of the meetings varies each month, and will be announced “from the podium.” For up-to-date details contact President Vince Weatherby ([email protected]) or Board Director, Bernie Harris ([email protected]).

July 9, 2015 – Ted Faye – Twenty Mule Team of Death ValleyJuly 16, 2015 – LADIES’ NIGHT – Joe Rohde – Mongolian Snow

Leopard ProjectJuly 23, 2015 – Mark Fowler – Lost Continent of the Pacific: Marquesas

and French PolynesiaJuly 30, 2015 – Rick Flores – Peru: Adventure in the Land of the IncaAugust 3, 2015 – BOARD MEETING August 6, 2015 – Tony Burica – Seeking Freedom: A Five-Year OdysseyAugust 13, 2015 – Paul Straub – ORIZABA: 3 AttemptsAugust 20, 2015 – LADIES’ NIGHT – Bob Silver – The Flight of the

Free Flight: The Beginning of a World TripAugust 27, 2015 – Alex Ramsey and Chris Lockett – Documenting Demin-

ing Team in Cambodia and its EffectsSeptember 3, 2015 – SPECIAL EVENT – LADIES’ NIGHT – Honoring

veteransSeptember 7, 2015 – BOARD MEETINGSeptember 10, 2015 – LADIES’ NIGHT – Clayton Jones – Searching for Ho

Chi Minh

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Programs / Notes

Forthcoming Programs

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