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ECAD 2008

ECAD 2008 on March 15 was a smash success, as always, and Su and I had just a wonderful time. We were in Gotham a week, Wednesday to Wednesday. While in New York, on Friday, March 14, I did a reading from Adventurous Dreams, Adventurous Lives: Today’s Explorers Recall the Youthful Dreams Launching their Remarkable Lives at McNally-Robinson’s wonderful bookstore on Spring Street in Soho.
Saturday was ECAD itself at the Waldorf-Astoria and Sunday everyone repaired to the Club on E. 70th for traditional brunch, programs and to commingle. For the first time, some authors were allowed to sell books and I was among them – selling out all 125! And I could have sold more. My wrist was sore from signing them, and I’m delighted naturally that it’s so well received within the Club. Monday was the St. Pat’s Day Parade down Fifth Avenue. And in between and around were a lot of dinners in Little Italy and parties at friends’ and eating way too much Kobe beef and esoteric cheeses from the legendary Balduccis, which has been resurrected and which was only three blocks from where we were staying at our friends’ flat in the West Village.

Reading from Adventurous Dreams, Adventurous Lives. I’m actually flying by the seat of my pants: I had been told it was to be a “signing” but when I arrived they expected a “reading!” Thus, I had fifteen minutes to throw together a dog-and-pony act. Everyone said I didn’t make a fool out of myself which says much about their generosity, but maybe they were right: we did sell 16 books! And the weekend crowds for book readings is small in New York I learned, everyone out dating and dinner and the like.
That’s Su, the Imperial Japanese Dragon Lady, looking bored to my right. In front of her is contributor Gerry Bass, chair of one of the Florida chapters. The pretty smiling lady in the far left of the picture is contributor Barbara Brunnick, a dolphin expert from Florida. About 14 of my 120 contributors kindly showed up and most of us headed to a bar and restaurant around the corner after. A great time was had by all!

Signing books. That’s volcanologist Cathie Hickson’s husband Glenn standing in the blue jacket; Doctor on Everest Ken Kamler in brown, Ken was the first to treat Beck Weathers on Everest during the 1996 disaster; behind him is Rio Hahn who co-founded the Biosphere II project in Arizona; and Gerry Bass again. An ex F-4 jock, Gerry knows as much about the Amazon as anyone you’ll find.

The famous (or infamous) Exotics Table at the Waldorf-Astoria where everything from honey dipped tarantulas to wildebeest bungs were served. It’s always a huge hit with this crowd. After champagne and treats here, a Scottish piper led us into the huge, tri-level auditorium for dinner and the program, this year, “Exploring Planet Ocean.” It went on until about 11:00 pm, at which time a cocktail party continued in one of the suites, though we cut down the street to PJs, a famous NY bar that’s been around since the 1880s, and which is a favorite of mine.

Mmmmm. . . (genuine) wild boar. . . . I found the scorpions too hard but wokked grasshoppers are always one of my favorites and I buy them on the street in Bangkok frequently. Nice nutty flavour.

At the dinner I asked as many of the 120 contributors I could find to sign and/or annotate their contributions on several books for use in silent auctions and charities. This is National Geographic diving legend Anne Doubilet of course. Standing beside me is Capt. Norm Baker, Thor Heyerdahl’s first mate, navigator and radioman on the reed boat trips Ra, Ra-II and Tigris. Norm was not only at the Soho reading, but he flew into Toronto in September in his plane for the launch, along with 25 others from all around North America and even Argentina.

Can you believe Genie “The Shark Lady” Clark is 82? I look older. She was awarded our Club’s highest award – The Explorers Medal. She gave me a great smack right on the lips and she’s a hell of a good kisser, but then she’s part Japanese and I have one of my very own, thus know that the Japanese do everything better. Directly behind me is Canadian Chapter Chair and book contributor Joe Frey and beside him another contributor, Stefan Harzen. Stefan’s also a dolphin expert and married to Barbara seen earlier. A few months ago Stefan interviewed me by phone on his Jupiter, Florida, radio show, Dolphin Dialogues. Both he and Barbara attended the Toronto launch as well.

Genie accepting her award. I wish I didn’t have that load of books so I could have taken more pictures! One of the surprises I had at the dinner was being introduced to Gloria Steinem a table away by Capt. Joel Fogel, another contributor and an outstanding multi-discipline explorer. While not a member, she was there as a guest. Gloria was extremely gracious, loves the idea of the book, and is going to pass a copy on to her good friend Oprah.

Between Su and I, and our old friend and wonderfully eccentric host in the top hat, BJ Mikkelson, is Capt. Meagan McGrath who was awarded the President’s Award for Heroism and Altruism for saving the life of the Nepali woman Usha Bista on Everest a year ago. Meagan had just begun descending the mountain on a high after just completing the 7 Summit Quest (pioneered by our Pat Morrow) when she came across Usha helpless and suffering from severe cerebral edema. Rather than pass her by, as was the case with Brit David Sharp the previous year who froze to death, Meagan stopped and instigated the rescue. Meagan is the most modest heroette you’ll ever meet. I’m pleased to say that we both received Citations of Merit from the Club in September in Toronto, hers again for heroism, mine for promoting exploration.

Buzz Aldrin was in just a great mood and we had a wonderful chat and I met his attractive wife Lois. He also introduced me to his close friend Scott Carpenter and I reminded Scott that I had phoned him three years ago inviting him to participate in the book project but that he had paused, then replied with a slight groan, “. . . It sounds like work.” I’m not sure if Scott knew that I was joking or not, but I was chuckling when I told him the story.
Buzz not only contributed to the book but wrote such a glowing endorsement that Rocky Mountain Books put it on the front cover: “I had no idea when I had my first youthful dream of flight that it would take me all the way to the moon—but that’s the power unleashed in following one’s dreams. Jason Schoonover’s book should be required reading in every school.” Buzz can always be counted on to help out members of the Club. He just loves the Club and is a regular at ECADs. Like all of us, he can finally be with people he feels completely at home with.

Now we have to wait a full year for another ECAD!

Jason Schoonover FI’86

Adventurous Dreams, Adventurous Lives: Today’s Explorers Recall the Youthful Dream Launching their Remarkable Lives Book Launch – Sept. 26, 2007!

            Oysters on the half shell, $30 wine and a belly dancer were stirred into the punch for the launch at Billy Jamieson’s incredible pad in Toronto. Two hundred attended with 26 of the 120 contributors flying in from all over North America and as far as Argentina. 160 books were sold—with everyone like kids trading signatures like they were baseball cards.
            In what was surely the largest gathering of explorers in Toronto’s history, six members of the Executive from The Explorers Club in New York honored us by attending. It was my pleasure to introduce contributors from the mike, and poke fun at some, like Capt. Norm Baker for being so lazy that he drifted and sailed across the Atlantic with Thor Heyerdahl in Ra and Ra II while Colin and Julie Angus rowed. And Les Survivorman Stroud who I suggested should get together with publisher Don Gorman to write what would surely be a bestseller: Les Stroud’s Sure Thing 7-Day Diet Plan.
             It was also my pleasure to finally meet so many great explorers who have become friends over the last three years. As I told everyone from the podium, this project was never work and the greatest reward was going out to play with everyone.
            The Class Picture is the one with a smiling, young and lovely Eve D’Vincent and I sitting on the floor. In other shots, that’s Rocky Mountain Books publisher Don Gorman talking to Les Stroud, and Meagan McGrath at the mike accepting her Citation of Merit for saving the life of the Nepali woman on Everest earlier this year. My favorite moment was having the pleasure of introducing Capt. Norm Baker to fellow Atlantic Ocean crossers Colin and Julie; that’s their photo with Capt. Norm in the middle. All the pictures but this one and another with Colin, Julie, Explorers Club Canadian Chair Joe Frey and me were taken by pro photog Michael Dubrule.
            Talk about fulfilling childhood dreams of adventure: I was even awarded an Explorers Club Citation of Merit for “Achievements in Popularizing Exploration."
            Everyone left with a smile on their face and to my delight, the book is already selling steadily across the country at Canada’s big box chain Indigo. And with a minimum of national promotion at this point, it’s moving on its own merits on the shelf.
            Readings and interviews will take place all over Western Canada in the next two months, before I fly back to Bangkok early in December.
            Whew. . . what a bash. . .the greatest bash of my life, I’ll tell ya. . . .

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