The OPEX served as a farewell for D11S Auxiliarists to OTO Matuschek who will be moving to Station Mayport, Florida, to serve as the Commanding Officer.

On the Colorado River in northwest Arizona, Lake Havasu marks the borders of California and Arizona. From the walkway just outside the room that served as testing area, meeting room, operations and a material center, one could see the relocated London Bridge straddling the shallow green river channel.

By early afternoon, sleek muscle boats begin to beach, crowded together gunwale to gunwale, their stereos blaring hip hop music. The Lower Colorado River waterway is among the most perilous for recreational boaters -- it seemed apt that an OPEX (Operations Exercise) be held here.

For months Virgil Campbell, Rear Commodore-Inland, Margaret Peggy Burgess, Division Captain 9 and many others from Division 9 and 10 were hard at work making arrangements to assure the success of the OPEX 2005.

On Thursday, 125 from around D11S would begin arriving on April 14. Auxiliary facilities, ranging from personal watercraft (PWC) to a near-new 28' cabin cruiser, began filling slips in the shadow of the “London Bridge.”

OTO Mark Matuschek demonstrates a high speed run through the PWC qualification course at OPEX 2005, Lake Havasu, AZ.

By Friday morning they would be inspected and ready, awaiting hopeful crew and coxswain candidates. Boat crews would also be using the waiting facilities to complete qualifications for the Operational Excellence Award.

Before the OPEX was completed on Sunday, April 17; many members would complete both one- and five-year maintenance tasks. Ten boat crew candidates would complete all qualification tasks for crew status, four members would complete tasks to become PWC operators and two members would complete their coxswain qualifications.

One vessel, "Family Boat" from Division 1, and her crew; Coxswain Bill Andersen, Bill Dabbs and Rudy Lopez as crew would qualify for the “Operational Excellence Award.”

A bustle of activity continued until late in the afternoon. June Esparza, Dave Esparza and Michael Johnson, led the organizational efforts to pair Qualification Examiners with candidates for navigation rules, dockside and on-the-water testing. They also organized qualified crew and coxswains for all of the vessels for the day.

The communication station was set up and radio watch standers began working as boats headed up and down the channel. Thompson Bay, a large wakeless speed area served as a good location to set up tow evolutions. The upper end of the channel opened up to another less protected, deeper area where other boats headed for the day's exercises. Contact Point was chosen for the operation area for the PWC training and testing for the weekend.

OPEX 2005

On Saturday a National Championship Collegiate Triathlon closed the London Bridge Channel until nearly nine o'clock. Triathletes, including six from the US Coast Guard Academy, spent over an hour swimming up and down the channel as Auxiliarists readied for the days exercises. Rachel Beckmann, from the Academy, earned a third place finish -- with a fantastic time of 2:14:56 -- for her swim, bike and run efforts.

As soon as the channel was cleared of all swimmers, boats began to leave the docks for another long day of training and exercising.

In addition to operational exercises, sixty-six Auxiliarists from District 11S; Southern California, Nevada and Arizona completed one or more workshops during the three day period. Mandatory operations, instructor, vessel safety check and program visitor workshops were well attended. One ambitious Auxiliarist took advantage of the availability of testing staff and finished his last exam to earn the coveted status of AUXOP.

RADM Kevin J. Eldridge and his wife, Karen, witnessed the exercises while aboard Chuck and Sandy Costello’ Auxiliary facility. He later enjoyed some time on a PWC where he was able to see first hand a typical spring Saturday afternoon of boating on Lake Havasu. That evening, he was the keynote speaker at the Saturday evening dinner, “I applaud the Auxiliary's efforts in aiding Team Coast Guard in many of its missions,” he said. He honored the team who organized the successful OPEX and the boat crew who hosted him on his tour by presenting them with his coin.

OPEX 2005

Virgil Campbell summed it up in an e-mail following the OPEX 2005 by saying, "Attendance was much higher than expected, weather was wonderful and I believe everyone had a great time."