August 27, 2010

WMYA Laser Sailing

Posted by dongshow under alcohol, video | Tags: , , , |
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I was back in Michigan a couple of weeks ago to see the family and watch the WMYA regatta (The Westerns) on Spring Lake.   As the regatta rotates between various clubs, and since I now live in AK I hadn’t seen the Westerns at Spring Lake, my home yacht club, since 1993.  It was a fantastic time, which I really don’t have then energy to attempt to describe around these parts.  Anyway, in between beers and rum drinks I put my GoPro on my cousin Charlie’s tiller for a race and the results were pretty encouraging.  I’ve edited a bit but tried to keep the more critical tacks, jibes, and rule 42 violations.  Enjoy the race.

 

July 22, 2010

Dipping But No Fish

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Last weekend I headed down to Kenai with Don to collect me annual salmon stock with the dip net.  Unfortunately the fish, wild crowds (pictured above) and waves were less then cooperative and I only came home with five fish.   Luckily my disappointment with the lack of fish was cushioned by the most luxurious dip netting accommodations I’ve yet to experience out at Don’s friend Rodger’s compound in North Kenai.  So instead of  brooding on the beach in the rain we lounged in leather recliners eating moose jerky and watching Cops, which kind of evened things out.  Anyway, I’ll be going back for more fish, next time too Kasilof, and I’m  hoping it will be more successful.

 

July 21, 2010

Reed Lakes – Hatchers Pass

Posted by maxvockner under Alaska Weather Forecasting is a Joke | Tags: |
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On what may have been the last nice day of summer, Charlie and myself went to hike up to Reed Lakes in Hatcher Pass on Saturday afternoon after work. A quick 2 hr hike led us to some of the most dramatic scenery in the state. More pictures of the trip can be found here.

 

July 9, 2010

Willow Kayaking

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In keeping with the recent boating theme around these parts Max has sent along a nice little video of some kayaking on Jean Lake out in Willow.  If you don’t know about Willow the  short documentary at this link is very informative.

 

June 30, 2010

Cannonsburg Sold

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News has reached me that Cannonsburg (the ski area of my youth) has been sold.  The decrepit area is now the possesion of a lawyer from Petoskey.  I don’t have any clue as to how this will effect the day to day operations (this whole post is an excuse to post the picture above), but knowing how the previous owners seemed content to let the place rot I can’t imagine things will get much worse.  I’m only worried that Cannonsburg traditons like breakless rental skis, groups of five riding a quad chair, busses of Indiana drunks, meth smoking lifties and derailed T-bars may become things of the past.  (Hat Tip to First Tracks)

 

June 13, 2010

Big Lake Sailing

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Since moving to AK my summers have lacked time on sailboats.  Yesterday, after a morning of World Cup games Hunter and I drove up to Big Lake for the Alaska Sailing Club open house.  We were greeted by the commodore the moment we stepped out of the car, and were given a brief tour of the facilities before heading out for a short sail on a Buccaneer 18, the fleet they race up there.  While out on the water hunter played around with his GoPro for a bit, opening up a lot possibilities.  Some footage from the A Scow Nationals has given me a number of ideas for some sailing videos, but so far I only have the short clip from yesterday bellow, enjoy.  I also have to mention that everyone at the Alaska Sailing Club was incredibly friendly, although they drink quite a bit less then you’d see at a Michigan Yacht Club.  Anyway, great times, hopefully I can make it for a Wednesday night race or two out there.

 

June 9, 2010

World Cup Preview

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Well, I had promised to post a preview, but every time I’ve come around to writing something it has either been a horrible string of cliches or so long and drawn out it’s unreadable.  So I’m going to keep it simple and post a list of who I think will move on from each group, and encourage all of you to do the same in the comments.  At the least this will be another opportunity for me to look stupid.

  • Group A : Mexico, Uruguay
  • Group B: Argentina, Greece
  • Group C: England, Slovenia
  • Group D: Serbia, Germany
  • Group E: Netherlands, Cameroon
  • Group F: Italy, Paraguay
  • Group G: Brazil, Portugal
  • Group H: Spain, Chile

And everyone in Anchorage is encouraged to watch the late morning games with me at the Polar Bar, should be good times.

     

    June 4, 2010

    Landing a Halibut with a 15mm Wrench

    Posted by dongshow under Fish, alcohol, mitigated disasters | Tags: , |
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    Jeff (author of the octopus ink article) is currently living down in Ketchikan and spent Memorial Day halibut fishing.  Apparently he forgot a gaff and decided to land this thing with the help of a 15mm wrench.  I can imagine Brad yelling “quit horsing it Jeffe” throughout the entire clip.  Enjoy the video

    UPDATE: Anyone looking for some skiing content should check out Seb Montaz’s trailer video of 4 routes on the north face of the Aiguille du Midi. (Hat tip to Chamonix Insider)  And Joe Stock has posted lots of local goodies.

     

    June 2, 2010

    Skilak Lake Bear

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    I spent Memorial Day weekend out at Skilak Lake.  We had beautiful sunny skies, light winds and high (for May in Alaska) temperatures.  I’m still moving slowly from all the food I ate and all the beer I drank. On the way home we had a bear hang next to our car for a few minutes, Brad managed to get a little video. We actually saw 3 black bears in a 1 mile stretch near the upper camp ground.

     

    May 27, 2010

    Sun Burnt in Valdez

    Posted by dongshow under Skiing, alcohol | Tags: , |
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    After spending an excessive amount of time working for a couple of weeks I headed to Valdez with Graham.  We towed sleds out near the valley of the tusk and camped for 4 nights.  It was slow going as our sleds were heavier then planned; we brought so much food we had to eat excessivly on throughout the trip.  Large meals with rum margaritas, coca tea, bacon, eggs, buffalo and peppers were standard fare for the trip.  We also had intense sunshine throughout the entire trip, which I couldn’t have expected when planning on going to Valdez.  We were  low on sunscreen throughout the trip too, since the Hub only had a tiny bottle available for $15.99.  So as a result of that and the long hours spent lounging in the sun sipping rum drinks I’m now horribly sunburnt.  Oh, and I guess I should mention the skiing, it was only so so, as it’d rained just before and we were out in scorching heat.  We enjoyed ourselves with the views though, and some long glacier runs. 

     

    May 22, 2010

    Little Willow Float Trip

    Posted by maxvockner under Fish, alcohol, backcountry, mitigated disasters | Tags: |
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    After 5 years of no use the old kayak finally was resurrected on a evening float down the little willow. This was the first trip of the year for all of us.  As with any float trip in Alaska beer and guns were involved to help numb the senses and pass time on the slow parts of the water.   Anthony was not to be messed with on the river as you can see below.
    Hopefully the next time we float the river we will be catching the mighty King Salmon! Stay tuned for more willow updates.You can see the rest of the pictures here.

     

    May 15, 2010

    Cochabamba Video

    Posted by dongshow under travel | Tags: , |
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    Well after some technical problems I finally logged the video I shot in Cochabamba.  I have to wip it all into a 15 to 20 minute video for work, but since I haven’t posted anything around here for a while I figured I’d give all you readers a little taste (7-8 quick shots) first.  Watching makes me miss the Latin American press lifestyle.

     

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