Raining Cheeseburgers

Hello All,
I found a minute in our busy day to write a little something. Two days ago we were tied along side a pump boat when a small airplane flew so low I thought it was going to hit our mast and he threw something out the window. After seeing a few small bags hit the roof of our boat we went to take a look, it was McDonalds quarter pound cheese burger's. The plane made several passes over us and dropped a total of 20 burger's. Some did hit the water but we had a fisherman tied along side so he went and got them out of the water. I don't think I have ever seen any thing like that before. It turns out that one of the fisherman's dad likes to fly over the fishing grounds for a look and gets a kick out of dive bombing some of the boats with burger's from time to time. It was a real treat for sure.
Outside of that we have been busy receiving fish everyday and I am told the season is just beginning.
The month of June is the busiest time so if I can get through this it will get a little easier.
We have had some great weather, it has been sunny for a week now so I am getting a little tan back, Yay.
That,s all I have for now so I will talk to you soon.


PEACE

Working on the Trask

Hello All,
I have finally got a minute to write a blog after all this time. The salmon season for Prince William Sound (PWS) has started off with a bang. We have just reached a half a million pounds for the fish we have received. Like I said on an earlier blog we don't catch the fish we only receive the fish from the fisherman then we either take the fish to the cannery or we deliver the fish to a bigger boat than us and they take them to market so we can stay out and service the fishing fleet. The big boats have what they call a pump to get the fish off our boat and put it in their holds. They use what is best described as a great big vacuum, you stick it in the fish hold and it sucks them all up through a maze of pipes and the fish end up on their boat. It works pretty amazing. The hours are very long so when I have some free time I go to bed. The work is not to bad it's mostly the long hours that are hard.

We will be getting into the peak of the season pretty soon so I will have less time to write but I am told after the middle of July it gets to be less hectic.

The fishing is closed in the area today so we finally got some time to ourselves. It will open in the morning and be open 24 hours so we will be busy once again.

That's all I have for now and I will write when I can.


PEACE

Salmon Tendering Prince William Sound

Hello All,

It has been a long time since I have bloged. We have been so busy trying to get our tender boat "Trask" ready for the salmon season. We have been in Cordova Alaska since the 1st of May. The crew of the boat is Matt the captain, Tabatha our book keeper that will keep track of the fish delivery weights so the smaller boats can get paid and my self as deck hand and engineer. We have been having fun here even though there is work involved. Matt has been tendering here in Prince William sound for 19 years on several different boats, this will be his second season running the Trask and is looking forward to anonther salmon season. This is all new to me so it makes it pretty exciting.

Our season starts on Monday on the west side of the sound so we will be leaving tonight so we can be there and ready and hopfully relax a little before the work begins. I am told the beginning is a little slow waiting for the pink salmon run to come in full force but once it does we will be up all hours buying fish from the gill net fishermen. I will explain the process more in detail when I get time to do so.

I posted a few pics so you guys could see the boat I am working on. Matt has more but I have to get them from him at some point so stay tuned. I wont be bloging as much as I did on my sailing trip but I will do my best.

I will talk to you all soon.

PEACE

Winter work and Cali Holiday

Hello All,
It has been a very long time since I posted. I have been just busy living and working, yes the four letter word. In late January My best friend Daren let me know about a boat repair job in the port town of Seward. The gentlemen that owns the boat, Jon Andrews, fishes with Daren and I have known him a long time also. I gave him a call and he was very interested in hiring me to help out. I spent 8 weeks replacing generators, removing old fuel tanks, redo plumbing for the fish hold and many other projects. The boat I was working on was built in Oregon in 1944. Her name is "Trask" and she is all wood and is 75 feet long. It was a lot of fun to work on such a boat with so much history.

I was just days from finishing the project when I had committed myself to a 14 day holiday in California. Jon was supposed to be out fishing by the time my departure date came to pass but he managed to do the last finishing touches with out me there.

I went out to Sacramento California to mainly visit my grandma Morris that I havent seen since I had my boat in San Francisco Bay in 2009. She had been keeping track of my travels via my aunt Jill that made copys of my blogs because grandma doesnt have a computer. She showed me the stack of paper blogs, they stacked about 10 inches high. We had a great visit and I also got to spend Easter with my Uncle Mart and Aunt Jill and their 3 children. Everyone is getting a little older and the kids are getting so big. From Sacramento I went to visit cousins in the bay area, Bob and shelly, an old crew member Dan and a cruising couple that I had met in Fiji and New Zealand. They are working in Richmond at a Marina living on there boat. I spent 4 days around the bay and had a great time with with everyone. From there I went to Reno and saw my Uncle Jim and aunt Lynn and spent a weekend in the high desert.

It was really nice to see everyone and get warm after a really long winter here in the far north.

This summer I will be working as boats engineer on the Trask, the boat I worked on, and will be tendering for salmon in Prince William Sound. That means we will be anchored where the small boats are fishing and gather their catches, keeping them refueled and what ever needs they may have so they can be close to the fishing grounds without having to go to town. I have never done this before so should be a very interesting experience. I will have my computer with me out on the water so I will be bloging my adventure through the 4 month season.

That has been my winter in a nut shell and I will be keeping in touch as soon as the season starts.

PEACE

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas every one,

I hope this blog finds everyone well and spending time with there families this holiday season. Last weekend I was invited to go down to Homer to attend the Homer Yacht Club Christmas party. It was a good time had by all and I got to tell more Pacific adventure stories with everyone. I invited a couple from here in Kenai to be my guest at the party. They are buying a Westsail 32 that is moored in Kodiak this week. They found me on the Internet and were surprised to find someone so close to them. They have never sailed before so they had heaps of questions about Westsails and I thought I would introduce them to the sailing community in Homer. They plan to bring the boat up and make Homer their hailing port this spring.

Saturday night after the party I spent the night on the boat. It has been very cold here the last few days so with the engine, diesel heater and generator running I got the cabin warm enough to sleep in. I also put up some Christmas lights on the mast to give the half empty, cold harbor some holiday sprit. The boat is doing well resting in the cold water. I keep thinking how much warmer I was this time last year.

This weekend Mom and I will be heading for Anchorage to have our family Christmas with aunts, uncles and cousins. I missed the party last year so I am looking forward to seeing everyone again.

Enjoy the pictures above and Happy Holidays to everyone.


PEACE

Fall in Nikiski

Hello All,
Fall has set into South Central Alaska with two big rain storms causing flooding in many areas and high winds in Anchorage. It is not uncommon for our area but seems to be a little early.
All is well here and I have been doing some projects around the house for mom. I haven't starting working yet but have had a few offers to do so. I just haven't got excited about the thought of work yet.
Last weekend I had a public presentation about the trip at a local Rec Center. Everyone that came brought some food and I had a picture slide show that I put together to entertain everyone. It was really great to see all of the people that have followed my trip over the years and had a awesome visit.
I have started to write my book of the trip and have finished the introduction so far, now I just need to figure out how I want to start it off. I hope to finish it in the spring provided I don't get to busy.
I have a few pictures of around the house so you can see fall in Alaska.



PEACE

News paper articles

Hello All,
When I was in Homer last Saturday I was interviewed by a radio station and by a local paper Homer News. To my delight our local paper The Peninsula Clarion also picked up on the story. They gave me a whole page story with pictures in the recreation section. That really tops off my welcome home events and I will enjoy my 15 minutes of fame.
Mom and I went to Homer on Wednesday and I got most of the food and a few other things off the boat. I am amazed as to how much stuff I had onboard. I will be returning to Homer next week and gather up a few more things and start winterizing.
I have been slowly adding more pictures to the web site and when I receive my new computer I will add more videos .
I will post the Homer news article so you can read it online.
That's all I have for now. http://homernews.com/stories/090512/news_home.shtml


PEACE