Gull Camping Weekend 2012

After the huge success that was the camping and cruising weekend 2011 we are pleased to announce the dates for 2012. We will be back at Rutland on the 24th/25th and 26th of August 2012. Rutland is a great central venue with a decent campsite but feel free to stay in a local B&B or hotel. You may decide to join us for a day or two or all three. As usual, there will be no set schedule just come along and join in the sailing as and when you can. Everybody is welcome to come along!

Also, if you can suggest any day sails in a location near you, please let us know and we may get a group of Gull sailors together.

Our Camp

Here is what our camp looked like when we were set up out on the ice. These are canvas whaling tents built with a simple frame and staked down with rope. Here we cleared the ice and just hammered the stakes into it. Each tent is heated with a single propane stove.

More Alaskan Adventures

This time, it was a trip down Seward Highway, to about Girdwood or so. The ice breakup, though no sign of spring, is beautiful and watching the ice chunks flow by with majestic mountains in the background is amazing.

But what is even more amazing was the sighting of not one, not two but FOUR Dall sheep on the moutainside next to the road. I've seen moose up here, and I've seen eagles, and even an otter. But not a sheep:

Alaskan Adventures

The trip to Alaska for the honeymoon provided a great opportunity for some fantastic photographs. It is a truly stunning part of the world...the type of wilderness I love. Just as with the coast and north of Norway this type of scenery never fails to inspire me...want to see some of the results? Let's take a look at some of the pictures.

The first part of our trip was spent in the Denali National Park, and a chance to visit the mountain of Denali (otherwise known as Mount McKinley), the tallest peak in North America at over 20,000 ft. We were warned that it can be rare to get an unobstructed view of the mountain due to the weather. The mountain is usually shrouded in cloud, and you can see it less than 30% of the time when visiting the park...but the morning of our trek into the park this was the view...

...not a cloud in the sky. That is from over eighty miles away, the white peak in the picture is Mt McKinley. The clouds did roll in as we made our way towards the mountain, but it was still clear enough that we opted for a flight to get a closer look...

That was definitely one of the highlights of the trip, but to be honest, the entire trip was just full of fantastic photo opportunities, and I was really happy to get some of these amazing shots.

...a moody shot from the Independence Gold Mine, high in the mountains just outside Wassila...

...two bald eagles perched on the docks at Seward... ...an amazingly still lake, allowed for these great reflection shots... ...the remote beauty of Denali...

...then we went on some cruises in Prince William Sound, one out of Whittier and one out of Seward, so that we could see the glaciers up close. The Fjord trips really reminded me of Lofoten in Norway, and aside from a little sea-sickness, the trip was amazing, including some close encounters with a group of Humpback whales (which alas I didn't get on camera due to fighting to keep the contents of my lunch from projecting on my fellow passengers), before getting to see the glaciers. They really are an amazing sight. The ice is so old and dense that blue is the only color of the spectrum that escapes back from the ice in places, which give the glaciers this really bright blue hue that seems unnatural... ...the wonderfully named Surprise Glacier... ...Surprise Glacier 'calving', which is what they call it when the ice slips into the water... ...Surprise Glacier 'calving', which is what they call it when the ice slips into the water...