Del Norte heads to Jamboree feeling good about progress

Del Norte High quarterback Aaron Fitch warms up before the Blue and Gold Gatorade Bowl on Friday. Del Norte Triplicate/Bryant Anderson

The Warriors are traveling to the McKinleyville Jamboree at McKinleyville High School on Friday at 5 p.m. All members of the Big 5 League — McKinleyville, Arcata, Fortuna, Eureka and Del Norte — will bring their varsity teams.

Offensive and defensive units will split up and compete against one another for either 10 minutes or a set number of plays.

The benefits are manifold. Players see live competition. Coaches enjoy the advance scouting as well as the opportunity to test their players in a crucible. 

Triathletes join Crescent City Triathlon

Local resident Sam Murphy competes in the swimming portion of the 28th annual Crescent City Triathlon on Sunday. Del Norte Triplicate/Bryant Anderson

Alexandre, a senior at Del Norte High School, was part of a two-man relay at the 28th annual Crescent City Triathlon with his friend, Isaac Blundell. Blundell completed the 500-yard swim and the 12-mile bike ride, leaving the 3.1-mile run for Alexandre.

“This is my first one, so I’m pretty nervous,” admitted Alexandre, a football player and track athlete at Del Norte High. “My main goal is not to get lost on the course. I’m setting the bar low.”

Alexandre was far from the only triathlon rookie coursing around the streets of Crescent City on Sunday. The Crescent City Triathlon’s beauty is in its simplicity — a multi-event test of mettle open to all, with competition available for those seeking it.

“It’s a good way to get hooked” on the sport, said Sue Hagerty, a registered nurse at Sutter Coast Hospital who has competed in half-Ironman triathlons. “It’s fun, easygoing. It’s very family-oriented.”

Members of the Friends and Family softball team pose with their trophy. Del Norte Triplicate/Robert Husseman

“We are true champions,” Friends and Family team captain Chris Poole said. “We made some good plays. Our defense was pretty good. Our pitcher (Dirk O’Reilley) did a great job.”

Friends and Family went undefeated (7-0) during the Wood Bat Classic, hosted by the Del Norte County Recreation Department. Smith River Rancheria went 6-2 for the tournament, with both losses coming at the hands of the champions.

Smith River Rancheria started the game by forcing consecutive three-and-outs while racking up three runs in the bottom of the first inning.

Del Norte High quarterback Aaron Fitch looks to pass at a Warriors practice on Tuesday. Bryant Anderson/Del Norte Triplicate

Big 5 camp, Sat. event offer preview of 2012 FB teams 

The Del Norte High School football team showed up for a camp in McKinleyville on July 27–29 with 66 players. The camp, which draws members of the Big 5 League and other schools, gave the Warriors an early test of their mettle.

Results were decidedly mixed.

“(The opposition) would beat us up a couple of plays,” Del Norte head coach Ray Rook said. “Then we’d show a little moxie and have a couple good plays.”

One drill at the camp pitted an offense against an opposing defense. The offense had to advance 10 yards in a certain number of plays to retain possession.

If projections are fulfilled, a record number of roughly 380,000 fall chinook salmon will return to the Klamath River this season.  

This summer’s extraordinary salmon fishing on the ocean has given anglers reason to trust the numbers.

Rockfish and lingcod fishing continues to be wide open, but the fishery closes for boat-based anglers south of a point near Cape Mendocino (40 degree N. latitude) on Aug. 15. Del Norte’s fishery stays open until Oct. 31.

Klamath River fishing

Klamath salmon hunters are preparing for a projected run of 380,000 fall chinooks. Starting Wednesday, anglers will be allowed to keep four adult salmon per day.

There’s still time to register for the 28th annual Crescent City Triathlon.

The triathlon begins Sunday at 8:30 a.m. at Fred Enderts Municipal Pool, 1000 Play Drive, Crescent City. Cost is $50 for adults and $25 for kids aged 12 and under. All proceeds benefit the Del Norte High School Scholarship Fund.

On Friday, the Del Norte High School football team will hold its annual pre-season scrimmage, the Blue and Gold Gatorade Bowl, at Mike Whalen Field.

The public is welcome to watch the scrimmage for the price of one bottle of Gatorade, which Del Norte uses during the season to help hydrate its players. The junior varsity scrimmage begins at 5 p.m., followed by the varsity scrimmage at 6 p.m.

Players and coaches will be available for a meet-and-greet with the public following each scrimmage.
The day of the game was incorrect in Thursday's print edition of the Triplicate.

Sizing up the  competition —all 2,000 pounds

“Have you noticed, when you’re on, it doesn’t feel like they’re buckin’ at all?” one bullrider asked another.

The other was taken aback by the question.

“Nope,” he said.

The Redwood Coast Rodeo, held Saturday at the Del Norte County Fairgrounds, treated about 800 spectators to numerous tests of endurance. No single rodeo event, of course, lasts more than 30 seconds. They are endurance events because the riders and ropers and steer wrestlers must simply endure, faced with physical forces more powerful than they are.

Klamath River’s chinook fall run is getting closer

Legend holds that full moons make people behave strangely. Many fishermen argue that it keeps fish awake and feeding all night, making it harder to get them to bite come morning light.

Crescent City ocean fishing

“Everything’s really slow with the full moon,” said charter captain Craig Strickhouser of Tally Ho Sportfishing.  Salmon fishing has become spotty with a few fish caught “here and there” but “no more limits,” he said. “Once the full moon is over the bite will probably come back.”

Bottom fishing for rockfish and lingcod hasn’t suffered the same fate and remains as strong as it’s been all season, according to Chris Hegnes of Englund Marine in Crescent City.  He’s also been hearing reports of the salmon bite slowing down to about one fish per angler, and anglers finding the salmon a bit farther south.

On a heavier note, an angler recently weighed in an 80-pound halibut at Englund Marine caught at the “big reef,” Hegnes said.

Rec. Dept.’s Wood Bat Classic next weekend

The Del Norte County Recreation Department is hosting its Wood Bat Classic softball tournament on August 12–13 at Pyke Field in Crescent City.

Cost per team is $250; the registration deadline is Monday. The registration fee may be paid at 981 H Street, Suite 250 in Crescent City. Please call 707-464-7237 for more information.