Latest
Update: August 20, 2001 by Ben Marcus
15:31
ALASKA TIME MONDAY AUGUST 20, 2001 KINKOS ON DIMOND BOULEVARD
MONEY
I'm
too old for this stuff, I admit it. I've spent the morning running
around Anchorage, going to Kinkos, scaring the children, going
to Magadan offices at the airport, going to the Post Office, taking
Gus to the DMV, making a zillion phone calls from the airport
and just trying to get things together.
Here
is what might happen.
This
is a fax from George Nikitin, explaining the visa situation:
Here
is what I have Ben:
BEN
MARCUS visa application, Wild Russia invitation, (ben, u sent
me a WR voucher, and something from the Russian government stating
that WR is the inviting organisation. not sure if all the guys
need both those pages)
FLEA
visa application (generic form), Wild Russia application ( faxed
by me to WR), $100.00 cash (no invitation yet from WR)
RUFFO:
visa application (generic form), Wild Russia application (faxed
to WR), $100.00 cash (no invitation yet from WR)
MALLOY:
visa application, NO Wild Russia application, no money
WILLIAM
SHARP: visa application, $100.00 check, NO invitation from Wild
Russia ( he faxed WR himself)
KEN
ACHENBACH: 1) visa application, 2)same form as u sent stating
that WR is the inviting organisation, but NO voucher), NO check
or cash
And
have 3 or more pictures of each prospective traveler
I
also just got this e-mail from Nikolay at Wild Russia.
BEN!
The
Fax Machine on number +1 (415) 564-5186 (George Nikitin, I hope)did
not response last night, and I fax invitations for Darryl Virostko,
Anthony Ruffo and William Sharp to WILLIAM SHARP NUMBER. Lets
him to refax it to you or give me right fax number.
Why
are you did not write down then fax numbers in the invitations?
It is rather important thing.
Nick.
So,
George doesn't have all the visa application information. Some
of it is with William Sharp.
Keith
Malloy doesn't seem to have faxed his Wild Russia application,
so I don't know what the problem is there. It'll probably be another
two days until he has it all together, which means the Russian
consulate will have to process it all in two days, and I don't
think that is going to happen.
So
I juggled this and that and came up with this. Ideally, the Russia
trip will be September 2 to September 16.. When we get back from
Russia, there will be five days of ñFive Starî bore tides running
through Turnagain Arm. I'm calling for an all-out assault on Turnagain
Arm, with some of the world's best surfers trying to ride the
entire two miles, chased by Shawn Alladio on a jet ski.
This
morning John Markel told me that the Girdwood Fire Department
has a Rescue Ski. I said this to Shawn and suggested she trade
some instruction for use of the ski. We're going to look into
this. Shawn makes a living traveling the world doing water patrol
and rescue and giving classes to Fire Departments and the Military
in PWC rescue.
I'm
trying to get Shawn up here to run the chase craft. It's gonna
take some water knowledge and talent to run the PWC in front of
and behind the bore, picking up guys as they fall and putting
them back in front of it.
If
we do this from the 16th to the 21st we'll have five days to get
it wired, and it might take five days. It's tricky.
Anyway,
talked to Brock and Chris Malloy and got them excited. Then I
called Peter Englehart at the Outdoor Life Network to pitch an
idea I should have pitched a long time ago.
I
pitched a TV show called Bored! In which a crew of the world's
best surfers and kayakers travel the world to ride the world's
best tidal bores.
China,
the Amazon, the Severn River in England, the Bay of Fundy, Turnagain
Arm in Alaska and wherever else: France, Sweden. The shows would
be equal parts travel, extreme sports., Crocodile Hunter, comedy,
nature, science.
Just
by chance I just got an e-mail from Brad Gerlach, answering my
latest pleas to go to Russia. He said:
Sorry
B but I'm tied up here with the trade shows and Movie premieres,
not to mention training regimens.
Hope
you are well and thanks for thinking of me
Gerr
So
I said:
Brad
Oh
well. I've got Chris Malloy and Brock chomping on the bit to
come up here for the tidal bore attempt from September 16 to
the 21, if everything goes according to plan, which it never
does.
Russia
might still happen from September 2 to September 16.
I've
seen the tidal bore the last two days and it's pretty epic.
It's as weird as Cortes Bank, but in length, not height. Think
of standing on the point at Steamer Lane with almost no water
between you and the pier. Then the ocean just sweeps in in a
four-foot wave, and that whole area fills up in front of your
eyes, with beluga whales swept in with it. Very, very strange.
And like the Cortes Bank, it asks a question: How good of a
surfer are you?
How
about this idea. For a while I've been thinking about pitching
a TV show to the Outdoor Life Network called Bored! in which
a group of surfers and kayakers would travel the world, surfing
the world's best tidal bores. Pezman talked me out of it, but
I think he's wrong. You could get a great show out of Alaska,
and the other places would be just as good.
I've
always thought the perfect host for the thing would be Mr. Brad
Gerlach.
I'm
talking to Outdoor Life Network soon and I'll see what they
say.
You
interested in this, if anything works out: China, Bay of Fundy,
Amazon, England, Alaska and France. Brad is the host, with a
revolving list of surfers.
Ben
So,
another hair-brained idea for me to pursue.
As
for the Prudhoe Bay Pipeline, today I went by Alaska Petroleum
News to get a few copies. That thing is similar to what I want
to do, but not as entertaining or comic. Mine will be more ñgrass
rootsî I guess. Entertainment, not just information. The oil industry
from below and above.
For
example, today a driver went off a culvert about six miles north
of Prudhoe Bay. I would interview the driver and take a photo
of the culvert. Alaska Petroleum News monthly has starchy articles
and photos of big ships. Mine will be closer to the ground, perhaps.
I
don't know. I just need something to do. And I need a shower and
a hair cut.
So
now I'm at Kinkos firing e-mails back and forth with a bunch of
different people. Ira Opper just wondered what I was up to, so
I sent him an explanation of Bored!
I
wonder who would sponsor it? Patagonia?
I'm
going to do some research on tidal bores and kayakers and costs
and such and make a proposal.
It
would be fun television.
So
here is how the next few weeks might go. Gus found out there is
a fish processing plant hiring in Valdez, because a bunch of illegal
workers got popped. If everything works out, I'll go there for
a week, earn some money learning how to cut fish, then come back
to Anchorage by the 2nd of September.
We'll
do Russia, come back and do the Tidal Bore and then I'll see what
else is happening.
That's
about it for now. Going to drive back to Turnagain Arm and watch
the bore for the third day. I oughta go try to bellyboard it.
But I'm so out of shape I'd probably drown. Which might be a good
thing.
Bye
bye.
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