GillBilly YouTube Video: Surfing Killers 1-28-2011

To him, all good things—trout as well as eternal salvation—come by grace and grace comes by art and art does not come easy.
Norman Maclean - A River Runs Through It

GillBilly YouTube Video: Baja Whale Watching

If one really loves nature, one can find beauty everywhere.
Vincent Van Gogh

GillBilly YouTube video: Baja 1000 Trophy Truck Jumps Part 1

SCORE 2010 Baja 1000 Trophy Truck Jumps Part 1




To see more GillBilly videos visit our YouTube Channel; http://www.youtube.com/SITKASAILS

There's more B.S. in fly fishing than there is in a Kansas feedlot.
Lefty Kreh

GillBilly YouTube video: Baja 1000 Robby Gordon Jump

Robby Gordon Super Slo-Mo 2010 Baja 1000 Jump



To see more GillBilly videos visit our YouTube Channel; http://www.youtube.com/SITKASAILS

One thing becomes clearer as one gets older and one's fishing experience increases, and that is the paramount importance of one's fishing companions.
John Ashley-Cooper

GillBilly SCORE 2010 Baja 500 Wrap-up

The winning 2010 Baja 500 McMillin truck

THE McMILLIN TEAM SCORE ANOTHER BAJA RACE WIN

The 42nd annual Tecate SCORE Baja 500 attracted a record 41 Trophy Trucks to Ensenada. Most of the big names in off-road racing have long ago switched from the open buggies to the 800 horsepower Trophy Trucks, even in these challenging economic times. And the Trophy Truck lineup reads like a Who’s Who of desert racing — Robby Gordon , Larry Roeseler and co-driver/owner Roger Norman, the father-son team of Andy and Scott plus Mark McMillin in a second entry, Rob MacCachren, BJ Balwin and father Bobby, and the Las Vegas multi-truck team of Tim and Troy Herbst. Almost 300 motorcycles and vehicles were entered in off-road racing’s second-oldest event, which also represented the midpoint of the SCORE season.

The son-father team of Andy and Scott McMillin won the overall four-wheel title. The McMillin’s Ford F-150 Trophy Truck finished the 438.8-mile course, which started and finished in Ensenada, in 9 hours, 15 minutes and 13 seconds for an average speed of 47.20 mph. Andy and Scott also teamed to win last November’s Baja 1000. It was the third win in the past four SCORE races for 23-year-old National City, California’s Andy, who won the season-opening SCORE Laughlin Challenge driving solo. It was the second Baja 500 class win for Scott and Andy as a team. Scott McMillin, 50, claimed his third Baja 500 overall win and sixth Baja 500 class win. He previously won the overall title in 1983 and 1986 while co-driving with his late father, Corky McMillin. Andy drove the first half of the race and Scott drove the return leg to Ensenada. Scott pulled away from his closest pursuers over the final 150 miles and won by seven minutes and one second over Baja's Gus Vildosola Jr. of Mexicali.

The speeds were lower this year on the boulder-strewn course. The unusually wet northern Baja winter made the course rugged and rough and very technical and challenging for the competitors. But 192 of the 289 starters finished — the 66.4 percent finish rate being the fourth-highest in history.

Economically the event was a far better influence on local businesses than previous Baja races this past year. The competitors were spread evenly between the two extremes of the Ensenada area. The Coral Hotel and Marina had a large contingency of teams staging their race effort, and the San Nicolas Hotel hosted a gathering of racers as well as the Estero Beach Hotel to the south. Each team brought a large group of support vehicles and participants – the guys that do the dirty work that win races here in Baja. The McMillin team entered 4 vehicles in various classes, a family affair for that race group. The team pre-ran the course 3 times prior to the race, marking all the difficult parts of the course in their GPS units. “We’re starting to click as a team and I think we’re the team to beat if we’re having a good day — and we’ve been having a lot of good days lately,” Andy McMillin said.

In Memory of Steve McQueen

Angling is extremely time consuming. That's sort of the whole point.
Thomas McGuane

GillBilly YouTube Video: SCORE 2010 Baja 500 Part Two

Soon after I embraced the sport of angling I became convinced that I should never be able to enjoy it if I had to rely on the cooperation of the fish.
Sparse Grey Hackle

GillBilly YouTube Video: SCORE 2010 Baja 500 Part One

I frankly don't make much of a living, but I make a hell of a life.
Jack Gartside

GillBilly YouTube Video: Tiger Woods Punta Brava Golf Development Tour Part 2

Video produced by http://www.truetraveler.com/
Copyright (C) 2010 True Traveler Publishing All Rights Reserved. New Baja Golf Project designed by Tiger Woods.

I've gone fishing thousands of times in my life, and I have never once felt unlucky or poorly paid for those hours on the water.
William Tapply

GillBilly YouTube Video: Tiger Woods Punta Brava Golf Development Tour Part 1

Video produced by http://www.truetraveler.com/
Copyright (C) 2010 True Traveler Publishing All Rights Reserved. New Baja Golf Project designed by Tiger Woods.

The fish and I were both stunned and disbelieving to find ourselves connected by a line.
William Humphrey

GillBilly Report: Todos Santos Islands Surfing - December 26, 2009

Fishing is a delusion entirely surrounded by liars in old clothes.
Don Marquis

GillBilly Report: Todos Santos Islands Surfing - December 27, 2009

After that first trout I was alone in there. But I didn't
know it until later.
Richard Brautigan

GillBilly Report: Todos Santos Islands Surfing - November 8, 2009

Killers November 8th...

I once gave up fishing, it was the most terrifying weekend of my life.
Author Unknown

GillBilly Report: Todos Santos Islands Surfing - October 2009

Two trips to Killers October 23rd and 24th...

Unless one can enjoy himself fishing with the fly, even when his efforts are unrewarded, he loses much real pleasure. More than half the intense enjoyment of fly fishing is derived from the beautiful surroundings, the satisfaction felt from being in the open air, the new lease on life secured thereby, and the many, many pleasant recollections of all one has seen, heard and done.
Charles F. Orvis

GillBilly Report: S.S. CATALINA Removed From The Ensenada Harbor

As you entered Ensenada Harbor in the past you would have seen a curious sight to starboard that may have shivered your timbers. Half submerged and arising from the harbor mud was the carcass of a once proud ferry that served the run between California ports and Catalina in times past. For more than 20 years this navigation hazard kept vigilance on the busy port activities in Ensenada Harbor. Brought to Ensenada 26 years prior to serve as an entertainment center and gambling casino, the historic ship had been the subject of controversy for many years and now has been removed by the Port of Ensenada.

She was the million dollar steamship, in the days when a million dollars was a lot of money. She was built with chewing gum, or more correctly of steel, bought with the profits from a chewing gum empire created by Mr. William Wrigley, Jr., who happened to own an island about 24 miles off the coast of Southern California called Santa Catalina. The only major town on the island was Avalon, an almost Mediterranean-like setting, far removed from the hustle and bustle of Los Angeles, on the other side of the San Pedro Channel. By the 1920's, tourism to the island was booming, thanks in part to a strong economy and Mr. Wrigley's various enterprises on the island, including a training camp for his Chicago Cubs baseball team, and his own steamship line known as the Wilmington Transportation Company.

The new steamship S.S Catalina, was built in 1924 to provide additional capacity and more elegant transportation to the island. William Wrigley Jr., himself laid the keel on December 26, 1923 at the yards of the Los Angeles Shipbuilding and Drydock Company. Situated in the heart of Los Angeles harbor, this location later became the Todd Shipyard. The new ship was designated hull number 42. After a quick construction period the new vessel was ready to take to the water for the first time. Named for the island which she would serve, the S.S. Catalina was launched on May 3, 1924, by Miss Marcia A. Patrick, the daughter of Joseph Patrick, president of the Santa Catalina Island Company. The Mayor of Los Angeles, along with 3,000 other people were on hand to witness the event. A little over eight weeks later the ship commenced her maiden voyage from Wilmington, California to Avalon on June 30th, under the command of Captain A. A. Morris. Few on that first voyage could have envisioned that 25 million people would follow them onto those same decks, enjoying a 2 hour cruise to Catalina Island during an active career of 51 years!

The S.S. Catalina holds the honor of being listed on the National Register of Historic Places. But unlike the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum or the Mission San Fernando Rey, which share these accolades, the S.S. Catalina carried 25 million passengers in her heyday, and ferried more troops in World War II than any other military transport. A 2006 panga ride around the 302-foot-long, 52-foot wide vessel found much of the vessel's port railing stripped away, revealing a bizarre sight of sea lions bellied up to the U-shaped wooden bar where passengers once gathered to sip cocktails. Imagine the luminaries that once walked these decks!

I once gave up fishing, it was the most terrifying weekend of my life.
Author Unknown

GillBilly Report: Mexico Decriminalizes Drug Possession

Mexico decriminalizes small-scale drug possession
(AP) 8-20-2009

MEXICO CITY — Mexico enacted a controversial law on Thursday that decriminalizes possession of small amounts of marijuana, cocaine, heroin and other drugs while encouraging free government treatment for drug dependency.

The law defines "personal use" amounts for drugs, also including LSD and methamphetamines. People detained with those quantities no longer face criminal prosecution when the law goes into effect on Friday.

Anyone caught with drug amounts under the personal-use limit will be encouraged to seek treatment, and for those caught a third time treatment is mandatory — although the law does not specify penalties for noncompliance.

In 2006, the U.S. government publicly criticized a similar bill. Then-President Vicente Fox sent that law — which did not have a mandatory treatment provision — back to Congress for reconsideration.

The maximum amount considered to be for "personal use" under the new law is 5 grams of marijuana — the equivalent of two or three joints — or a half-gram of cocaine. The limit for methamphetamine is 40 milligrams, and 0.015 milligrams of LSD.

The law was approved by Congress before it recessed in late April, and President Felipe Calderon — who is leading a major offensives against drug cartels — waited most of the summer before enacting it.

Calderon's original proposal would have required first-time detainees to complete treatment or face jail time. But the lower house of Congress, where Calderon's party was short of a majority, weakened the bill.

Mexico has emphasized the need to differentiate between addicts or casual consumers and the violent drug traffickers whose turf battles have contributed to the deaths of over 11,000 people during Calderon's term. And in the face of growing domestic drug use, Mexico has increased its focus on prevention and drug treatment.

Sen. Pablo Gomez of the leftist Democratic Revolution Party praised the legislation: "This law achieves the decriminalization of drugs, and in exchange, offers government recovery treatment for addicts."

Previously, all drug possession was punishable by stiff jail sentences, with some leeway for those considered addicts and caught with smaller amounts. In practice, relatively few people were prosecuted and sentenced to jail for small-time possession.

While the United States openly expressed concern about the 2006 law, this time around it has been more circumspect.

Asked about the new law in July, U.S. drug czar Gil Kerlikowske said he would adopt a "wait-and-see attitude."

"If the sanction becomes completely nonexistent I think that would be a concern, but I actually didn't read quite that level of de facto (decriminalization) in the law," said Kerlikowske, who heads the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Whether the law's proposed sanctions "are actually enough or not, I'm not sure," he said.

The only reason I played golf was so that I could afford to go hunting and fishing.
Sam Snead

NEW: YouTube Baja Girls Softball Video Part Two

I still don't know why I fish or why other men fish,
except we like it and it makes us think and feel.
Roderick L. Haig-Brown

NEW: YouTube Baja Girls Softball Video Part One

The Baja Beach Bash softball tournament held the 20th and 21st of June, 2009 was won by the Calexico Dynasty team. The Dynasty team is coached by David Jimenez, Gabriel Jimenez, Bobby Lucero and Griselda de la Cruz. Girls softball being played in the Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico area. Videos captured by the Baja Wanderer at http://www.bajasoftball.com/, visit the site to learn how you too can contribute to this worthy cause. We all can contribute to this growing community enterprise and the welfare of the future generation of these female children, often lacking in life goals and impoverished.

Video produced by http://www.truetraveler.com/

If fishing is interfering with your business, give up your business.
Alfred W. Miller

NEW: YouTube Discover the Friendly Gray Whales Video

Discover the Friendly Baja California, Mexico Gray Whales! A recent trip south to the Kuyimá Camp to see the Gray Whales deliver their new calves to the sea and breed yielded a very special and unique adventure. The road to the San Ignacio Lagoon, perhaps the most pristine whale sanctuary on the planet, winds down the Baja peninsula through many different terrain and foliage contrasts. One minute you will be skirting the sea, and an hour later in the midst of the desert. The Baja Trans-peninsular highway is paved and in good repair for the 400 miles that you will travel to the little ciudad of San Ignacio. The last 38 miles to the Kuyimá Camp is a typical Baja dirt washboard path, kept up properly as this is an important tourist trail to see the gray whales in their indigenous environment.

Fly-fishing is the most fun you can have standing up.
Arnold Gingrich

NEW: YouTube Baja 500 Race Video Part Six

Angling may be said to be so like mathematics that it
can never be fully learnt.
Izaak Walton.

NEW: YouTube Baja 500 Race Video Part Five

Fishing's relaxing, man. Most relaxing thing in my life. It's therapy for me.
I don't think about business... sports. All I think about is catching the next fish.
Deion Sanders