Homer’s Don “Iceman” McNamara and Donna Rae Faulkner, and about 35 people from Alaska and beyond competed this year in the annual fish catching, deer and skeet shooting, wave surfing event.
Competitors earn points for their team during each competition and the points are tallied to determine the overall winner.
Most teams consist of four people, so team Fire and Ice was at a disadvantage with only two, McNamara said.
But that didn’t stop them from having a great time.
“We’re stoked,” McNamara said about the win.
“I think the waves won it for me. I just rode them longer, just had a better set up,” he said. “Everybody went to one side and I went to the other and caught the best waves.”
McNamara is no stranger to Alaska surfing.
Besides running The Surf Shack cabin rentals in Homer, McNamara is often seen, and sometimes photographed, surfing near the Homer Spit or in front of his house at a place called Munson Point.
For their victory, the team got the traditional event prize — a Japanese glass ball with their names engraved on it.
Warm sunny weather graced Montegue Island for the event the past several years, but not this year, McNamara said.
“They are going to call this year the surviver’s cup,” he said. “The weather was so nasty.”
One participant lost his boat when the wind pulled his anchor free. “And I don’t think they’ve found it yet, either,” McNamara said.
Besides the wind, a downpour spoiled some of the events for Team Fire and Ice.
“It rained five or six inches, Saturday through Sunday,” said Faulkner.
The team couldn’t reach the deer during the hunting competition because of the rain.
But they did manage to bag one the day before the competition.
“We got there a day early and got one,” Faulkner said. “So we dug a big sand pit on the ground, cut up bambi and put him in it.”
The beach barbeque raised the spirits of the soaked competitors, she said.
“That was a lot of fun. It was the most loved deer of them all,” she said.
Besides surfing, deer hunting, silver fishing and skeet shooting, most competitors at the Montegue Cup come for the scenery, Faulkner said.
“There’s lots of beachcombing, river otters on the beach, lots of deer tracks, big blueberries,” he said. “It was a magical time.”
Ben Stuart can be reached at ben.stuart@homernews.com.
Homer’s own Team Fire and Ice, won the surfing competition at the Montegue Cup over Labor Day Weekend, despite nasty weather on the Prince William Sound island.
