Phil Friedman Outdoors

(Video) Idiot Of The Year? Man Risks Life To Take A Photo at Baja 1000

Como se dice moron en Espanol? This has to fall under the heading of one of the stupidest things you will ever see. While the Baja 1000 was full of great fun and great accomplishments, one idiota had the brilliant idea of climbing into a ditch and shooting a photo of a Baja vehicle jumping over him.

The Baja 1000 was a celebration this year of great times, hard racing, great food and fun with a myriad of cultures coming together to enjoy good old fashioned Baja hospitality. The race went off without a hitch as good times were had by all. Fishing Captain Curtis Wegener from Pierpoint Landing in Long Beach won the class 4 division of the race and said it was another typical trip to Baja. "Great food, fun times and we got a win for Sugar Racing," said Wegener.

No matter where you go however, there is always one moron and this unidentified tonto gets the Philip Friedman Outdoors Idiot of the year award. Watch as he risks his life to take a photo then almost get hit by another vehicle.

In the end, he cements the Idiot of the year award with a classless gesture as he flips off the passing car. Without further delay, we present the years Idiot of the year; maybe del siglo.

  

Fishing Captain Curtis Wegener wins class 4 division of the Baja 1000

Curtis Wegener (left) at the Baja 1000. Wegener won the class 4 division at this years event and loves going to Baja. Photo credit: Brian Green

While all the attention during the Baja 1000 is focused on the class one trophy trucks, there are several other class races going on during this event. Captain Curtis Wegener from Pierpoint Landing in Long Beach has been traveling to Baja for years and just returned from competing in the class 4 division of the Baja 1000 for Sugar racing. “We won” said the ecstatic Wegener. “After 26 hours of hard driving day and night, we came in first by only 5 minutes.”

 

Wegener has been in the sportfishing business for decades. He owned and operated the Aztec for 23 years and currently owns Pierpoint Landing in Long Beach with his dear friend and confessed Baja lover Don Ashley. "It is one of many things that we have in common," said Ashley. "When someone mentions Baja, the two of us say "when and can we go."

 

Wegener sat in the passenger seat for 9 grueling hours at night helping to navigate through the barren yet treacherous Baja desert near San Felipe, Baja California Norte. “We were real underdogs so it made it that much sweeter when we crossed the finish line first,” he said.

 

If Wegener likes anything more that racing and fishing it is Baja and the people who live there. Wegener has been traveling to Baja since he was 16 years old and has camped in the beautiful peninsula for months at a time. He has fished, surfed, made lifelong friends and eaten at just about every taco stand from Tijuana to Cabo San Lucas in his more than three decades of travel to the region. In all that time, the popular Southern California Captain has never encountered a problem.

 

Wegener’s wife Veronica has made several trips to Baja including some camping trips that have lasted for weeks. She never worries about him when he goes south. “I have been there and Curtis goes all the time without any problems,” she said. “Baja has become a part of who he is.”

 

The race started and finished in Ensenada but Wegener just had to make a stop at the Rosarito Beach Hotel and the taco stand in front of the legendary building. "The Rosarito Beach Hotel is one of my favorites and the tacos at the restaurant in front of the hotel are to die for," said Wegener. Ensenada was great too. "Festive, great people and just plain lots of fun.”  

Wegener has always made it a point to mix with the locals, eat in the local restaurants, and travel to some desolate parts of Baja. “I have some lifelong great friends down there (Baja) and they keep me coming back.”

(Video) Farmer mauled and killed by pet hippopotamus he called his son

Marius Els called his pet Hippo Humphrey his son. Unfortunately, the pet hippo turned on Els mauling him and dragging him underwater. His body was discovered in a river running through his farm in South Africa on Sunday.

 

Els rescued the over 2,000-lb. beast as a calf during a previous flood and bonded with the animal. Hippo Humphrey became an internet sensation on YouTube as Els was seen riding him, feeding him and even brushing its teeth.

 

Adult hippos sport statistics that would put any NFL linesman to shame. They can weigh nearly 6,000-lbs. and travel at speeds of up to 30mph. There large canine teeth are capable of ripping and gouging flesh from a victim and are responsible for many unprovoked attacks on humans.

 

Els had claimed that he had a relationship with the animal that others simply didn’t understand. He said that people could have relationships with animals more dangerous than cats and dogs. Unfortunately, it was a relationship that resulted in the tragic death of a man who truly loved this mammoth creature and serves as a reminder that some animals are best left alone.

 

Video: Large Asteroid To Narrowly Miss Earth November 8

 

An asteroid a quarter-mile-wide is headed towards earth but will surely miss our planet this November 8th. It is the closest an asteroid of this size has come to earth since 1976. "There is no chance that this object will collide with the Earth or moon," Don Yeomans, the manager of NASA's Near Earth Object Program office, told Reuters.

That does not mean this pesky asteroid which is bigger than an aircraft carrier will not present a problem in the future. 2005 YU55 as this asteroid is called could do significant damage to our planet if it were to make contact at a later date.  The Associated Press spoke to Jay Melosh, a professor of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Purdue University, who said that the asteroid would create a four-mile wide crater 1,700 feet deep. It could cause 70-foot tsunami waves and shake the ground like a magnitude-7 earthquake.

Nasty stuff should that ever occur but for now, I guess we should thank our lucky stars, no pun intended, that in 2011, 2005 YU55 appears to be on a course that will miss the earth.

(Video) Surfer almost swallowed up by a humpback whale

A woman floating on a surfboard had the scare of her life when a humpback whale came to the surface to lunge feed on a school of anchovies just a few feet away. The woman was floating near Santa Cruz, Ca in the Northern end of Monterey Bay when the whale almost made a lunch meal out of her.

The circus-like atmosphere has just about anything that floats getting closer and closer to feeding whales prompting experts and officials to wonder when something tragic might occur. More and more of these close encounters continue to occur as more and more thrill seekers try for an up close and personal encounter with these magnificent leviathans.

A kyacker in Redondo Beach, CA has a similar experience recently when a blue whale surface to lunge feed just a few feet of his bow. NOAA has set up guidlines for wouldbe whale watchers.

Some of those guidelines include:

• Vessels should not be operated at speeds faster than a whale or group of whales while paralleling them within 100 yards.
• Vessels should be operated at a constant speed while paralleling or following whales within 100 yards.
• Vessels should do nothing to cause a whale to change direction.
• Aircraft should not fly lower than 1,000 feet while within a horizontal distance of 100 yards from a whale.

Generally, a whale's normal behavior should not be interrupted.  Such annoyance may cause a whale to change its direction rapidly, swim faster, or swim in an erratic pattern.  To interrupt a whale's normal activity constitutes harassment and is against the law.

Let's just hope that something tragic doesn't happen as whale watchers continue to push the envelope.

 

 

 

Mexican army finds catapults to fling pot across the border

Photo: www.Digitalsspyeye.com

First we have to look out for falling satellites and now we have to be worried about getting hit on top of the head with a bail of pot. Mexican soldiers, acting on a tip have seized two catapults used by smugglers to fling pot across the border into Douglas, Arizona. In addition to the catapults, the soldiers also seized 1.3 metric tons of marijuana.

The arrests and seizure took place in Agua Prieta where soldiers found the launching devices in the bed of a pickup truck. Mexican troops found catapults here last January when they observed this was the first time they had encountered this method of smuggling.

 

6.5 magnitude earthquake off Cabo San Lucas

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

A strong magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck under the Pacific Ocean on Tuesday morning 206 miles south-east of the Mexican resort town of Cabo San Lucas. The temblor took place at a depth of five kilometers and did not generate a tsunami warning. No reports of any damage have been reported in Cabo San Lucas or at Soccoro Island where there is a Mexican Navy detachment.

The earthquakes epicenter was in the region of Revillagigedo archipelago, an area very familiar to San Diego long range fishermen and home to several endemic plant and animal species.