With a long grueling season drawing quickly to a close the Brookings-Harbor High School summer basketball team is feeling the effects of their 28-plus games in the last two months.

“It’s been a long summer season,” Head Coach Chris Schofield said following the Bruins victory over the Warriors of Del Norte High School. “When I get out of bed in the morning, and I’m at my best, I’m only operating at 60% right now.”

Members of the BHHS football teams’ offensive and defensive line yell with exertion as they defeat the Waldport football team during the tug-o-war portion of the linemen competition. They are: (from left) Alex Boynton, Tristan Lawson, Matt Bakerwood, Oscar Alvarenga and Max Leavitt. The Pilot/Jef Hatch

“It’s pretty good,” Tyler Marrington said. “It’s been fun working with teammates and learning what we need to do for the season.”

Quick and easy spinnerbait rig. The Pilot/Larry Ellis

Fishing report 

for June 15-21

Need hanging bait for your crab pots and rings? Not a problem!  Simply look for the white freezer at the left-hand side of the Port of Brookings Harbor fish-cleaning station, take out a fish carcass and pop two bits in a metal slot for every carcass taken.  It’s the Port’s way of making fresh-frozen, good-looking crab bait available for everyone, and the whole program is based on the honor system.

 As the number of soccer players in the USA nears 20 million, the soccer instruction company, Challenger Sports, has been invited to hold one of their “British Soccer Camps” in Brookings.

Brookings-Harbor Soccer League has teamed up with Challenger Sports to host the week long “British Soccer Camp” from July 23 to 27 on the upper field at Azalea Park off of Lundeen Lane.

The camp will run Monday through Friday and each child will be coached by a member of Challenger’s team of 1,100 British soccer coaches flown to the USA exclusively to work on these programs. 

Point one:

Race clothes, on. Running shoes, tied. Pre-race breakfast, eaten. Race fuel, water bottle and sports watch, check.

Azalea Festival 10K: Here I come. 

With the 2012 Azalea Festival Fun Run 10K and half marathon races complete, event organizer Brittany Jenkins is looking forward to next year, even as she reflects on the success of this year’s event.

“It felt like it was good,” Jenkins said. “We had the same number of participants as last year, so it was what it was again.”

With more than 70 participants spread between the 10K and the half marathon, these events had approximately the same number of entrants as the 2011 run.

What increased the overall numbers significantly for the 2012 event was the addition of a Kid’s Dash. More than 30 children from toddler all the ay to tween ran the 1-mile distance and were rewarded with a goody bag and a ribbon. 

Brookings resident Luke Mathison catches some air during Friday’s wavesailing competition. The Pilot/Jef Hatch

Take a little wind, add a little water, mix it thoroughly with sunshine and the resulting concoction is perfect for a picnic, or a day on the beach.

Add a breeze strong enough to knock a grown man over and 5- to 6-foot tall waves and the results come out as the third annual Pistol River Wave Bash, which draws competitors from all over the United States, and the world, to compete on the American Windsurfing Tour.

Windsurfers – or in the case of the Pistol River event, wave sailors – from as close as Brookings, Gold Beach and Pistol River, and as far away as Europe converged on Pistol River Beach to compete for cash prizes, series’ points and bragging rights in what is one of the best events on the West Coast, according to windsurfer Jordan Dery.

Two anglers are shown filleting limits of redtail surfperch at the Port of Gold Beach fish-cleaning station. The Pilot/Larry Ellis

Fishing report for 

June 8-14

Last week, high winds put a temporary damper on the ocean Chinook salmon fishing out of the Port of Brookings Harbor, but there were still a handful of Chinook a day meeting the sharpened end of a fillet knife.

Fishermen who had the best luck were crossing the bar at first legal light and getting a few hours of trolling in before whitecaps forced them back into port. The good news is that the salmon have been within a mile or so from shore, so anglers have not had to travel far to get their hookups.