The Great Alaskan Rock Skipping ContestSaturday, June 13, 2009

Kenai Fjords Tours and 101.3 KGOT were proud to host the finalists in the 2009 Great Alaskan Rock Skipping contest. A fun and fantastic time was had by all!

The Athletes

Our ten competitors qualified by playing a virtual rock skipping game online. On Saturday, they arrived in Seward to enjoy a Kenai Fjords Tours cruise to scenic Fox Island, where they would compete in the finals.

Skipping actual rocks.

The Competition

Every June, Fox Island plays host to the Contest finals. This year, Scott, from the "Scott and Stu" morning show on KGOT, was there to act as the master of ceremonies, lend a hand and offer some last minute skipping advice.

All of our rock skipping athletes distinguished themselves during the event with a variety of techniques and approaches. Notably, contestant Scott Vongemmingen, the only left-handed competitor, employed an experimental technique that resulted in the never-before-seen score of...zero.

"I had a slight slice, that, uh, came within about a foot of hitting one of the judges," said Vongemmingen. His stone missed the water entirely and landed on the dock.

Our champion this year was Conner Ferrin. This was Ferrin's second visit to Fox Island—where finding skipping rocks is as easy as it gets. "There have to be hundreds of thousand of them," he said. "You can find the perfect ones out there."

The Grand Prize

Ferrin made it through all the elimination rounds to claim the Grand Prize:

South Denali Adventure

Alaska Railroad from Anchorage to Talkeetna

Flightseeing Mt. McKinley with Talkeetna Air Taxi

Dinner at Foraker Restaurant

Overnight at Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge

Float Trip with Mahay's Riverboat Service

Return to Anchorage by rail

Grand Prize valued over $1500

The #1 Wildlife and Glacier Cruise in Alaska

All the contestants enjoyed the five-hour National Park Cruise back to Seward.

"The weather was really nice," said Ferrin. A life-long Alaskan, Ferrin has been to Seward before, but was still impressed with the experience. "I've never seen the amount of orcas we saw. One swam directly under the bow of the boat ... it's just a great trip."

"You know, I always looked at it as something for tourists," said Vongemmingen. "I've lived here my whole life, and I still learned a lot. It was awesome, just incredible. I haven't stopped talking about it since I got back. I might even just do it again on my own."