LAST CALL – Denise Blankenship, left, and her husband, Dave Miller, right, provide security at the Crescent Harbor dock as tourists return to the cruise ship Norwegian Jewel Monday afternoon. The ship was the last of the 2024 season to visit Sitka. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
The Assembly at its regular meeting Tuesday voted to [ ... ]
By Sentinel Staff
Sitka Tribe of Alaska will host a public forum Monday, Oct. 28, for the two candida [ ... ]
By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
Squared off in their final match of the regular seaso [ ... ]
By Sentinel Staff
Tuesday evening at the Blatchley gymnasium, Hard Rock Construction garnered [ ... ]
By CLAIRE STREMPLE
Alaska Beacon
Twenty-three Alaska Native languages have been recognized alon [ ... ]
By NATHANIEL HERZ
Northern Journal
The board of Alaska’s embattled economic development agenc [ ... ]
Dinner, Auction
Benefit for SCSS
Sitka Cancer Survivor’s Society will have a spaghetti dinner and au [ ... ]
Police Blotter
Sitka police received the following calls by 8 a.m. today:
October 22
At 3:15 a.m. a cal [ ... ]
By JAMES BROOKS
Alaska Beacon
Alaska’s two leading candidates for the state’s lone seat in [ ... ]
By JAMES BROOKS
Alaska Beacon
Early voting locations opened Monday across Alaska for registered [ ... ]
By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
As part of a dual-enrollment class designed to give st [ ... ]
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
Sitka Police Department, in collaboration with the no [ ... ]
EDITOR’S NOTE: Following is second in a series by Mark Gorman of Sitka who is in Myanmar on a miss [ ... ]
By Sentinel Staff
Sitka Tribe of Alaska and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management are working tog [ ... ]
By Sentinel Staff
Playing in a competitive division City League basketball game Monday evening [ ... ]
By JAMES BROOKS
Alaska Beacon
Alaska has just one U.S. House seat, but the race between incumbe [ ... ]
Police Blotter
Sitka police received the following calls by 8 a.m. today:
October 21
At 5:32 a.m. a bea [ ... ]
Park Sets Lectures, Exhibits
For Native Heritage Month
Sitka National Historical Park is offering thre [ ... ]
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
At Tuesday night’s regular meeting the Assembly wil [ ... ]
By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
Competing in a home meet Friday and Saturday, Sitka H [ ... ]
By Sentinel Staff
Playing over the weekend in City League basketball competition at the Blatch [ ... ]
By ANDREW KITCHENMAN
Alaska Beacon
The Alaska Federation of Natives voted Saturday to endorse t [ ... ]
By YERETH ROSEN
Alaska Beacon
Alaska voters will weigh in on a ballot measure that would incr [ ... ]
By JAMES BROOKS
Alaska Beacon
With less than a month to go before the 2024 election, some Alask [ ... ]
Daily Sitka Sentinel
Russian Sailor Plans for Voyage Home
By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
Two years ago, a Russian-flagged inflatable catamaran sailed into Sitka, concluding a multi-year voyage from central Russia, through the Siberian river network, across the Bering Sea and along the Alaskan coast.
The vessel’s Siberia-based crew now plans to repeat the voyage in reverse next spring and summer.
Owner and captain of the Iskatel, Anatoly Kazakevich, told the Sentinel he had planned to begin the return trip in the summer of 2020, but the pandemic threw a wrench in his plans.
The Iskatel – which translates to English as “The Seeker” – arrived here in August 2019, after retracing the route taken by Russians in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Once in Sitka, Kazakevich arranged to have his 40-foot inflatable stored here until he had the chance to put it to sea again.
In a Zoom call with the Sentinel on Friday, Kazakevich said he and his crew plan to return in the spring to make repairs on Iskatel and begin the long voyage back to Siberia.
“Two years ago, we finished Baikal-Alaska in Sitka, and now we wait on two questions. First of all is COVID, questions with COVID, but I hope after winter in spring the situation will be better,” Kazakevich said in the call from Irkutsk. “And the second situation is a visa. Russia and the USA have a political problem with visas and we have a way to make a visa for next year, and I hope in the winter time we will do this. And in May or June we will come next year and prepare boat for organization expedition.”
Bill Foster checks out the 40-foot Russian-flagged catamaran that’s been hauled out near the UAS parking lot for the past two years. The pandemic put a halt to the international sailing trip, but the skipper is hopeful about resuming the adventure in the spring. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)
He and his crew made the initial voyage over several years, and in 2022 Kazakevich hopes to sail about 2,500 kilometers to Kodiak or Homer. But first, the boat needs some repairs after years on shore exposed to the elements. The vessel is propelled by four sails and twin outboard engines. A large tent on the deck offers shelter to the crew.
He said the initial leg of the return voyage will be a good test to ensure the boat is ready for the Bering Sea.
“We have to prepare the catamaran, we have to buy new masts and do a lot of things. We have a big shadow for this. And after we replace and fix all problems we have to test a way for 3,000 kilometers is a good test, because across the Bering Sea and across the Bering Strait is a difficult way and the catamaran has to be prepared excellently,” Kazakevich said.
Last week, Iskatel crew member Andrey Gridnev was in Sitka to check on the state of the vessel and make preliminary preparations for the summer. He was happy to say the vessel remains in decent condition.
“When I came down and checked out our boat, the floating boat, in spite of all those years it looks great. It’s in great shape,” Gridnev said.
Back in 2019, Gridnev crewed the catamaran from Whittier to Sitka on the final leg of the voyage.
“This is his (Kazakevich’s) life and stuff,” he said. “We were just joined to the expedition, to the crews on some certain parts of the trip. My part was there in 2019 from Whittier right down to Sitka,” Gridnev said.
He especially appreciated the help of Greg George, operations supervisor for the University of Alaska Southeast.
“We were in a worry, what’s happening? And Greg George, he works for Alaska University (UAS). Really, really great thanks and appreciation for him and his help. He was taking care about the boat all these years,” Gridnev reported.
The boat remains today where it was pulled up onto land in 2019, not far from the UAS boat ramp.
Tensions between the United States and Russia are high, and Kazakevich compared the political dynamic to a “glass wall” that separates neighbors.
“This wall is just in our mind, but we are neighbors and all people are interested and all people who live in Alaska are interested in how people live in Siberia,” he said. “And people in Siberia are very interested in how people live in Alaska, they can communicate. We can exchange experiences and we can try to do something together.”
He hopes that Alaskans will join him on his expedition next year.
“Next year, it’s our plan in June and we will start and we hope maybe some people from Alaska will come into our crew and we will do an international crew, it will be more interesting,” he said.
Looking back on his 2019 voyage, he most misses the people he encountered along the way, comparing them to a family.
“First of all I think is the people and the people who live in this territory in the coastline, in the rivers are a people who live with nature and they are a very open people and friendship of all people is good,” he said.
After his return to Russia two years ago, he said, he made a number of presentations about his voyage and met with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Kazakevich extended an invitation to anyone interested in the expedition.
“The Alaskan people are very friendly and it’s very important that we know that Americans and people from Russia can trust each other and are friendly to each other. Come down to our place and we’ll host you,” he said.
More information on Kazakevich’s adventures is available on https://en.baikal-alaska.ru/.
Login Form
20 YEARS AGO
October 2004
Photo caption: Bernice Stedman gets a flu shot Friday from Public Health Nurse Michelle Kennedy at the Swan Lake Senior Center. Despite a nationwide shortage of flu vaccine, Sitka may have enough to vaccinate those most at risk from the effects of the flu.
50 YEARS AGO
October 1974
Photo caption: Sitka’s 9th Infantry marches down Lincoln Street as part of the Alaska Day parade. Winners included the Pioneer Bar, Mt. Edgecumbe Mat Maids, Fifth Grade, Sitka Drill Team, Mt. Edgeumbe High School band, and 3-5’s Pre-School.