Samarkand

The owner of this boat, John Painter, saw me admiring her from the finger pier and was gracious enough to invite me below. Originally built for Thomas Watson (of IBM fame) and later sailed by the Kennedy boys (Bobbie and Ted), designed by S&S and built by the best in Germany, this is an amazing boat. I wish I'd had my camera with me when I went below--the interior is spectacular.

The Good the Bad and the Weird

I've never had the well, pleasure of looking out my starboard port light and directly into someone's living room before. This threw me for a contextual loop last night when it happened. I had this weird feeling that something was terribly wrong--my boat was on shore!

This beauty (can you read the "1930" carved below the lifering?) has the most amazingly faired hull I've ever seen. What a proper yacht.

The pilot of this chopper must be Very Good indeed--couple feet off the pad and he's either shark chum over the stern or removing paint from the bridge deck. Hmmm...helipad's too small, let's get a bigger boat, then we can get a bigger helicopter, then we can get an even bigger boat...

Civilization Ho!

Vancouver is a Big City, and Coal Harbour Marina (they spell stuff funny up here in Canada) is Right Downtown, so we had to come in under the Lion's Gate Bridge. Technically this bridge is called the First Narrows Bridge (and yes there's a Second Narrows Bridge--there's also a First Beach, and a Second Beach, and a Third Beach--what's up with that?) and it where all the cruise ships go in and out, as well as lots of commercal shipping. Just inside is where all the floatplanes take off and land--you have to stay out of their way. And did I mention the shoal, or the strong current under the bridge? We came in with a pile driver next to the marina shaking our teeth out, dodging float planes Coming Right For Us!!! and trying to miss all the thin spots in the water.

No big city marina is complete without a Megayacht (and the de rigeur helipad--helicopters today are what limos were in the 50s: the way you Know somebody is Somebody).

At least I got to walk six blocks to Hon's House of Noodles, where I got my Chinese Food fix. Can't do that at Elliott Bay Marina.

Mich Gets Salty

Michelle got really inspired and while the Captain took a nap she whipped out this rope mat.

At Blind Channel we realized we really couldn't go any farther north and still get back to Seattle by Labor Day. We made our way back south through Seymore Narrows at slack water, against a strong southerly in Georgia Strait (where we lost our noble anchor snubber, may it Rest in Peace; fortunately I have a spare), and down to Vancouver, where I write this today.

Blind Channel

Blind Channel Resort is on West Thurlow Island. This is looking from the dock across the channel to East Thurlow Island. The entire has a population of four, all of whom are at the resort.

We were the only sailboat. We saw fewer and fewer sailboats as we went north into the fiords and channels of the Eastern Johnstone Strait area.

For CN$10 per day, you could get wi-fi access from the patio. We caught up with email and updated the blog. This was the last sunny day of the trip so far--from here on out it would be gray and damp.

Our entry for the Driftwood Museum

I used a butane-powered soldering iron to carve our name, hailing port, initials, and date into a nice flat piece of driftwood.


Sitting under the helmsman awning in the cockpit, I stayed nice and dry on a rainy day for this little project.

Here's the final result. We found a place of honor at the "museum" and hung it with the others.

Driftwood Museum

Creative use of colors.
This one appealed to both of us.
The "log" book was full of entries from just this summer alone.

Still more pics

Driftwood museum on Octopus Island.

Some really great stuff was left behind by boaters to commemorate their visit to the "museum."