FOG

I woke up at least twice in the night to the sound of a foghorn in the distance ... not sure if it might be Fisgard Light or Race Rocks, I'll have to check that out. I got up this morning looking forward to being in the fog, but it has pretty much dissipated, at least in our little corner of the harbour. I'm reminded of an 'anonymous' poem I read once that starts like this... "If once you have slept on an island, you'll never be quite the same..." I can't remember the rest of it now, but it mentions foghorns, and I've always felt they go right 'to the bone' when I hear them. Unbelievable how our government has silenced them now on many of the lightstations!

A Dinghy Day

We've just spent a glorious day on the water in our little inflatable! Wound our way through the harbour - the Northwind was having its 'launching party' tied up at Ship's Point, with lots of chairs out the back, stereo speakers and the BBQ going, so we waved and said 'hi' on our way by. Then out to Ogden Point, where we passed the big Coast Guard ship (which name I've forgotten!)and then buzzed out on to the open water toward Brochie Ledge. On the way back in, I noticed a woman sitting on the outside of the breakwater, knitting (one of MY other passions in life!) so Michael manouevered the bow of the boat in among the kelp so I could chat with her and get a picture. What fun!

Then we cheated a bit and crossed over the harbour to the 'north' side, which is generally reserved for 'non-motorized' craft (kayaks and outriggers, for example), but it got us out of the wind a bit. At the Delta Hotel Harbour Ferry dock, two young women flagged us down and asked for a ride! So we took them for a little spin (minus the two cans of beer they were nursing when we got to the dock) and dropped them off at the Johnson Street dock. More fun!

Now that spring is arriving, we'll be getting out in the dinghy lots more, and I can hardly wait!

Trouble?

Last night about 8 p.m., the Victoria City Police knocked on the door of our boat to ask if we'd 'seen anything.' Apparently someone set off a flare somewhere in the harbour, and they couldn't find the source.

SPRING!

I keep forgetting to mention that I've been waking up to the sound of songbirds around the marina every morning for about two weeks now - I'm sure it's a sign of impending spring!

Yesterday, out on our dinghy ride around the harbour, we encountered some divers just getting back into a little aluminum run-about. We asked them what they were up to, and the non-diver in the boat said that the Victoria Harbour Authority has asked them to do some 'pollution' samples from the mud in the bottom of the harbour. I'm going to call the Authority on Monday and see if I can find out more... why? why now? is this a regular occurrence just for monitoring, or is something else going on?

Today is a gloriously sunny day, so I'm sure we'll be dinghy-riding again...

Ellen MacArthur

I only have a few heroes, and Ellen MacArther, a 28-year old sailor from England, is absolutely one of them. She's just endured 71 days of gruelling conditions at sea, terror, exhaustion and deprivation to become the youngest person, the only woman, and only the second person ever to sail around the world non-stop, alone, in a multi-hull sailboat.

To put this in perspective, about 1800 people have reached the summit of Everest, about 450 have been into space -- but only five sailors have attempted to race around the world non-stop, alone, on a multihull. Before MacArthur, only one, Francis Joyon, managed to finish, and that was just last year.

As I type this, she is within 15 minutes of crossing the finish line off the north-west coast of France, and I can't concentrate on anything else! There are thousands of well-wishers, including some 300-odd journalists, lining the harbour to cheer her in - wish I was one of them! For more info, check out her website at Team Ellen .

Ellen!

Well, I can't believe I didn't know about this before now, but I just found out that one of my heroes, sailor Ellen MacArthur, is 500 miles short of setting yet another world record - the fastest time sailing around the world, non-stop, alone, in a monoholl. It's nail-biting action right now, too, as she's just weathering one of the worst storms of the whole trip! You can check it out .... here.

... AND AGAIN!

Today's ride in the inflatable took us out through the harbour and back - the sun was going down already so we didn't have much time. Not much to see - the Mobro was on the Empress dock, and only the Maple Leaf (a well-known local charter sailboat) and Luigi - owned by Gerry Deiter - on the Fort Street dock. We went to check out an old Monk at SALTS (Sail and Life Training Society) that we heard was for sale - nice old 1950s model, and it had just sold, for $16,000, apparently.

We had to stay out of the way of some scullers who looked like they were practising for a race, on the way home.

INFLATABLE RIDES AGAIN!

We FINALLY got our 20 hp Merc back from being repaired, and went for our first dinghy ride of 2005 today! It was sunny, warm, and wonderful - Michael 'opened up' the engine as soon as we were past the Johnson Street Bridge, and it took about 2 seconds to plane. Went out past the Ogden Point Breakwater and back before we got cold.

When we got back to the marina, there was a film crew setting up on the dock. They said they were from the set of 'Terminal City,' a local TV show, and they were just filming 'fillers,' like seagulls taking off from the water, etc. They were here for about 20 minutes or so.