Adventures in Boating

Many moons past, my husband got a distressing glint in his eye, that, looked at closely, rather resembled the outline of a proud sailing ship. We got a boat. And took it up to the Sacramento River Delta last summer; now, for those of you who haven't had the pleasure of being in the Delta in the summer, let me assure you...it's HOT. Really, really, really hot. Our original boat had neither air conditioning nor a particularly comfortable shower. It was a nice little boat, definitely, just not exactly equipped for multiple days in that sort of environment.

After a few soggy and faintly whiffy trips up there, I told said husband that while I had no problem with boating per se, it wasn't going to be my favorite activity until I could stay reasonably cool during the summer and I had the option of getting clean in some degree of comfort. So, because my husband is a dear and usually honors my requests, we are now the proud owners of a 47-foot Bayliner, circa 1995, renamed Carolina Pacific, complete with lashings of champagne and a ceremonious "purging" of the old name (hurling a metal spoon with "Corporate Therapy" written upon it into the deep for Neptune to strike from his record of vessels).

Carolina Pacific was trucked out from Lake Michigan to Anacortes, WA, and G brought it down to Tacoma to wait out the winter (and the 3-month California Tax Colony penalty for an imported vehicle). We hiked up to the Seattle area to spend Thanksgiving sur la mer, and it was actually really fun, although we certainly had a few misadventures. Thanksgiving was spent in Port Townsend, WA, a charming little port town even shuttered for the holiday; we managed a rather good turkey dinner and walked up an appetite for it cooing over the sweet (well, perhaps twee) shops along the main street in Port Townsend, and capped it all off with a spectacular sunset to the soundtrack of low ferry horns. It was all most convivial.

Friday we shot up to Victoria, BC, on the tip of Vancouver Island. Now, I am a one-generation-removed British Columbian (my father grew up in Vancouver, as did my grandfather), and yet the last time I was in Victoria, my great-grandmother was still living there. Vancouver has always been my favorite West Coast city, but I have to say, Victoria is giving it a run for its money. Victoria is, not surprisingly, THE most English city in Canada, and it's quite charming in a gently colonial way. I consider myself pretty much entirely American these days, but whenever I go to BC, I get just the teeniest bit homesick. People actually stop at crosswalks and let you cross! People are NICE to you! They say "sorry" when they bump into YOU! The only pity was that we were unable to have tea at the fabled Empress Hotel...next time.

Well, then we went to Seattle for Saturday night and Sunday day. And Vancouver and Victoria clunked into second and third place, mostly due to the allure of Pike Place Market. If I could, every weekend, go and get fresh produce like we saw, handmade sausages, fish that is thrown at you, those amazing little donuts...well, I'd be a happy girl. Granted, the weather pretty much sucks, but such a small thing! No, I'm quite happy to visit. It's just so lovely that three of my very favorite places are in such close proximity to each other. Just gives you kerwollops.

My scariest misadventure was when the foredeck sunpad flew off via the stern, and yours truly got to go fishing. I was teetering on the swim platform, brandishing the boat hook, watching this damn pad bob gently just inches too far, and it dawned on me that a) that water was awfully close b) that water looked awfully cold and c) I was awfully stupid to not have put on a PFD. We managed to snag the pad and drag the waterlogged little &**$*%! back up into the cockpit, but I got my first "boat bite" on my knuckle. And let me tell you, boat bites HURT. Still, I feel baptized now.

CP will enjoy its Puget Sound holiday until the spring, at which time G and a small crew will putter it back offshore so that we can enjoy summer in the Delta. With air conditioning. Y'all come on out!

Hey Heather! Congrats on joining the leisure boating crowd. I'm trying to work out when I could come out west to see your boat.

Things are going well back here in T.O... I'm off to England on Thursday for a week with the family, and Anne's coming with so we'll have a nice holiday together.

Kelly Baxter gave birth to James Edward Asten Golding on December 7th at 8am, three weeks early but healthy and wrinkled. The Exultate Concert, which she sang, was the night before. Her email, in case you want to send greetings, is kelly@opusone.ca.

Guess that's all... Merry Christmas to you, Gene, and the Bean!

- Tom.