| |
On September 2, 2002 I made a fatal
mistake. OK, not really fatal, but a
decision that would prove to be
life-changing: To mark my wife’s birthday I
bought us a long weekend get-away to
Victoria. I had never been here; she had not
visited in more than 20 years.
In
fact, it was a whole new beginning for us.
We knew it was in the cards to end up back
here. So on the plane back to Edmonton we
started to formulate The Plan.
Did I mention I love spreadsheets? I
drafted our 10-year plan, with us ending up
living in Victoria. The stars really did
line up for us: in June 2008 we bought and
moved into our first home in Victoria.
(Before that, we made so many trips to the
coast that we bought a condo, just to have a
place to stay. No sooner had we done this
than our youngest daughter decided to go to
college – yes, in Victoria. You can guess
what happened to our condo…)
Randy made this
10-year plan...
My wife and I have been boaters since
we were kids and always had boats as adults.
Once married, we had ski boats, speed boats,
cruisers and finally a pontoon boat that we
dipped into most lakes around Alberta.
We were no strangers to boating, but
we knew nothing about the ocean and were
certainly apprehensive about ocean boating.
And what kind of boat did we want? Well, one
that you could cruise on nice days, be
protected when it was wet or cool, be able
to fish out of, have enough room to spend a
weekend (or longer) aboard – and we didn’t
want marina moorage, we wanted to trailer
it!
|
|
You can imagine the looks we got,
from those who knew boats.
By now it was fall and we still
had no boat. We did remember that we needed to learn
more about the ocean and boating on it. Luckily,
Brentwood Bay Power and Sail Squadron were advertising
classes for the CPS Safe Boating Course, the PCOC and
VHF radio course. We signed up, determined to learn what
we could.
In hindsight, it was one of our
better decisions. You notice, however, that I said “in
hindsight”.
We started classes the first week
of January 2009, with an intense first evening. By weeks
three and four, we moved from learning knots, to
studying under Dave Jackson of IOS those navigational
aid thingies that you have to look up in a book that is
not a book but a Chart. We learned about the legal
aspects of Collision Regulations from John Alexander.
The revelations of that evening alone made us question
our sanity about considering ocean boating.
But then we hit the Big One:
charting and plotting on these big maps that were also
not called maps but charts. (Go figure.)
We walked out of that class, made
it back to our vehicle and just there looking out the
windshield in silence. Finally I looked at my wife and
said “Honey, we are not buying a boat”. She looked at me
calmly and said “Just as well. I am quitting the class.
I am going to fail. I have no idea what those people are
talking about.”
... and dreamed of
becoming ocean-savvy
Will Randy and Cathy
remain ex-Alberta landlubbers? Or will they stick to
their plan? Find out next month in the concluding part
of their story.
|
|
|
In
hindsight (once again!) thank our lucky stars we
chose Brentwood Bay to take our Boating course.
The
Commander and several instructors and proctors
talked us down “off the cliff” and coached us
through the subsequent weeks of class (“not
to worry, you will do fine, it will all come
together shortly, that kind of thing.)
They were
so supportive and helpful that eventually our
lights did come back on. In a very short time,
we came to grasp the new concepts that hit us by
the truckload.
We enjoyed
the rest of our classes. We both ended up
passing with marks in the mid 90s. Not bad for a
couple of flatlanders with no idea of what we
were getting into.
Certificates
and licences in hand, we were now – as the
saying goes -- armed and dangerous.
In early
May 2009 the stars lined up for us once again.
We had chosen a boat model that seemed to fit
our lofty requirements. We located a couple of
used boats and were sure that one of them would
be The One.
We planned
to go to Everett and Tacoma intent on a
purchase. Then, just before we were leaving, we
spotted a Calgary dealer’s ad for the new 2007
model of the boat we wanted.
The story
kept getting better. The dealer had just
received a manufacturer’s rebate. The boat was
sitting in their Langley yard, one short ferry
ride away.
On May 17, 2009
she was delivered to our driveway and christened
The Plan.
|
|
The ads tell you that the PCOC will get you out
there, but the CPS Boating class will get you back.
It’s true! The CPS course lets you create a plan
to check things over before you go out, plan your route,
plan how to anchor or moor and most importantly plan to
get back, no matter what.
You become prepared for the worst, able to
navigate safely despite electronic failure, weather
conditions or adverse mechanical issues. You learn to
deal with that unexpected very large wake on what
appeared to be calm waters.
Cathy and I have not stopped learning since Day
One of that first class. We are beginning to feel like
perpetual students (much like our daughter, still living
in our condo and still going to college).
We are in our fifth session of classes. I help
with instruction and Cathy is now Chief Proctor.
With the squadron
we have gone on cruises, enjoying good food, good
company and the fun of a potluck on the dock. My
personal favourite is the annual cruise to Victoria’s
Inner Harbour, the same location where two flatlanders
stood more than eight years ago, their lives about to
change forever.
Happy
(and safe) boating to you all.
|
