IIDD, May 28th

Hi Dottore!

You sound very busy with work, travel and swimming! Congratulations on your latest medal! Very pleased that you plan to pursue more gold at the World Masters level. You can do it. When is competition? Perhaps we will come to cheer you on and then travel together, as we did in '97', light years ago!!! Glad to learn that Jørgen seems to be recovering well. Sorry that things have not worked out with your relationship. Will look at Facebook as soon as I've caught up on my email!

Busy, busy time here. On Thursday of this week,, took the ill-fated Diesel/Barnacle Cruise to Steveston on the Inside Passage, the boat friend Branko has moored at the co-op marina just down the way from us. He purchased craft about six months ago and has been living on it ever since. Needed to have it taken to dry dock as it hasn't been out of water for over three years. At any rate, Whirlygig and I went along as crew. We took our bikes aboard as we planned to cycle home once boat had reached safe haven! Journey started out, inauspiciously, at 8:30am, as Ragin' had a fair it of difficulty manoeuvering The Inside Passage out of its berth in the marina, in spite of fact that there was more room than usual as a number of other neighbouring moorages were empty. With much bumping and grinding, the nervous skipper, (to give him his due, he hasn't had much opportunity to familiarize himself with how craft handles), made his way into False Creek and under Burrard Bridge and we were soon heading into English Bay, making for Point Grey.

Bit of excitement when it was discovered that engine was not responding when put to full throttle, rpms indicating this to be the case. Rob, Branko's oldest child and a licensed, heavy mechanic, was along, as well, and it was his opinion that prop and rudder were probably so barnacle encrusted, (Boat had not been out of water for three years for any maintenance and this trip, to Steveston and dry dock, was meant to address just such necessary, long overdue work.), that mechanism simply couldn't respond. In neutral, rpms reached expected levels, so we pressed on, delighting in sighting a bald eagle perched on the marker pylon off Point Grey. We used our binos to scan Wreck Beach but sadly, due to coolish, cloudy weather there were no well-endowed, nekid babes frolicking on the beach!

Even though Ragin' did well on the Power Boat Course he was obliged to take, he wasn't all that well prepared for his maiden voyage. Strangely, most surprisingly, he didn't even have a detailed enough chart to make navigation both safe and efficient. One would think that it would be rather easy to find the mouth of the South Arm of the Mighty Fraser but in fact, it isn't, (You may well know this, neither I nor Branko did!)), more so when you've never been steaming these particular waters before. I knew how shallow it could be from mud flats one sees so regularly along Spanish Banks and exposed rocks along Seawall. Same pertains to much of shore further south, of course. While his sonar depth finder always provided soundings, not having a detailed topographical map prevented us from charting the most efficient course, releative to incoming tide and numerous breakwaters that protrude a fair way into Gulf. Consequently, we spent more time and fuel than necessary making forays towards shore and then back out to sea again as depth dropped from 12' to 5' to 4', in seconds. The Inside Passage draws 3' but one is obviously leery about getting anywhere near bottom.

At any rate, we finally cleared last breakwater, north side of mouth of South Arm, and found the dredged channel, 45' deep for much of the way. Huge seals adorned the tops of many of the exposed rocks along with a another large eagle. We made our way up river to dock at the Chevron fueling station and Branko filled both his tanks with diesel. $500 later, we set off towards the marina with the boat hoist. While Robert filled the tanks, I suggested Ragin' ask the attendant about the exact whereabouts of the marina in question but he dismissed my concern saying he knew where it was. Famous last words! All this in the context of steering a craft which behaves more like a small tanker than a light aluminum skiff. Took Branymir almost ten minutes to dock at fuel station and all he had to do was come alongside!

Nevertheless, he decided way to marina was on the other side of the channel which is divided from the mainland by a small island/breakwater. So we turned, labouriously, and made our way up stream to find an opening back into channel we had just vacated, only to discover after second foray, (On initial probe depth dropped off so quickly that we pulled back to rethink options and then decided to head back in, very, very slowly.), that a log boom blocked the end of channel. Back down to entrance and then up where we should have been in the first instance, only to miss channel we needed to take to gain marina's dock. Branko finally called to ask for directions. So much for knowing where he was going!

More protracted and laborious toing and froing to enter right channel and we were there, only 20 minutes late. Not too, too bad but we could have been there almost an hour earlier. As it was, chap at marina wanted Ragin' to back in but our Captain Ahab wasn't up for the task, given space available. We simply moored head on and unloaded our bikes for a fast getaway! Another squash friend, Peter Cook, had cycled out and was waiting on dock when we pulled alongside. We chatted a bit and his observation, (he has owned boats in the past), was that there was at least a week's worth of scraping and painting. Ragin', of course, had said, at the start of this endeavour, that two or three days, at most, would be all that was needed! Even I knew that was unrealistic and I know nothing about the care and feeding of such expensive toys!

Whirlygig and I said our goodbyes and cycled off for home, via CSTB, Cambie and then Heather to Seawall. Think about 31K by time I was back at Harbour Terrace. I was mildly annoyed as had we docked sooner I would have been able to ride out to UBC in order to add another 20 or so. Cora Lee and I were off to a VIWF reception, (wonderful appetizers as it turned out, most congenial company, etc.), at 5:30pm at GI Hotel so I only had time for a quick shower and change before we had to leave. Still, boat ride was fun and quite enjoyable, for the most part. If nothing else, bit of a warning for possible outings, aboard The Inside Passage, in the future!!!

I phoned Ragin' later that evening, (He will be living on boat in dry dock until work is completed. He may be there for a year!!!), and he told me he was feeling rather depressed. One of the chaps at marina recognized boat and said that previous owner had done little, if any, regular maintenance, preventative or otherwise! Furthermore, it is remarkable that we even made it as prop, shaft and rudder were so completely encrusted with barnacles that it is a miracle that they worked to the extent that they did! Who knows what else will turn up! Plan to pop by tomorrow when we ride out to UBC and then on to Steveston to see what progress has been made.

Aside from sailing the ocean blue, have been quite pleased with my other rides this week. Yesterday, Ray and I rode around Stanley Park in the reasonably steady rain, leaving our place at 8:15am. Knowing forecast, I wore a heavier, quasi rain-proof jacket and it held me in very good stead, as things turned out. By 10:30am Ray was feeling a bit chilled so he opted for home once we had sailed by Granville Island. For my part, I was toasty so I headed out to UBC to tackle my regular 100K route. By time I had climbed Foreshore Hill, sun was peeping out from behind cloud cover and I was starting to dry out. When I reached Marine and Crown, I was feeling great, sun was beaming and even my gloves and runners were no longer sopping. Headed back with 52K on odometer and dipsy-doodled my way through Wesbrook Village, 16th/Imperial/Marine Drive Loop and back home for a grand total of 102K. As I mentioned, I was perfectly dry on return leg until I hit Point Grey Road and then heavens opened, rain came sluicing down and I was drenched, in no time, rivulets streaming through my helmet openings into my eyes and ears, my feet squeaking in my waterlogged sneakers and my water-repellant shorts completely beaded with drops. Fortunately, it wasn't overly chilly, (At one point I thought I felt and saw a bit hail but I think it was only the huge droplets exploding on the road surface like mini-bombs), so while wet, I wasn't really all that uncomfortable and only had about 6K to traverse to reach shelter.

This morning, Flamin' and Whirlygig and I joined Ray, Rod and Peter, at 8:00am, out to Steveston, (Didn't stop to see Branko!), and back, for a mere 51K. Very, very enjoyable, chatting with everyone as we changed pairs en route. Weather was dry so very very pleasant. Once that part is taken care of, rest is gravy!

Let me know dates for Masters in Italy. Fondestos, Cheers, Patrizio!