"This Week August 29, 1990. Page M3

TOP STORY

CLASSIC BOATS ON DISPLAY

Continued from Page 1

@ One group of boats which rafts
along an outside finger can be iden-
tified by sound as well as sporadic
bursts of water vapor. These are the
steam launches, whose shrieks and
whistles signal their being fired up
prior to the small flotilla setting off
on: its annual Saturday-afternoon
steam parade up the Gorge waterway
to Point Ellice House. Unlike the
other classics assembled here for the
weekend, these steamers are ad-
mired for their engines and boilers,

- rather than their hulls. -

_ For these enthusiasts, who are cur-

rently organizing an International
team Meet for Victoria next August.
the boat takes second place to the

precision-machined power unit with
its auxiliary stack of chopped wood,
along with a stoking process which
captivates the spectators. Last year,
for example, a 25-foot boat came all
the way from Comox “on her own
bottom”, while her proud senior
owner, admitted that he maintains
ois own woodlot in order to ensure a
~ guaranteed source of fuel for his un-
usual hobby.
Yet another small sector of the
powered boats commands attention.
® These are the sturdy tugs. Many
have undergone extensive refits by
local shipwrights, who sometimes
launch them on yet another life of
Geeful activity, such as chartered
cruises in surrounding waters.

It is the variety in rig, size and line
of sail, however, which casts a nostal-
gic spell over the entire harbor.

Towering masts identify schooners
now used for sail training. Two of
these, the 101-foot Adventuress from
Washington state, formerly a San
Francisco Bar pilot vessel, and
Victoria’s 130-foot Robertson II, once
a Nova Scotia Grand Banks fishing
schooner, invite land-lubbers to ex-
amine their ponderous wooden spars
and blocks during “open boat” hours
throughout the weekend.

While most of the entrants hail
from the Pacific Northwest, this sail-
ing fraternity fields a wide range of
home ports. For example, two grace-

ful fine-lined California-built yachts

hint at the high life enjoyed by past
skippers. Film star James Cagney
gpowned Martha while Errol Flynn
piloted Cheerio IJ during the 30s. As
well, stout former Baltic trading ves-
sels such as the black-hulled ketch
Sylvia, featured in the recent Sooke
historical re-enactment, and the 100-
foot Krestine, also built in Denmark
around the turn of the century, con-
_jure up visions of tar, oakum, and
Hanseatic merchant barons. Recent
“Farthest Away Boat’ awards have
gone to sailors from New Zealand,
Jamaica, New England, and
Louisiana. .

One, the tiniest sailing craft,
belongs to 1990 Honorary Com-
modore, Jim Saull of the Canadian
Forces Sailing Association. A peren-

nial favorite performer and oneofthe -

few boaters who has been in all pre-
vious festivals, Jim always stations
Chloe, his 16-foot dingy, near the
gangway. Here, he entertains with a
variety of musical instruments — a
portable organ, musical saw and a

will lead this procession to the
Empress Hotel floats, and then stand
by to pipe all hands ashore.

Local municipalities are well repre-
sented in this Friday mid-day
entrance pageant. Canadian Armed
Forces will supply the 32 foot Ven- .

_ ture, rowed by officer training cadets
clad in colorful old style blue serge -

cutaway jackets, red and white

striped T-shirts and blue breeches, -

LEARNING THE ROPES of sailing is the task of people who board the
ADVENTURESS, a 110-foot schooner used for sail training. The ship is from

Washington state but visits Victoria’s Classic Boat Festival.

Photo by Shirley Hewett

SEA SHANTIES are as important to the festival as the boats. Left, Honorary

Commodore Jim Saull plays a tune on his musical saw while, right, a man

spontaneously serenades a lass in the Inner Harbour.

Bosun’s pipe — inviting children of
all ages to join in a rousing dockside
sea-chanty singalong. Chloe’s ex-
quisite miniature carvings reveal her
sculptor-skipper’s multiple artistic
talents: a dolphin frieze; sea-horse
and dolphin taffrail, mythical sea-
beast tiller-handle and flowing-
tressed figurehead. Jim also carved

the figurehead for the Sail and Life

Training Society's ocean-going ship,
Pacific Swift.

During the years, the VREB Classic
Boat Festival has developed its own
colorful traditions. Festivities will
kick off Friday, August 31 with the
noon ceremonial harbor entrance of
small sail boats, sedate steam
launches and lustily-manned pulling
boats. Skippering Chloe, Jim Saull

Photos by SHIRLEY HEWEIT

and the 14-foot sailing dinghy Mar-
pac. Four open replicas built under
the direction of Discovery Re-Enact-
ment Society's Greg Foster will also
enter the harbor under “pulling
power” with one person manning
each of the long, sweeping oars:
Elizabeth Bonaventure; Nina;
Esquimalt municipalitys Discovery
“Jolly Boat; and Edward J. Milne
Community School's long boat.
Organized events start on Saturday
morning with a lively “mock rescue”
team race using traditional navy
whalers. Open to all participants,
this contest features much good-na-
tured splashing, shouting and shov-
ing. As well, ongoing demonstrations
Saturday and Sunday at Bastion
Square’s Maritime Museum of

British Columbia feature rope-
making, ship-modelling, wood carv-
ing, and talks on cruising, corrosion,
and other nautical themes. Museum
entrance fee includes these special

_ lectures. A chance to relax and enjoy

a refreshment break with musical
entertainment happens from noon
Friday through 6 p.m. Monday at
Kaleidoscope Theatre’s beer garden
below Wharf Street, adjacent to Ship

Point.

Festival traditions have also

delegated a Saturday job for one

select group. Unnoticed by the
celebrants, these are the judges who

‘scurry from boat to boat, looking for

a number of criteria such as age,
authenticity and upkeep, to deter-

mine winners in 19 categories. These
awards are highly prized, and in-
clude “Best Overall” in sail, power,
steam, work boat, pulling boat and
runabout categories as well as “Best
Restored,” New Classic, Replica, Far-
thest Away, Oldest Running Internal
Combustion Engine, and others.
Judges are all experts in their field.
Some have worked on many of the
entries. Victoria area judges include
Hugh Campbell, Miles Deighton,
Bent Jespersen, Peter London,
Blayney Scott, Tony Skidmore and
Don Thompson. They are joined by
Americans Jay Benford, Ted Brewer,
and Richard Wagner, with Gerry Pal-
mer coming from Vancouver.

._ As the festival broadened its base
from the first year’s 50 sailboats and
trebled its numbers, it also estab-
lished a tradition of naming an
Honorary Commodore from our
area’s wooden boat fraternity. Local
past Honorary Commodores include
the late Ned Ashe and Frank
Fredette as well as Royal Victoria
Yacht Club’s Jack Gann, “The Voice
of Swiftsure,” Humphrey Golby, and
Bill Tellier; CFSA’s Bob Leach and
SALTS’ Martyn Clark.

For sheer spectacle, the weekend
highlight happens on Sunday morn-
ing, when all hands muster and cast
off lines. The mid-morning departure
of the MV Coho signals the start of
the “sailpast,” as the assembled fleet
files out of the Inner Harbour to
Brotchie Ledge, where the Honorary
Commodore Jim Saull stands by to
take the traditional salute on board
the MV Lotus. Following this
ceremony, the sailing boats peel off
and head for the start line of the
afternoon Schooner Cup and Open
Classic races. The best vantage point
to view this drama of billowing sails
on old-style rigs is the Ogden Point
breakwater, while the Laurel Point
walkway provides a good place to
click close-up shots of the single-file
parade out and back.

Continued on Page 7

Tams Ye