During the 90s, I had a few trips to Victoria and also had a Canadian friend, Kyle, and his mother, Jana, visit us in Port Townsend.
I can recall sailing to Victoria and taking the ferry at Port Angeles one time.
On one sailing trip with Papa, my mother was with us, she didn’t usually come on the boat, being claustrophobic, she doesn’t do well in tight spaces. But for this trip she came along.
I don’t recall why we were going, other than having a sailboat meant we could travel freely. I remember the sail into the port was difficult as the wind and waves got quite rough. The passage was open to the ocean swell’s of the Pacific.
A lot of rolling and getting wet. Mama stayed in the cabin and I think I was with her.
I’d have to ask Papa to be sure, but I think we were in our second boat, Anares.
Our second boat
She was a navy whale boat that had been converted into a sailboat.
U.S. Navy whaleboats (frequently called a motor whaleboat or MWB) are a traditional, double-ended utility boat about 26 foot long. They stay steady in the water with rugged wooden displacement hulls.
Anares was fitted with large lead blocks of ballast under her floorboards, placed along her keel line, to offset the pressure of the mainsail and jib when under way.
Her cabin had 3 round port holes to port and starboard and another to the bow. Inside was a small wood stove, bunk beds at the bow, a gas burner for cooking, and various boat equipment.
The cabin was quite wide, so much so that the deck space on either side was less than a foot wide. To move from the cockpit to the bow to raise and lower the sails, you would have to grab a railing affixed to the cabin roof.
Also on the roof were the fenders, fishing rods, and a boat hook. In the cockpit was the tiller and lockers for stowage. A diesel engine powered the boat when not under sail.
Lines and anchor rope were in a crate at the bow under the mast. At some point a bow sprit had been added. A jib sail was stored in the cockpit locker. The mainsail was originally a triangle sail, but was later replaced with a custom made lug sail.
Victoria
My memory of Victoria is hazy. I remember it looked like a city compared to my hometown. I think it was also hilly. I have a vague memory of going through customs.
A stronger memory of Victoria was visiting Butchart Gardens. It’s a famous botanical garden in Brentwood Bay, located about 30-minutes north of downtown Victoria.
Canadian Friend
One of Mama’s friends was from Canada and she had a son who was several years older than me. There was a group of single mother’s who helped each other out with childcare, I think they met through the group.
There were likely many visits, but I have a clearer memory of a visit when we were living in a yellow duplex on Sherman Street.
It was part of a set of duplex rentals, maybe 14-16 units total plus an office with washers and dryers, and candy machines. One of my neighbors was a good friend, with a Nintendo game console, who I used to visit often.
The friend from Canada had brought his Magic card collection with him. I had been introduced to M:TG during the third grade, before briefly moving to Everett. I believe I traded my Ice Age Ice Flow card to him for a Vesuvian Doppelganger.
I believe he changed his name at some point. I think it’s now Kyle. I sort of think his old name was Native / First Nations. It’s been a long time, so I don’t really know.
Dungeness Ferry
I remember two occasions, once we picked up Jana, and another we took the ferry across.
Taking the ferry boat from Port Angeles to Victoria was fun. We didn’t go to Port Angeles very often I don’t think. Maybe we passed through when me and Papa went skiing in the mountains.
I must have been older when we took the ferry but my memory of the trip is lost to time.
