First trip continued....

Kevin, of course is Kevin. As solid a bloke as you will find. Great traveller, great adventurer, great guy to have your back in a bar room brawl...(dont ask..). After a night drive on Halloween evening, along the highway through Vancouver with the skyscrapers all pretty with fireworks all around, then along the twisty turny route out to Kevin's, I didn't do too bad. On arrival Heather, Kevin's mother who I have heard so much about over the years was there, great to meet her at last. Then, straight away on to a Halloween party Kevin and Kimberley were going to, where I met a lady who used to gut fish at Kyle of lochalsh, and a couple of Gloucestershire folk who had the most glorious accents and had rather a penchant for my drum tobacco!

The morning started rather slowly what with kids and all, and later kevin and I hit the road and got me set up with my supplies after visits to Canadian tire, Walmart and London drugs. We then continued on to the boat, where we arrived to do some exploratory work, before being met by Aart.

At this moment I must regress as I have left out an important part.on th first day down at the boat with Aart the diver came down to replace anodes and do a bottom scrub. He is a Frenchman called Regis, who seems a beaut. Wide eyed and enthusiastic he donned his drysuit and plunged in to the icy depths to earn his living. Driving an old vw camper, it turns out he is a Breton, my favourite sort of Frenchman! Not that I dislike other Frenchmen, just that my Cornish roots(artificially laid of course) give me a certain connection with the Bretons, looking across the channel at them and so forth.

When Regis had completed his scrub, he returned to the dock glowing about the good state of Anne Marie's hull, how she looked so sound and boats built only 10 years ago can look so much worse!! I promptly accused Aart of paying him to say this, but my accusations were peremptorily dismissed...

He was keen to see the inside of the boat, so Aart invited him down, and the three of us sat in Anne Marie's sadly neglected, but still incredibly atmospheric and powerful saloon chatting over whisky. Aart was on form, talking of his travels, adventures with the boat, and we all chipped in as the whiskey flowed. Bar none there is nobody who does not come under the spell of this boat, and I felt even more strongly that my instincts had not failed me on this one. Regis will undoubtedly figure in this story again, although our meeting thus far has been fleeting.

I must now return to the day after, where Kevin, Aart and myself were together on the dock, Aart kindly trying to share his knowledge of the boat with me, whilst kevin and I got on with pressure washing the filth off the boat. Aart watched most of this from the dock and I feel it seemed strangely therapeutic for him. He stopped me a couple of times to say how he had been chatting with the boat and generally saying she was in good hands now, and loving the fact she was getting her pride back. It has been an extended interview process which I had gone through before Aart decided that I was the correct next steward for Anne Marie, and I think that he felt good watching kevin and I, poorly clothed with no wet weather gear, scrubbing and washing the old boat in a chilly, dark autumnal Vancouver evening. I hope to do him, and her, proud.

Eventually bad light stopped play, we packed up, and kevin had to endure my driving back to Squamish. Being soaked to the skin we were both just wearing our cacks as our trousers were drenched, and it just happened so, that gaining the highway, there was a sign saying 'severe delays north of lions gate'; upon discussion with the local expert it seemed it would amount to nothing...however we ended up in a 3 hour tailback. Its an incredible road between Vancouver and Squamish, clinging to the edge of the mountains and in and out of forest, and with the huge expanse of fjord and islands far far below....not the easiest of roads to drive in those conditions...we sat and waited. Good job kevin and I have a lot to talk about!

The next day I was up and off before dawn, reaching the boat at around 0630. The day's work included a lot more pressure washing, cleaning and removing the hatch covers, cleaning and cleaning again the deck, emptying the fore peak of its filthy contents. Every bag, box, thing was soaked and mouldy. The air inside was cold and fetid, mould, mildew and fungi everywhere. Rusty paint cans which had emptied their contents onto whatever they were sitting on, rusty boxes of spares, an old fridge with its rotting contents, every locker door which was not left open was swollen and jammed shut, the general detritus of a boat which had been left on its own for too long.

I made a good day of it, cleaning and cleaning and half way through I met Simon Fawkes, by recommendation from Bruce, and a worthwhile meeting it was too.

Simon Fawkes is an interesting character. He has a British passport and has spent a good deal of time in the UK, but is from Vancouver. A sailor, he now runs a whale watching and yacht charter company here in Vancouver, and seems to know everyone in town. In a varied life he has worked as a restauranteur, sailed the Pacific, Hawaii and the south sea islands, run a chain of 4 subway franchises in Essex, currently looks after a 90ft stinkpot for his friend, whilst owning his own 40ft cat which if not powered by sail, is powered by solar panels and electric outboards, and as well as all this, he knows the people at Brittania Shipyards.

Brittania shipyards is the historic centre of the fishing fleet at the Fraser river, and has a multitude of quaint Canadian wooden boatsheds along the waterfront, along with the old net lofts, sail lofts, fish processing sheds, bunkhouses and the like. It is open to the public and owned by the council and is a wonderful interesting place to visit. They want to make the place more of a working port, a bit of a wooden boat centre, along the lines of mystic seaport, but they are not sure how to go about this. Simon says that we could be a good starting point for them.

If I was to get a local shipwright or two who I could trust to recaulk the deck, then they could see how i went with the management of it, although for them it would also be a low risk project as I know exactly what I want and how to achieve it, with a succession of completed successful projects in the past. The public gets to see traditional boatwork, and at the end of it all Brittania gets the involvement in knowing that Anne Marie's new chapter started with them, giving me a good push off from Canada by having helped get the old girl ready for the sea once more. The project as a whole, running through the delivery home and the finishing in the uk, will undoubtedly attract some publicity and Brittania will also benefit from that. So it seems like it could be a good fit. Plus they have a free dock....

I continued late into the evening, looking at the crazy wiring system, before drinking a tot or two and hitting the hard planks of the saloon seats...!

Up at 0430 again I pottered around inside before starting on the deck again when it became light. I have been very lucky with the weather getting a few dry days, and enabling me to get stuck in. I had already found a couple of dead rats in the mainsail, so thought I had better haul it up to give it a pressure wash, before sending it off to get cleaned. As I removed the sail ties another one leapt out at me, and during the hoist two more fell to the deck along withe their faeces, prey, body parts and fur. Nice.

I washed all that off and when the main was still up Simon arrived to take me off to meet the chairman of Brittania. A lovely old guy, Loren Slye, we met in a cafe and chatted about the project. He was concerned that we fitted their mandate, and seemed positive. Being run by a committee he had to consult with another couple of the board, but things are looking positive.

That took pretty much the whole of the afternoon, so I was not able to get too much more done then outside, and my mind turned to paperwork, cruising permits, finalising the bill of sale with Aart, insurance and the like. The inside of the boat is slowly improving as I remove more old junk and my mind is also turning towards the sleeping beast below the stairs, the ancient Perkins p6 which is going to have to push us through the Panama Canal.....