Passing Cloud triumphs over Miaui challenge Crew member Mark Sager recounts 16-day voyage When West Vancouver Mayor Mark Sager and nine crew members left Victoria on July 4 to compete in the Victoria _to Maui international Yacht race aboard the 70-foot, jdouble-masted Passing Cloud, owned by Sager’s brother '. Greg, no one was quite sure how the crew would do. Speculation continued when : Sager reposted to the News that after seven days at sea, the crew : was bickering about how half had ' eaten’ some of the ice cream on board without checking with the other half. And while the Passing Cloud . was the last yacht to cross the - finish line, the vessel actually beat all other entries in one category. While at sea, each vessel had to ‘give its estimated time of arrival _at Maui. The Passing Cloud ar- _ fived within seven seconds of its * ETA, earning it one of the race’s ‘two navigational awards. The se- ~eund navigator’s award went to West Vancouver’s General Hospi- Stal. . - The following is Sager’s iast dispatch from Maui. _ ON JULY 20 at 21:32:53 UTC : (Universal Time Coordinate), 16 -days from the commencement of the Victoria to Maui International Yacht Race, we crossed the finish * line. . A horn from the nearby shore told the 10-member crew of Pass- ing Cloud that they had suc- _ cessfully crossed the Pacific Ocean. With sails down, the champagne uncorked and our feet back on solid ground, which I might add is an unusual sensation, and the un- paralleled reception hosted by Trevor Jones and the Pioneer Inn, By Mark Sager Contributing Writer The ocean birds were welcome company and a fascination to all members of the crew but none more than Patrick, who, with the observation of each new species, was quick to fill the rest of us with more data than could be imagined. For days we were escorted by a great albatross, whom we nicknamed Al. We knew land was approaching when Passing Cloud and Al parted company. -The most entertaining flying object wasn’t a bird but rather the flying fish. On one clear night Bill was at the helm, when he was struck in the head by a flying fish. Bill let out a holler which had us all on deck thinking there was a man overboard. Two members of the crew were apparently initiated into some kind of sailing ritual by having their ears pierced with a number-16 canvas sewing needle. The names Lave been omitted to protect the innccent. Each day the crew enjoyed great food, created with limited sup- plies, with Godfrey, Simon and me handling the galley chores. Then there were the other kind of moments, like the tearing of Photo submitted ‘WEST VANCOUVER Mayor Mark Sager proudly displays the navigational award won by the crew of the Passing Cloud as crew member Simon Fawkes and daughter Ashia lock on. there was a moment to reflect on the 2,310 nautical-mile voyage. The crew consisted of Greg as skipper, me as navigator, Simon Fawkes, Rene Lange, Bill Sager, Jules MeWNeill, Godfrey Roxas, Wayne Walker, lan Shipley and Patrick Fawkes. Besides seeing more ocean than any of us could have imagined, we saw one massive car carrier, which we learned was bound for the eastern United States, one fish boat and one of our competitors, left rudderless from the sea‘s tor- ment and being towed across our bow. the main sail on day one. There was also the tense mo- ment when Greg expressed con- cern that the winds were too strong for the amount of sail area up, which was followed by an en- suing scramble in the the fog-fill- ed evening to reduce sail area. There were also the moments, which seemed like days, when the stomach seriously questioned the brains as to the current course of action, Then there was the jolt felt mid-day, three days from Hawaii, See Friendly page 18 Wednesday, July 29, 1992 ~ orth Shore News - 13 NEWS photo Neil Lucente A KOKANEE Kiassics batter is safe at second during a game piayed over the weekend against the Heaters. The game was part of a men’s slo-pitch tournament held in North Vancouver. — ‘Tough to get away from: the mass media fishbowl QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS — As I am writing this from a 16-foot aluminum boat and staring at.a yet-unused 10-foot mooching rod, I can see across the water a very relaxed Bernie Pascall of BCTV and J.P. McConnell of CKNW peering into the early-morning mist. We are on the border of Alaska at the spectacular Langara Fishing Lodge near the northwest tip of the Queen Charlotte Islands where 12 finalists of the 1992 EXPORT ‘*A’? INC. SALMON SHOWDOWN are competing for a top prize of $50,000. The competition is simple enough: the dozen anglers who won the right to be here over a six-week preliminary round spend 10 hours a day in search of the largest salmon out there in this remote wilderness setting in one of the world’s richest marine en- vironments. Two of the final 12 are from West Vancouver: Tony Fraser and Mark Patitucci. The others are from as far away as Etobicoke, Ontario and Marysville, Washington. Pascail and McConnell have taken a few days away from the ugly plight of the B.C. Lions and the commotion of the XXV Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona to kick back and enjoy the coverage of a much more peaceful event. **Sometimes we get so wrapped up in our day-to-day routine of chasing stories and interviews in the professional sports arena, we forget about times such as these,’’ Pascall was saying from a sun- drenched deck overlooking the Alaskan border. (Majestic is the word that comes to mind.) Shooting Stars THE NORTH Shore Shooting Stars soccer team defeated Kamloops United 2-0 to take the Provincial Premier ‘A’ Cup recently in Coquitlam. The cup win allows the Under-i4 Girls’ team a berth in the Nationai Youth Soccer Club Championships in Oc- tober. Greg Dougias GOAL LINES McConnell, the pitbull reporter who so expertly dces the Lions’ play-by-play broadcasts, added: “Maybe Bob O’Billévich should take a break in his schedule and talk Murray Pezim into sending the entire football club up here for a couple of days. It kind of gives you a whole new outlook on life.”’ . No sooner will McConnell be returning to Vancouver via a float plane to Sandspit and a small, chartered aircraft back to the Lower Mainland, than he'll be on yet another flight headed for Winnipeg and the Lions’ fourth test of this winless CFL season take Premier A Meanwhile West Van Blue Devils lost to Kelowna Selcct Terminators 3-0 in the Under-11 Girls’ soccer final for the Provincial Challenge “BY? Cup. The Coquitlam finals were organized by the B.C. Youth Soccer Association. tomorrow night against the Blue Bombers. I feel for the J.P. McConnells and Bernie Pascalis. Indeed, they are paid very well for their role in the electronic media ‘‘fishbowl,”’ but the downside is they simply cannot escape from their existence even when ‘they venture as far away as Langara. The questions never “‘What's wrong with the B.C. Lions? How d’ya think the Canucks will do this year? What’s Pavel Bure really like?”’ Both Pascall and McConnell handle it well. Pascall is coming up to his 25th year as sports director of BCTV and J.P. has been working the beat dating back to when he was a cub sports reporter for CKWX when the sta: tion was at its old home on Bur- rard Street. ae He moved from radio to CBC Television and back into radio with CKNW, where he’s the: sports director of a staff that is one of the largest in the country. McConnell takes himself, and his profession, very seriously. Almost to a fault. He was mentioning over dinner the other night how worried he is that reports of Pezim bowing out as sole owner of the B.C. Lions ‘will be the death of the Canadian . Football League as we know it. “If Murray pulls out,’’ Mc- Connell says, ‘‘the franchise will die. Oh, there'll be professional football in Vancouver...but it will part of a long-range plan that will include several American cities much like the old United States Football League.’’ New CFL commissioner Larry Smith has conceded that Portland will be an expansion franchise as early as next year and just the other day a story unfolded that Memphis businessman Rudy Schiffer is eager to land a team in the CFL in Tennessee. J.P. McConnell, whose heart is in the right place, concerns himself about such matters. But that’s for tomorrow. Today, at Langara, he can be as calm as the waters. stop: _