SEABUS CROSSING

Crew mak

RUSH HOUR, 7:30
a.m. A few straggling
commuters break into a

run as the loudspeaker .

barks: ‘‘One minute to
departure.’’

the SeaBus
Alex Kapalka

Above, .in
wheelhouse,
spins his chair around to
face the water.

“Lock out,’’
through the intercom at his
elbow. Two sets of lights on

he calls

the terminal wall change
from red to green, signalling

the boarding ramps are up

and secure. ;

Attendants below confirm
all is ready for departure.
“They tell us when we're
clear, and away we go,’’ he
explains, reaching to his left.

The 47-year-old mate
stabs a button on a nearby
console, sounding the
vessel’s horn.

Gently’ moving the con-
trols, he nurses his charge

MATE Alex Kapalka sits at the controls and eases the Bur-
rard Offer out of its North Shore berth. .

from its berth at Lonsdale
Quay to cross the harbor to
the Vancouver terminal. The
day’s seventh voyage of the
Burrard Otter is underway.

Kapalka and skipper Brian
Marx will make 20 round
trips during their 10-hour
shift aboard.

Both take turns at the Ot-
ter’s wheel, which isn’t really

a wheel at all but two
joysticks, one for each set of
engines at either end.

With his right hand,
Kapaika controls the stern
engines; with his left hand,
resting for now on the ar-
mrest, he operates the bow
engines, used primarily in
docking.

Above his head, one of

NEWS Photos Terry Peters

TIRELESSLY criss-crossing Burrard Inlet, the SeaBus pulls into its Vancouver stop with the

North Shore as its backdrop.

their two radios crackles to
life — a freighter will be
leaving its berth soon and
the Otter is being notified.

AGAINST GRAIN

Marx takes the mike and a
quick conversation follows.
Kapalka explains it’s essen-
tial to know what's going
where, especially since the
SeaBus goes “against the
grain’? as he puts it, travell-
ing across the harbor rather
that in and out.

Tiny blips on the two
radar screens brighten and
fade with each sweep of the
rotating antenna. Kapaika
fiddles with one of the sets.
The image leaps in size and
the small green oval of a
moored freighter becomes a
larger green oval.

During the recent rash of
heavy fog, the pair had to
rely heavily on their instru-
ments to make the 11Y-
minute crossing.

While the fog wasn’t
heavy enough to. curtail
SeaBus service, it did cause
an unexpected change in the
route,

At one point, Kapalka ex-
plains, the visibility improv-
ed just enough to allow
vessels to leave the harbor.
Although it was still foggy,
many of the ships departed
at the same time, giving the
SeaBus numerous unseen
ships, large and small, to
dodge.

WEAVING FOG

“We had to weave in and
out of them,’ Kapalka
recalls. ‘‘No problem. We
don't like the fog, but if it’s
here once in a while it’s okay
~— it keeps our finger in.”

Apart from the occasional
game of fog bank hide and

“oer Park Royal South. .
922. 2644

41 - Wednesday, January 29, 1986 - North Shore News

es job look easy

SKIPPER Brian Marx makes an entry in the SeaBus log

book.

seek, however, the most dif-
ficult part of the crossing is
the docking; otherwise, it’s a
“niece of cake.”

At 42% feet wide, the Ot-
ter is a tight fit, with only
one-inch clearance between
the vessel and the dock, |

As the Otter glides slowly
in, the edges of the dock
vanish, obscured from view
by the vessel’s high sides.

High in the wheelhouse,
all Kapalka has to guide his
approach is the partial roof
covering, the terminal, his

training and his experience.
But after years of working at
sea, both as a mate and a
skipper, Kapalka knows just
exactly how he’s doing.

“It’s hard,’’ he admits,
“but we've been at it so long
we make it look easy.”’

The seventh voyage of the
day is over. In a few
minutes, Kapalka will again
swivel his chair to face the
water and will again guide
the Otter across Burrard In-
let.

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“~ y