“

winter sail |

~The radio was broadcasting a‘gale warning but.
the sea was calm and the barometric pressure -
appeared to be'rising. My guests from the prairies
helped me rig the boat for heavy weather, and we .
headed out of the harbour and across the Gulf of

Georgia
Gabriola Island.

There was no gale — im
fact, for a long time there
was no wind..We’ finally set
the sails a few miles out from
-Gabriola Pass and made a
nice gentie run in, with light
__“. winds and no swell to speak

. Our destination was Silva Bay, on

bottom, and we had out lots
of heavy chain, and she held
firm.

| ‘The morning. was bright
‘sunny, but the wind was _-
very strong. In the bay it,

of. Silva Bay, when we
dropped the C cnls | and
motored in, was empty of
anchored vessels except for
“one or two sailboats.

' The wind came up after
dinner. We. let out more
anchor rode and stayed fn in
the warm security of the
cabin while the _wind
whistled through the ri
outside. Before I went to bed
the wind gauge registered
gusts to forty knots, and we
made sure the chafing guard
wade, Pine® on the anchor
rode:

1 slept lightly, getting up
once or twice during. the
night to check our position,
but the anchor..seemed to
have a 2 good | bite on the

sunday

1139 Lonsdale Avenue,
North Varicouver, B.C.
OFFICEINEWS
(604) 980-0511
CLASSIFIED
986-6222
CIRCULATION
986-1 337

lifted “up small waves, and”
the pressure. of the wind on
the mast and : cture
was enough to make the boat
move around q bit. I

_ decided that it was too ly

to leave so we re at
anchor and waited out the
gale.
>

Claudette made a giant
pan of corned beef hash with
eggs, and the coffee pot was.
in steady use,

We dawdled away the
and looking

‘peared to be dying down a_

little. I've found in my ex-
perience that once it starts to
die down it vanishes fast, so I
was anxious to get going
before we had to motor all
the way back to Vancouver.
But I also knew that it had
been blowing all night, and

' even if the wind died away to.

nothing there would still be
the left-over north-west
swell to contend with.
HE LIKED SAILING

The other members of the
party were very polite and
thanked
weekend. Charlie told me
that he really liked sailing,
and Jim and Annie and
Claudette echoed his sen-
timents. Just then a forty-
knot gust hit the vessel and
she shivered from bow to
stem. “The weekend isn’t
over yet” I reminded them
weakly.

After the sails,

. ready to fly with reefs in the

main and staysail, and the
storm jib hanked on, we got
the anchor up and motored

- gout of the harbour. Through

the gap between one of the
breakwater islands outside I

new DATSUN service

—Fuel Injection

—Factory trained mechanics

—reasonably priced work

“courtesy cars available overnight
-—-convenient location

Derosa Automotive.
1835 Marine Drive

North Vancouver

specku lations _
by y Peter S peck

and then.there was another, _
and another. The sea there is

incredible.

.deck to try to get the storm

me for a nice .

could see the white manes

on the seas in the gulf, and as |

we entered the first small

waves I knew that we were in .

for some rough water.

The first big sea was a
monster — probably the
largest sea that I have ever
‘experienced. We went up
one side and down the ether,

shallow, and the seas coming

down the gulf pile up on the |
shoals, getting higher _and.

_ Datsun B210

Datsun 310

' Datsun 510 Sedan
. Datsun 200 Coupe

B.C! $ No. 1 Volume dealer i in ‘78 offers y you ithe best deal
‘now at your doorstep. (NORTH SHORE REP) : a
Clearance ‘sale prices now on all new '78, ‘19 & Demos

MODEL OUR PRICE

Manufacturer’s Suggested
Retail Price .

$ 4790
-$. 5890
$ 6140
$ 7190

Datsun 2802X Sports 11960

Best in fuel economy

Standard

‘More features, best in _pertormance &
Auxury ;

Front wheel drive 7
Practica! family car you will never regret

The very best in Performance, Styling, | &
Luxury & Economy

Worid’s most popular sports Car

it Datsun 620 Sportruck $ 3640 Best seller 12 years straight

closer together. They were
The wind. was
still very strong, and some of

the dark blue monsters -
seemed to be about fifteento —

twenty feet from trough to
crest.

‘The tops were blowing
and falling off them, and
when a few tons of surging
water came over the bow

and thundered up against the

wheelhouse windows it was

DATSUN PLUS DEALER

BSi-O civ:
Datsun.
choice at your

After 9 pm ‘home or business! Si
;. & weekends ' Your trade.

980-5232 | a,

-For-appointment,.
. simply phone
: Bud 291-7261

of your Bank finance

available.

_ Lease rates.
available: ;

Your Most Progressive Datsun Pius Dealer’

intimidating, to say the feast.
From then on we had the

TONS OF WATER
Charlie and Mary went on

jib up to stabilize the vessel,
as to get to Vancouver we

had to travel with the sea on 7

our beam and the tossing
and rolling was extremely
violent. Mary was in the bow
pulpit and Charlie was
handling the halyards when
we slid down a wave that
seemed like the Grand
Canyon. When we hit the
bottom the bow of the boat
shipped another few fons of
water and Mary got soaked
from tail to teakettle.

The water then ran aft as
the vessel lurched up the
next wave, and Charlie got
bathed from the waist down.
They came back in the
wheelhouse. “This is a heck

of a place for a chartered

accountant from the
prairies,” said Charlic. I
asked if she was all
right, and she looked at me
with mascara down
her face. “No!” she said,
with fecling.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 12

988-2239
8-Gp.m. Mon.-FA.
8-2p.m. Sat.

4451 ke at \ Willingdon —
Burnaby 291-7261 (MDL 396A)

DATSUN PLUS DEALER DATSUN PLUS DEALER

THE SP A:everybodys' Lap of Luxury
NOW

IN YOUR HOME

ahh ™ TAKE THE PLUNGE!
Escape from the winter chills into your own
Portable Spa

100% Portable 7 2 jets for total massage

LET US INTRODUCE YOU TO OUR PRODUCT. WH
CALL TODAY AND TELL YOUR FRIENOS ABOUT US ‘Ay

OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK MON. TO FRI. TALL @ BAT. & SUN. TILL 6

AR
FREE DEMONSTRATION PLUS... a
OUR SHOWROOM 15s phUXURIOUS & COMPLETELY STH AVE,

420 WEST 6TH AVE., VANCOUVER

PHONE 872-8541

YHATV3SG SNId NAS