ee MAILBOX

‘Booze n’ cruise’ mentality
spoils carol ship enjoyment

Dear Editor:

The quest for the aimighty
dollar has struck again, directly
against the spirit of Christmas.
Every cynic in town has one or
more humbug criticisms against
the crass commercial aspect of
Christmas and whiie we shake our
knowing heads in agreement we
soon dutifully acknowledge the
economic necessity of supporting
the system and we all go out and
spend spend spend. However, the
trusting folk down in Deep Cove
know that the traditional
Christmas Caroli Ships will always
be there in December and that they
will always be as wonderful as they
were the year before. But not so!

If only the charter companies
that send their huge Mediterra-
nean-size ships filled with happy
drinking, eating, laughing, ‘pay-
ing’ customers knew the incredible
effect they had on the once
beautiful event when they schedule

Caro! ships ¢
disappoint

Dear Editor:

It was a bitterly cold evening on
December 15, 1988 and certainly
not one I shall cherish in my scrap
book. It was the night that hun-
dreds of North Shore residents
made their way to Lonsdale Quay
to welcome the carol ships of 1988.

They sailed in —- and sailed off,
but we hardly heard one complete
Christmas song. It certainly was a
disappointing evening and I do
hope that next year it will be orga-
nized so that we may hear at least
one of our favorites.

E. Matheoud, North Vancouver

THANK YOU!

m@ The Lynn Valley Lions wish everyone
athe best for the New Year.

m@ We thank all our friends and supporters §
F Our Christmas tree sales were excellent!k

see again next year!

cs STAURANTSTAVERNA
NEW YEAR'S EVE AS

not one wonderful sailpast but
two. It’s like taking your child to
see Santa Claus at two different
department stores. It just doesn't
work!

I won't even focus on the com-
plete lack of communication
regarding times, whether there was
a bonfire, which beats were com-
ing and a myriad of other details
becanse for every question J
brought up some official would
have the perfect answer. I want to
respond directly to the event itself.
It was saddening and disappoin-
ting.

About 20 very large charter
vessels arrived half an hour before
the indicated time and plowed
around the Cove at about nine
knots. For the non-sailor that is
about twice as fast as chey should
have been going. This produced
waves of about 1% feet which
smashed up against the docks
where people were standing and

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Hats, streamers,
noisemakers- 1

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rocked the moored boats enough
that people were seriously con-
cerned about their mooring lines.
They didn’t attempt to come in
close to the shore like they have
always done for the past 20 years
but stayed hundreds of yards
away. While this whole event is
publicized as a ‘Carol Ship’ night
the only melody ! heard was,
“Come on along, it’s only $22."°
Now, being in’ the marine
business myself I can fully ap
preciate the necessity of making a
buck but I believe that a unique
tradition has been completely
submerged in the all too familiar
‘quick-as-you-can’ big boat booze
n’ cruise mentality. Uf the flotilla
doesn’t change, 1 anticipate a
growing lack of interest from the
shore. But perhaps that doesn’t
matter to the people partying away
on board the yachts.
Don MacLean
North Vancouver

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