13 May 2003: Sidney BC

Phew! Illywhacker is ready to go after a winter season in Canada and the subsequent preparations here for our passage home. We lose the convenience of dockside power and internet/telephone on Friday 15 when we commence living off our on-board systems, generate our own power, water etc. First stop will be Pender Island then False Creek anchorage in Vancouver where we pick up Jo, our crew. There we'll taste the delights of that fine city and meet friends from way back - Bob and Kleon from Rhiannon and Bob and Marg from Galatea, both of whom we met on our first trip in the early 80's so there will be lot's of catching up to do. On Sunday we farewelled Winston Bushnell and 3 friends on their way to be the first to circumnavigate the North Pole in one season. On a power trawler, they will enter the Arctic circle via the Bering Sea, transit the northwest passage to the east, enter Russia at Murmansk then cross the icefields north of that country and motor back to Nanaimo BC via the Chukai Straits - all in 4-5 months. They say chances of a clear run through the ice pack is good, if anything it will be Russian bureaucrats that may prevent the necessary fast crossing. At the farewell we met John Samson of ferro boat fame who invited us to visit later in the month. A social few weeks ahead before we face the open sea.