Report on the 2007 Sailing Adventure from Buck Lair
"Lost Boys" was the name of Ben Carter's boat on our recent sailing trip in the Pacific Northwest. The other boats were "Khepri" (Capt. Tomlinson) and "Sea Treasure" (Capt. Willis)
We gathered in Sidney, BC on Vancouver Island on Saturday, June 9. Due to flight delays our assembly was less than tidy, with Bob Carroll and Gus Fishburne arriving late in the night.
Boat Crews:
"Lost Boys"
Ben Carter (Lord Nelson of '62), Dave Minson, Jim Harrington, Tom Simcox
"Khepri"
Gene Tomlinson, Buzz Kriesel, Bob Carroll, Buck Lair
"Sea Treasure"
Wayne Willis, Paul Wirtz, Bob Phillips, Gus Fishburne
We provisioned and sailed on Sunday, June 10. We anchored out that night at Galiano Island, BC and took dinghys ashore for dinner. A bus picked us up (all part of Ben Carter's excellent planning and timing) and took us to dinner at the Hummingbird Inn atop the island. Dinner at the Hummingbird was raucous and beer-filled. Debbie the owner was a gracious hostess and as we were leaving pulled a pair of panties from her jeans and presented them to Tom Simcox (see photo).
For the next two days we were in and out of the US and Canada, sailing among the beautiful Canadian Gulf Islands and the US San Juan Islands.
One day "Khepri" broke away from the sailing route to sail around Sinclair Island and view Terry McCarthy's striking ocean-front vacation home. Terry was not at home, so we kept on going.
Customs check-in is relaxed in the Canadian Islands. The boat captain goes ashore to the Customs shack and phones in the passport numbers. Near the end of the trip one boat captain dropped his passport on the dock while returning to his boat. An alert member of another boat recovered the passport. The passport was returned to the owner at a ceremony in Sidney on the last evening. In the interim his passport photo had been replaced with a photo of Osama Bin Laden (see photo).
On our last evening we wore special t-shirts that commemorated our trip (see photo). They were thoughtfully and generously donated by Buzz Kriesel. The evening was also graced by a tap dance performance by Bob Carroll backed by his boat mates to the music of "On Brave Old Army Team."
As is the case with everything else he has done in his Army and retired careers, Bob is good at it.
The group scattered across the country on Sunday, June 17 after a week of laughs, adventures, war stories, good food, and great gin-and-tonics.
There you have a thumbnail sketch of the 2007 Sailing Trip. These photos were taken by Jim Harrington.
Parallel to the sailing trip, the following wives gathered at theTomlinson home in Breckinridge, CO for fellowship, good food, hiking, and enjoyment of the mountain air. Those wives were Becky Tomlinson, Jeannine Kriesel, Sue Lair, Linda Simcox, and Pat Carter.
Buck
Photos
