St Roch Engine Room Tour  -  Join us from noon to 4 pm on Dec 18, Jan 15 and Feb 19, 2012  as we explore the engine room on St Roch. The guided tours are about 10 minutes long and will include stops in the main hold, engine room - areas of the ship are not normally open to the public. Tours are included with admission to the Museum and are free to Museum Members. Bring a flashlight!

Jan 20 - Around the World in a 34’ Sailboat   Bruce Halabisky is a builder of traditional wooden boats and a frequent contributor to Wooden Boat Magazine. In 1998 he co-authored the book Twice Round the Loggerhead – the Culture of Whaling in the Azores. His wife, Tiffany Loney works as a yoga instructor and is a specialist in Thai massage. Seven years ago the two of them left Victoria, BC on a 34-foot Atkin-designed gaff-cutter and sailed to Hawaii. Since that first voyage they have crossed the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans and had two girls born along the way. Their presentation will cover their journey and specifically address what it is like to cruise on an old wooden boat, the pros and cons of the gaff rig and voyaging with children.


Jan 27 - BC’s Remote and Spectacular Gardner Canal   Carol-Ann Giroday writes adventure destination stories for the armchair boater, the active yachtsman, and all adventurous outdoorsmen in between.  She and her photographer husband, Rick LeBlanc, cruise the waters of the Pacific Northwest, the Inside Passage, and the Queen Charlotte Islands aboard their 40-foot Eagle motor yacht, Sea Foam. They are correspondents for the Waggoner Cruising Guide and their articles and photography have appeared in Passage Maker Magazine, Sea Magazine, Power Cruising, Boat Journal, Wavelength Magazine, Pacific Yachting, Western Mariner and the webzine, Mad Mariner.com.  For a preview of their adventures visit their website. www.writefromthesea.com and click on Summer Logs - Summer 2008.

Their presentation will cover a fjord less traveled to remote Gardner Canal where hanging glacier fed waterfalls and rivers feed this jade green waterway so abundantly an ebbing fresh-water current several feet deep is created over the surface of the sea. Few mariners have heard of the Gardner Canal let alone cruised its opalescent green waters. Ian McCallister writes in his book, The Great Bear Rainforest, Canada’s Forgotten Coast, “ Travelling up the Gardner Canal for the first time is an experience that no one can be prepared for – 130 kilometres of sheer granite walls rising from the water tinted jade green by glacial runoff.” Glacier fed waterfalls and rivers that feed into this waterway are so abundant they create an ebbing fresh-water current several feet deep over the surface of the sea.

Located south of Kitimat and northeast of Princess Royal Island, the anchorages along the Canal can be challenging as they are steep-to but the hanging glaciers that tower overhead and the sound of waterfalls that lull you to sleep at night make it all worthwhile.  The narrow inlet creates a unique microclimate and VHF weather channels die out quickly as you enter the Canal. As you travel further eastward there is no radio reception and mariners must be self-sufficient with food and fuel.



Feb 3 - A family of six cruise the U.S. Eastern Seaboard, Cuba and the Bahamas   Jeananne Kathol Kirwin and her husband "Captain" Pat Kirwin live in Edmonton, Alberta with the youngest of their four children. Although a practicing lawyer and erstwhile sailor, her childhood dream to become a writer was rekindled during the sailing sabbatical that is the subject of her award-winning book Greetings from Cool Breezes, A family's year aboard. Articles she wrote about the practical aspects of her family’s catamaran journey were published in sailing magazines during the trip.  The family's journey  was also the subject of another writer's magazine article, in which he posed the question, "I suppose folks would say the Kirwins are living in a dream world, far from reality. But are they?" Distinctly non-landlubber challenges they faced included interminable boat repairs, storms and weather setbacks, the infamous Cuban Guarda Frontera, sharks, stowaway hermit crabs and fish that got away, diminishing food stores, running aground on coral reefs, amateurish docking, getting their dog ashore each day – and navigating 24/7 in the company of "six and a dog on a cat for a year"!


Feb 10 - Racing Canada’s Colours around the World with Derek Hatfield   It takes tremendous courage, determination and persistence to race around the world alone, and Derek Hatfield is the 126th sailor in history to have done it! Racing single-handed around the world is an incredible accomplishment, certainly equal to the feats of the 400+ astronauts who have gone into space or the 10,000 mountaineers who have reached the summit of Mt. Everest.

Come and hear, first hand, Derek’s truly inspiring story of becoming a competitor in the 2002-03 ‘Around Alone’, details of the race including his devastating pitch-pole and dismasting near the infamous Cape Horn, his eventual first-place finish in his fleet, and being only the second Canadian ever to complete this demanding race. Following this came 5-years building North America’s first state-of-the-art all carbon IMOCA 60 in order to compete in the November 2008 ‘Vendee Globe’, a non-stop race around the planet. Only 11 of the 30 competitors finished the race, and after 50 days at sea, much of that time enduring vicious Southern Ocean storms, Derek’s 60-foot ‘Spirit of Canada’ was rolled upside down and sustained severe damage to the mast that could not be repaired at sea and forced to retire from the race. With his never-give-up attitude Derek and his team banded together for the next big challenge; the prestigious VELUX 5 Oceans single-handed race (formerly the Around Alone). This race is the longest and toughest event for any individual in any sport. Starting in France on October 17th, 2010 the racers navigated through a series of high-pressure sprints within a marathon circumnavigation with stopovers in Cape Town, Wellington, Punta del Este, Charleston and then back to France. With support from Active House Derek raced in the Eco 60 Class working towards circumnavigating the world without the use of fossil fuels. In order to reduce his impact on the planet Derek used solar and wind power instead of fossil fuels to generate the electricity needed during the race – an approach that goes hand in hand with the main principles in the Active House vision, working towards a more sustainable future.  Derek finished the race in France at the end of May and once again took a place on the podium for Canada. Derek was the first official entry in the ECO 60 division of the VELUX 5 Oceans 2010 Round the World Yacht Race and placed an astonishing 3rd place at the finish, here to tell the story is Ontario Sailing’s own Derek Hatfield.



Feb 17 - Sweden to Syria and More!   “Barbara Robertson and Brian Anderson have sailed “roughly” 13,000 miles since taking delivery of their boat in Sweden ten years ago, visiting 20 countries, including a few in the Eastern Mediterranean, which are off the cruising atlas. They live aboard 6 months in the season and return to Vancouver for the winter.”

Brian was born & raised on a prairie farm in Saskatchewan, and has lived on the West Coast since the 1970's. He learned to sail in Victoria. He worked as a policy manager with Industry Canada until retiring in 2001. He and Barbara sailed for 20 years with their children on the West Coast including around Vancouver Island. His hobbies are running, cycling and weights at the gym, making wine, skiing, and riding his motorbike when the cleaning and cooking are done.

Barbara was born in Scotland and raised in Montreal. She has lived on the West Coast since the 1980's working as an anaesthesiologist in various hospitals in the Vancouver area. Since 2002, she has also worked in Saudi Arabia, New Zealand, and Australia. Presently, in the off-season, she works at Peace Arch Hospital in White Rock. Barbara's hobbies are swimming, cycling, running and skiing.

In addition to sailing, their adventures include an East African bicycle trip, climbing Kilimanjaro, cycling the Carretera Australe to Patagonia and cycling the Tibetan plateau.  During their sailing adventures, they look for experiences which are perhaps a bit unfamiliar to many sailors; for example, St Petersburg, Shetland Islands, Gota and Caledonia Canals, Albania, Montenegro and Syria.

THINGS FOR YOU TO CONSIDER!

Museum Membership – makes a great gift!
Membership brings great benefits – free admission at all times, annual parking pass, member events and pricing, free use of the Museum’s library, Maritime Store discount and reciprocal admission to Victoria’s Maritime Museum of BC and the Wooden Boat Foundation in Port Townsend. For information about membership call 604 257-8305 or email membership@vancouvermaritimemuseum.com

Themed Birthday Parties
You bring the kids, we provide the fun! Bring your young mariners to the Museum for an adventure-filled birthday party! Kids aged 4 to 8 choose either a pirate or tugboat birthday party. Parties include a two-hour, guided program. Minimum charge (up to 10 children and 3 adults). Member $205 and non-members $225 plus HST. Additional children (up to a maximum of 15) - members $20.50 and non-members $22.50 per child. Call 604 257-8310, operations@vancouvermaritimemuseum.com

Consider the Museum For Your Next Event!
Consider us for your next special event, seminar, reception or dinner. Our unique venue by the sea is perfect and a great location to view the city lights. Meeting rooms, outside terrace and gallery spaces are available and the J Torben Karlshoej Gallery is the perfect location for your next get together. Our staff will work with your caterers ensuring a successful event. Call 604 257-8310 or email operations@vancouvermaritimemuseum.com

Give us a call
The Maritime Museum is Canada's principal maritime museum on the Pacific, located in the heart of Canada's greatest ports at the gateway to the Pacific Rim. Join us as we work to bring our treasures out of storage, tells stories we have not yet told and continue to offer quality education and a great experience. For information on how you can help, email info@vancouvermaritimemuseum.com