2006 Victoria Habour Floating Boat Show
Trip Start
Apr 03, 2006
1
2
21
Trip End
Jun 30, 2006
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Friday, April 21, 2006
The 16th annual Victoria Floating Boat Show, put on by the BC Yacht Brokers Association, took place April 20-23 at its new and exciting location at Victoria's Inner Harbour. This location allows visitors to enjoy the wonders of downtown Victoria and to view upwards of 200 new and pre-owned boats for sale. This includes a wide assortment of inflatables, fishing boats, dinghies, ski boats and particularly larger power and sail boats.
With hundreds of boats on display and thousands of people in attendance, it is said to be the largest floating boat show in Canada. When one looks at a map of Vancouver Island and the coast along the British Columbian mainland with its abundance of coast lines and islands, it has to rate as a top boating venue in the world, so it is not surprising that here should be the location for the largest floating boat show in Canada.
My own interest in yachting goes back about 20 years when I had a dream of buying a yacht and sailing around the world. (who hasn't had this dream?) To put this into fruition, over a five year period, I enrolled in the Power Squadron Course in Ottawa and took various sailing courses including one on scenic Georgian Bay and the last one right in this neighbourhood in the Gulf Islands. The second qualification I received in the Gulf Islands course allowed me to charter yachts. The financial part of the puzzle to make the dream come true was an ambitious plan of real estate investing in Vancouver and Kelowna. It all fell into place, sort of, but not enough to really take the big step.
Speaking of the big step, I can't omit to mention the Stuemer Family from Ottawa-Orleans who in September 1997 set sail on a yacht with their three young children for an around the world cruise.
Dianna Stuemer, through her fascinating regular travel blogs in the Ottawa Citizen, touched so many hearts in Ottawa and eventually in Canada, that in the process a new standard was set for adventure travel with a family.
During a home exchange in 1998, while living in Marbella, Spain, I had the pleasure of passing a few hours with the Stuemers on their sailing vessel, the Northern Magic, in the harbour of Gibraltar. It was truly a fascinating encounter with some wonderful, inspirational people.
As a web site says:
The Stuemer family planned to sail around the world, not change it. But they did, by helping hundreds of Kenyans escape poverty and by linking the lives and futures of Canadian and Kenyan kids.
For the complete story and their legacy: "The Northern Magic Foundation" go to:
http://www.instantweb.com/n/northernmagic/main_page.html
For a follow up:
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f106/another-sad-chapter-for-the-stuemer-family-4335.html
