2007 Year in Review

[Low Light Mike]

What was memorable to you in 2007? re items particularly bad, good, or just significant?

This thread applies to things-ferry, things-forum, things-news, things-life, essentially anything that's relevant to you.

What will you remember 2007 for ?

[Low Light Mike]

Here are my random bits, re memorable items for my 2007:

- Flensburger shipyard
- Markus Brinkmann and Paul Kennleyside, re the CR's journey
- Riding the MV Nimpkish, from Quadra to Cortes.
- NorAd open house
- Tachek trip on Route-9 across the Georgia Strait
- Watching orca whales swimming past Bellhouse Park on Galiano Island.
- 5 ferries in one day, with Scott, on a June Monday.
- a few other multi-ship footie trips, using Duke Point as my start & end point.

- visiting Point No Point resort, near Jordan River BC
- buying a new musical-instrument (my first new horn in 24 years)
- reading ship books: "Launching History" re Burrard drydock, and "Pacific Princesses" by Turner.
- another ultramarathon-walk event completed (www.greatlakewalk.com)
- surviving (so far) the invasion of the "millennial-brat" generation into my workplace. But will it get better or worse in 2008?

[Curtis]

It's been quite a roller coaster year once again.
I can't really think of alot of notible things right now.
But around the world there sure was alot. So I'll let this video made by the guys at JibJab.com do the talking on what happened around the world

[Balfour]

I remember the many trips we had all together. It seemed we had a forum trip of some sort ever 2 weekends during the summer. Good times were shared by all on those, especially the Queen of Tsawwassen trip a few weeks ago, I've never seen Mac Write be so funny before... I also won't forget the day the Tachek was on route 9 when Chris, Doug and I went on the newly upgraded Queen of Alberni and of course the camping trip in the Gulf Islands.

Some other major things of 2007 for me included getting my CSIA 2 and of course my cross-Canada Trip in May on the train, which was topped off by a trip on the NorAd.

Other things to note are the fact that I'm no longer a teenager but I bought a brand new bike for the first time in 7 years.

[Northern Exploration]

I haven't been able to take a single ferry trip this year. I have seen the Toronto Island Ferries operating many times per week as per usual. I watched the ferry that connects Kingston, Ontario to Wolfe Island and intended to get back when I wasn't on business to take a ride on it but it hasn't happened yet.

So therefore one of the ferry highlights of the year has been vicariously enjoying the forum members trips through the commentaries and pictures.

The other one would definitely be the tracking of the Coastal Renaissance from Germany to Nanaimo.

2007 has been a difficult year business wise for me and I will be glad to see the year go from that perspective.

[Political Incorrectness]

LMAO! Another great one

Let me see
Congress failed to stop war AGAIN! Giving into the dictators as they broke their promises to the nation (I hope someone can knock em all straight across the heads and tell em their stupid)
Dennis Kucinich has launched articles of impeachment against the Dick Cheney (perhaps they will work if everyone took an extended lunch break)
Revelstoke opened up (just today)
Northway chairlift at Crystal Mountain
Cypress opens up its new Lions express quad chair and the new raven ridge quad chair (old sunrise)
Republicans block everything proposed while the Democrats waste money (has any god **** voter ever heard of the Libertarian Party and screwed strategic voting and actually take a chance on turning things around?)
Steel Electrics pulled from service forever.
Oil price rise to $100 bucks a barrel
Ron Paul now has more money for his campaign than Fred Thompson.
Anything else I forgot in politics?

[Ferryman]

Alright, here's my year review.

-The first group trip of the year for me was probably the MV Kuper Open House. I had sailed over to Duke Point, and drove down to Chemainus, to meet up with Klatawa Teen and his father. We did the triangle route to Thetis/Kuper Islands as we waited for the Open House to begin. I was running slightly off schedule, and nearly missed the sailing on the MV Klitsa. Once I parked my car at the Chemainus parking lot, I ran like a marathon runner to the ticket booth. Unfortunately I couldn't jump like one, over the cement barrier, and my knee hit the barrier, causing me to hit the pavement like a falling tree. Thankfully the lady at the ticketbooth was nice enough to radio over to the crew to open the gates to allow me to hop aboard. The tour was fun none the less, and the Mascot was nothing short of entertaining. The highlight of it all, was probably watching Klatawa Teen getting eaten by the Sh@thawk...err "The Captain".



I guess one of the next trips I did, was a ride over to Bowen Island, on the ship named after the Island. Scott, Karl, and Airchime Alan were also with me on this one. We drove all over the Island in Scotts Ford Explorer, to watch the Ferries go past in the constant downpour of rain.



The Queen of Tsawwassen trip between Powell River and Comox was pretty uneventful until I got back to Horseshoe Bay, where I decided to side swipe my car on one of the support beams of the underground parkade with the drivers side fender and bumper of my car. This cost me a grand to repair, all said and done. The cops didn't seem to car when I had reported it.

The next event was the Northern Adventure open house. Gee, what a surprise. It was absolutely pouring with rain, and there was literally thousands of guests lined up to see this Greek ship. I think most of us got even more drenched once we actually got aboard the ship, seeming its outside decks weren't designed for BC West Coast rain storms.



From this point into the summer, we had a flurry of trips on the Queen of Esquimalt, once we found out she was to be cut from service, sooner than her sisters.

I think my least enjoyable trip, would have been the time I brought up the idea of spending the night at a campsite on Mayne Island, in the middle of Active Pass. I say it was the least enjoyable, because everything that could go wrong, ended up going wrong it seemed. Everything was going perfect until I had picked Graham up in Ladner, and headed for Tsawwassen to find our sailing on the Queen of Vancouver to be cancelled due to mechanical issues. Ah well, it was a nice sunny summer day. May as well enjoy the view from the terminal. The weather started to deteriorate once we got to Swartz Bay. Seeming I was driving, and the SoVI was late because they were using the Platform decks, causing some delays. This made me miss the sailing to Mayne Island that the rest of the group was on. Graham was with me, so we hung around Sidney for the time being and wandered the used book stores for any Ferry items. Once we finally got on the Ferry, it started to rain, and Graham wasn't feeling prepared enough to camp out in the weather. So he just hopped on to the Bowen Queen once we arrived at Village Bay, and headed back to Tsawwassen, while I drove around aimlessly on an Island I hadn't been on before, looking for Dan and Scott. Fortunately I found them at Miners Bay once I figured out how to get there. Scott and I camped at the campsite in tents, while Dan and his mother stayed at a Bed and Breakfast down the road. Camping in this location was great, this is what made cheered me up for the evening, as I watched the Ferries travel through the Pass, and hearing the horns echo way in the distance. In the morning I had promised everyone pancakes, but I forgot to bring cooking grease for the pan, so the pancakes looked pretty ugly. We held off for a meal until we got to Galiano Island. After watching Ferries all day, most of us took the Queen of Cumberland back to Victoria, and followed the Killer whales through the pass. It was all well and fine till we arrived at Pender Island, and were delayed for the use of the platform decks. This caused me to miss my reserved sailing to Tsawwassen on the Spirit of Vancouver Island. Just my luck, a two sailing wait. Instead of making it home for around 9pm, it wasn't until after midnight till I got back, and had to work first thing the next morning.



In the fall I flew out to Massachusettes to visit some family. This gave me the opportunity to do some serious Ferry riding out there, to "Mahthas Vinyahd", as the locals say. The first trip was on the MV Island Home, where I was able able to persuade the security guards onboard, to get me a tour of the wheelhouse. "Hello, I'm a student from Western Canada that is looking at a career in the Ferry business...". The crew onboard this vessel was great to talk to, and were amazed about our Ferries over here with their size. The crew members out there are sort of aware of BC Ferries, as the Steamship Authority Ferries were potential buyers for our former Pacificats (imagine if they had bought them!). I was given full access to the ship, and I got to wander around the engine room, and looked through all 4 divided compartments. I had the opportunity to go for another trip the following day, when a friend of my Aunts, invited me to do the mail run with him out there. So I had to wake up at 4:30am the next day (still very much jet lagged too), and rode in a US Mail truck to the head warehouse of Massachusettes where the mail is sorted to load the truck. Yup, I had to help load the truck at 5:00 in the morning. Eventually we pulled into Woods Hole around 6:30am to catch the MV Nantucket to Marthas Vineyard. I was able to get up into the bridge on this vessel too, and had a chat with the crew members up there again. But wasn't so motivated for strong conversation first thing in the morning. So this tour was cut short. Not to worry, after driving around Marthas Vineyard for a couple of hours, and dropping off the carts of Mail at the Post office, we sailed back to Cape Cod on the MV Island Home again, where I was welcomed aboard by the same crew from the previous day.


As mentioned, the Queen of Tsawwassen trip from the other day is also going to be another memorable trip.

Tonight, I'm sitting at my Grandmothers computer in Kamloops, and celebrating Christmas with the rest of the Family. The drive up here via the Coquilhalla was a gong show, with accidents in Chilliwack due to the snow, and idiots without snow tires on the Coquilhalla. Took a good 5 Hours to get from Hope to Kamloops, when it normally takes half of that. Hard to believe that the Sea to Sky highway was uneventful, with the 6 inches of snow we had recieved last night.

Thanks for reading this far into the post ;D.

[Koastal Karl]

Probably for me my most memorable trips would have to be the Pacific Coastal Cruise I took in May from Los Angeles to Vancouver on the Norwegian Star which was also my first cruise. Me and Scott's trip up north on the Rupert to the Charlottes and the Nor Ad. My trip to Ottawa in August and my Vegas trip this month . Those were pretty much my big trips for this year which were the most memorable.

[Scott (Former Account)]

A few memorable events for me in 2007...

• Watching the construction of our three Coastal Class ships in Flensburg, and having Markus taking time out of his busy life to keep us updated every step of the way at the yard.
  
• Wandering the Esquimalt a billion times while tied-up at Departure Bay.
  
• Doing a ferry trip a week for the majority of the summer.
  
• Doing the Circlepac trip once in each direction.
  
• Getting up to QCI, and spending almost two full days (minus 3 hours at PR) on the Queen of Prince Rupert.
  
• Passing over the the QoTN in the QPR and Norad.
  
• Darting around the Southern Gulf Islands, then back to Duke with Mike.
  
• Travelling route 30 so much that I am now at a point where I am almost sick of it.
  
• Arranging a trip just to travel on the Chilliwack for my first time. What joy I had turned to disappointment as I couldn't wait till we reached the other side so I could get off...
  
• Driving east and west and all over Bowen Island (including off-roading) just to time it right get pictures of the route 2 and 3 vessels.
  
• Getting over to Galiano three times this year.
  
• Camping on Mayne Island with Chris, and the hilarious pancake experiment on a pan with no grease.
  
• Riding the Tsawwassen on the Earls Cove - Saltery Bay run one last time.
  
• Getting on the Norad at Canada Place.
  
• Riding the Tsawwassen on a very interesting route 9 trip earlier this month.
  

[Mirrlees]

My memories of 2007:
- Finally joining this forum after reading it for over a year!

- Watching the construction of the Coastals in Germany.

- Following the Coastal Renaissances' journey to B.C.

- Having my first meeting with Flugel Horn on the `Esquimalt in August.

- The Queen of Tsawwassen group trip; Wow, that was a blast! It was great to put a face to everyone attending. An event to remember for years to come.

- Planning ferry trips for 2008!

[Taxman]

- Riding the Norad from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy
- Visiting "Northern" BC

Those are my two ferry related highlights.

[Mike C]

My Year-end Summary

Ferry Related:
-Mayne Island trip in July
-Comox in July, August and December
-Watching the Super-C class Newbuilds
-Amusing Queen of Alberni breakdown(s)
-In awe that the Queen of Cowichan did not break down this Labour Day

Life Related
-Visiting San Francisco and all their ferries, buses, and trains
-Visiting Hawaii and getting sick as hell
-Again, good times in Comox, waking up every morning at 6:30 to the sound of the ferry horn...

Overall? AWESOME. 7 million litres of fuel will be saved next year... that will be included in next years highlights. Unless... those 7 million litres of fuel go towards cranking up the heat in the Berth 2 Lounge.... I'm talking to you, Dan...

[Mac Write]

Lets see:

• Final trip to Saltspring as my mom moved back to Vancouver
  
• breaking the filter ring on my lens in August getting off the original Nova bus (no handles on back door) but at least meeting up with the circle pac gang
  
• Esquimalt solo trip on route 3
  
• First time on New West and Route 30
  
• Esquimalt on route 30 with the group
  
• Queen of Tsawwassen last trip on route 9