More Teak than a Thai Forest

Here's a couple of quick glimpses of what's available down in the Inner Harbour this Labour Day Weekend. It's the Victoria Classic Boat Festival.

Clear Air

One of Victoria's special characteristics is that it has no smog. I imagine that is because we almost always have a little breeze coming in from the ocean. But while the air is always clear there are times, especially after we have had a bit of rain, when the air is magnificently clear. The last evening of the Classic Boat Festival was like that and here are a few photos where I have tried to capture that clarity.

Shipshape 2

When the last bit of rope has been flemished and all is shipshape, it's time to relax.

Shipshape

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, "shipshape" means clean, neat, and tidy : organized and in good condition. I wouldn't go so far as to say all the Classic Boat Festival boat owners are suffering from OCD but I am always impressed by just how perfectly everything is taken care of, down to the last tiny bit of brass. It reminds me of those beautiful classic cars that we see from time to time - every last nut and bolt is gleaming, every last little detail is taken care of.

Classic Boat Festival 2

The Classic Boat Festival is one of those events I admire in that lots of people come and enjoy showing off their beautiful boats and lots of Victorians walk around the docks and enjoy looking at the beautiful boats and it's all free. Many of the boat owners will even welcome you on board and give you a tour.

Classic Boat Festival

In the days of sailing ships, before radio, the primary way that ships communicated to each other was by signal flags. I don't know what the flags above signify to sailors but to me it means the Labour Day Classic Boat Show is on - acres of teak and oak, sparkling brass and chrome and lots of good manila rope in tidy coils.

Victoria Classic Boat Festival

Victoria's Inner Harbour hosts two boat shows each year, one in the spring - the Floating Boat Show, mostly up-market boats - and the Labour Day Weekend is a boat show for those who love wooden boats of all kinds, particularly power boats such as Classic Chris Craft. The latter is the Victoria Classic Boat Festival. The photo above was taken on Friday as the boats were assembling in the Inner Harbour. There's more teak in the harbour on this weekend than an acre of Thai forest and it's all beautifully waxed and shined.

Classic Boat Festival 2

Hot sunny weather (September has been more like summer than July was) and the harbour full of beautiful boats combined with a large and enthusiastic sailing community brought out the crowds last weekend to enjoy the Victoria Classic Boat Festival.

Victoria Classic Boat Festival

As well as the Saanich Fair, the long Labour Day weekend brings the annual Victoria Classic Boat Show when the Inner Harbour is crammed with classic wooden boats of all sizes and descriptions. The overal impression though is masses of burnished teak and mahogany and gleaming chrome and brass. This is the original eye candy. I always end up taking a dozen photos of the boat to the left, a classic Chris Craft.

MV Deerleap

I mentioned yesterday that Labour Day weekend sees the Inner Harbour hosting the Victoria Classic Boat Festival. There are dozens of beautiful wooden boats of all sizes but for me the most interesting are always the big luxurious ones with lots of history. All today's photos are of one such boat, the MV Deerleap, built in 1929 in Vancouver, especially for excursions to Alaska. There's lots of history, film stars and other famous names associated with this boat, but you can read all about her on her website. Below you can get an idea of just how elegant life aboard can be. This is the combined sitting and dining room. To the right you can see the spiral staircase that leads down to the master stateroom and guest rooms, all with en suite plumbing. My thanks to the current owners for letting us get a glimpse of this lovely vessel and also to the sponsors of the Classic Boat Festival, Canoe Cove Marina and the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority.

Victoria Classic Boat Festival

For the last few days there's been more teak in the Inner Harbour than you'd find in a log jam on a Borneo river. And lots of maple, oak, mahogany and other expensive exotic hardwoods too. Labour Day Weekend here is marked with one of my favorite shows, the Victoria Classic Boat Festival. It's a treat to walk around the docks and look at these beautiful heritage boats and yachts but it's even nicer that so many of them welcome the public aboard to look around and see what it's like to live on one of these floating palaces.

From the photo below it's easy to see that I'm not the only one who came out yesterday to walk around and enjoy the boats. The Inner Harbour Causeway was a bustling scene of activity. If you look carefully you can see one of my favorite local bloggers, in her usual spot under the red umbrella on the left. Tomorrow we'll take a closer look at some of the wonderful old boats that came for the festival.

MV Coho - 50 years

The Classic Boat Festival this year paid tribute to a classic ship that has been a feature of our harbour and our long relationship with Port Angeles in the USA since 1959, the MV Coho. The ship operates as a car and passenger ferry between Victoria and Port Angeles in Washington State. Above is a photo of her taken as I often see her when leaving Victoria Harbour on her final voyage of the day. Click here to read an article about the MV Coho in Wikipedia.

Classic Boat Festival

Every Labour Day Weekend for the last 32 years the Inner Harbour has hosted the Classic Boat Festival. The above photo was taken on the eve of this year's festival and looks very peaceful. Once the festival gets underway the crowds come out to see these wonderful boats. There is so much to delight the eye because, as with classic cars, the owners of these craft pay great attention to detail. Every rope is coiled just so, every bit of brass or chrome gleams with high polish and all that golden teak and rich dark mahogany glows. Many of the boats will allow you to come on board and have a vicarious taste of what it's like to be really rich.