Chasing the dream from Vancouver, BC

[SanchoPanda]

Hi all, I'm so glad I found a sailing community and based on what I read so far here, a warm and welcoming one.
I'm Stefan and finally decided that enough is enough. I've had the dream of sailing on the oceans since I was a kid and ever since I always welcomed any opportunity to be on the water.

Living in Vancouver, BC I often rent small power boats and simply enjoy the coast around the city, but that always reminds me that I want more.

I have the PCOC but that was mainly for keeping myself safe as well as everyone around me on the water. As you know that is only basics and does not even begin to scratch the surface in terms of actual sailing.

Lately I've been learning everything I can about sailboats and sailing in general. I am focusing on what I like to believe and hope will be my first sailboat in the not too distant future, a sloop. I am spending hours on reading, watching and learning sailing terms, practices, rules and everything in between.

I signed up for the 5 day basic cruising course, which will happen in August, but the wait feels very long.

Unfortunately, I don't have any friends that own sailboats or know how to sail, so I would like to know, and please forgive me if this out of line, if it's possible to meet in person and go short fun sailings around the Vancouver coast. If you're sailing on your own and would like some company, I'm an easygoing 43 yo guy, who would jump at any opportunity to learn more about sailing and enjoy the company of experienced sailors. I can bring beer, although I know drinking and boating do not mix, but, hey, we can crack one open when we're back.

I'd love to learn a bit on the water even before the course.

I also heard that there are sailing clubs that possibly rent sailboats. As I said, I want to buy a boat in the future so I am saving a lot now, but I may be willing to spend some money there just to be able to get more experience. The thing is, I won't do that with zero experience.

Would be great to hear from others either experienced or who are going through the same phase. I know there are many

Thanks everyone!
Stefan

[Renegde_Sailor]

Stefan!



Welcome aboard!



I was just in Vancouver a few weeks back, anchored out at False Creek, it was absolutely lovely. Really enjoyed my stay there. Well aside from the cops coming out and threatening me!


You are going to absolutely love sailing the Pacific North West, just in your own back yard is some of the prettiest country in the world!



Just across the sound from you in the islands there are some amazing places to visit, and further up towards Campbell River was quite nice too.



If you have any questions about anything sailing related in the area, let me know!


Also in September if you felt like making the trip down to Port Townsend Washington, the wooden boat festival there is quite a shindig full of amazing boats and other opportunities!


If you are looking for a solid boat there is a Spencer 42 for sale in Vancouver right now, same model as mine, they are an amazing boat.



https://www.yachtworld.com/yacht/197...er-42-8814127/

[TrentePieds]

Hello Sancho, and welcome from one Vancouverite to another :-)!

Vancouver is absolutely a superior place in which to learn to sail, sez I having a long time ago been an instructor for a predecesor outfit of the one which is, I suspect, the one where you will do your course in August.

Cooper's on Granville Island will, when you've taken the basic cruisiing course, rent you a boat to begin to explore waters that in my view hold never-ending fascination. They also offer you a wide range of sailing conditions from which you can harvest the experience that is necessary if you decide to go further afield. Just the Gulf Islands in the Salish Sea - The Straits of Georgia to us Canadians - will take you a lifetime to explore.

FWIW, Bill Wolferstan who wrote the first cruising guide to the Gulf Islands and the Straits of Georgia, was a mate of mine.

Once again, welcome, and let's stay in touch.

TrentePieds

[TrentePieds]

Renegde:

You said you were "threatened" by "cops" in False Creek.

I should be very grateful if you would tell us what "cops" they were, and what they "threatened" you with.

While one can understand that in people from other cultures there may be a certain justified component of paranoia in respect of law enforcement which can lead to certain misinterpretations of the conduct of "cops", Canadian law enforcement officers do not "threaten". They may seem inflexible in regard to ensuring that rules are observed, as is their duty, and they may give someone in breach of some rule very firm directions that there is wisdom in following.

The local rules applying to pleasure vessels in False Creek are quite complex, but I'm sure you will agree with me that "ignorance of the law is no defence".

Once again: Please inform us about which branch of Canadian Law Enforcement "threatened" you and just exactly whereof the "threat" consisted. A direct quote of the words used would be welcome.

TrentePieds

[Renegde_Sailor]

Originally Posted by TrentePieds

Renegde:

You said you were "threatened" by "cops" in False Creek.

I should be very grateful if you would tell us what "cops" they were, and what they "threatened" you with.

While one can understand that in people from other cultures there may be a certain justified component of paranoia in respect of law enforcement which can lead to certain misinterpretations of the conduct of "cops", Canadian law enforcement officers do not "threaten". They may seem inflexible in regard to ensuring that rules are observed, as is their duty, and they may give someone in breach of some rule very firm directions that there is wisdom in following.

The local rules applying to pleasure vessels in False Creek are quite complex, but I'm sure you will agree with me that "ignorance of the law is no defence".

Once again: Please inform us about which branch of Canadian Law Enforcement "threatened" you and just exactly whereof the "threat" consisted. A direct quote of the words used would be welcome.

TrentePieds

When a cop tells me that they might come seize my boat and take it from me, I call that a threat. Especially when I have just spent 4 years of my life and $165,000 doing a major refit to it.

I understand that they have the issues with people turning boats into floating garbage barges and drug dens out there and that is why they have implemented the permit system, but the way it was handled was really un-cool and they were right on the razors edge of where I would have made a massive stink about it.

To be honest everywhere I went through the islands people were so nice and pleasant and amazing everywhere I went, showing up in Vancouver and having this cop come out and represent himself and the city the way he did was shocking.

Maybe he was just having a bad day, I don't know, but making threats was completely uncalled for, especially considering we had already had the conversation about my intentions which were to stay for a few days then continue north to Alaska, and I was a foreign flagged vessel.

The incident really stuck out to me because being a former truck driver with 1.8 million miles, I have dealt with the cops frequently as it is just part of the business, and that being the case the way this officer presented himself it really rubbed me wrong.

Honestly his mannerisms and attitude make me think he was doing steroids, and if I was not someone who was already familiar with Vancouver, his actions would have given me a terrible first impression of the city, as it did for my girlfriend, she had never been there before and I think it really hampered her enjoyment of the place because she frequently talked about it afterwards.

Most certainly the way it was handled was not in the manner that will encourage the boating public to side with those wanting to get the bad boats out of False Creek.

It is a problem we had been facing in Washington as well, some nut job drug addict gets a boat and anchors it out and next thing you know all hell is breaking loose with theft, violence and even murder. Thus I am sympathetic to the issue.

All I am saying is the guy at the forefront of it right now is making for a terrible welcoming committee who is making the city look bad.

[TrentePieds]

Could if be that the "threat" to which you refer was merely the advice required by law as to what may happen if you are in breach of rules?

In other words, you were afforded an opportunity to rectify your error - whatever it may have been?

We have no indication of what rule was breached so you came to the officer's attention. We have no indication of the officer's actual words to you, nor to what branch of law enforcement he belonged. Nor do we have a verbatim account of what you said to him.

Until we have those things, all we have from you is mere assertion.

You were at liberty, and you still are, to make a formal complaint to the force to which the officer belongs. But before you do that, DO make sure that you have a copy of the rules applying in False Creek before you.

Until you have that and do that, what you have said is mere assertion.

I for one will dismiss it as no more than that, and I should hope that others will too.

TrentePieds

[Renegde_Sailor]

Originally Posted by TrentePieds

I for one will dismiss it as no more than that, and I should hope that others will too.

TrentePieds

Good for you.

[desodave]

Welcome aboard Sancho from the northern parts of Georgia Strait ... we live in Courtenay and keep our boat in Campbell River. I'll second TP's advice re Coopers although it was almost 30 years ago that I went that route ... took a basic course as a refresher then started chartering. This might also be a pace to enquire about opportunities, the Jericho Sailing Centre;
https://jsca.bc.ca/

[TrentePieds]

Yes :-)

Jericho Sailing Centre is essentially a "low cost" everyman's sailing club that offers sailing of revery variety right from kiddiwinks in Optimist dinghiess, through University students going hell for leather in the latest hottest racing dinghies to people looking for opportunities to crew or looking for volunteer crews.

Back when the Jibset - now part of Cooper's - was alive and run by Les Alfreds we had the most wonderful Wednesday beer can races in English Bay using our rental fleet of Cal20s.

Les was a character. I might come from a hard week instructing a "croose'n'learn" He'd give me a hairy eyeball and say "Thank you for what you did - little as it was!"

I still look back with nostalgia on the days when the JibSet had a tatty little shack and a coupla floats in Coal Harbour very near where the Bayshore Inn is now!
.
TP

[TrentePieds]

Apropos of my conversation with Renegd above, ALL visitors to Vancouver's False Creek should be familiar with this:

https://vancouver.ca/streets-transpo...anchoring.aspx

A tourist cannot do justice to Vancouver in a mere eight hours. Therefore if you wish to do touristy things, even just explore the Market and the shops on Granville Island right there in False Creek, you need an anchoring permit. There is no wisdom in trying to dodge it!

We, who live here, are obviously aware of such things, and, make no mistake, the regulations apply to us also. It is not expected that visitors from afar - even as far afar as Bellinham WA - would know. Therefore a - what is the American phrase "LEO", is it? - will make a courtesy call on a boat that has been observed to be in breach of the regulations and inform the skipper whereof the breach consists as well as what remedial action he needs to take. Including making departure.

Should a skipper - Canadian or otherwise - refuse to follow such a direction, he may indeed find himself on the end of a hawser!

Should someone wish to query by what authority the regulation in question exists, the "LEO" will gladly answer a polite question. As always, when dealing with a Canadian "LEO", be he a police officer or a customs official, do be aware of the cultural differences between Canada and other nations. Languages and modes of expression that may appear to the culturally myopic to be identical from one nation to another may contain tricky little pitfalls!

There is also wisdom in recognizing that all of Vancouver Harbour, including False Creek, is patrolled by the Vancouver Police Authority. That authority is among the toughest in the nation due to the problems we have with deadly drugs coming in from the US. False Creek has in the past been a very active port of entry for such contraband.

So there you have it :-) All the best

TP

[fxykty]

Originally Posted by TrentePieds

Apropos of my conversation with Renegd above, ALL visitors to Vancouver's False Creek should be familiar with this:

https://vancouver.ca/streets-transpo...anchoring.aspx

A tourist cannot do justice to Vancouver in a mere eight hours. Therefore if you wish to do touristy things, even just explore the Market and the shops on Granville Island right there in False Creek, you need an anchoring permit. There is no wisdom in trying to dodge it!

We, who live here, are obviously aware of such things, and, make no mistake, the regulations apply to us also. It is not expected that visitors from afar - even as far afar as Bellinham WA - would know. Therefore a - what is the American phrase "LEO", is it? - will make a courtesy call on a boat that has been observed to be in breach of the regulations and inform the skipper whereof the breach consists as well as what remedial action he needs to take. Including making departure.

Should a skipper - Canadian or otherwise - refuse to follow such a direction, he may indeed find himself on the end of a hawser!

Should someone wish to query by what authority the regulation in question exists, the "LEO" will gladly answer a polite question. As always, when dealing with a Canadian "LEO", be he a police officer or a customs official, do be aware of the cultural differences between Canada and other nations. Languages and modes of expression that may appear to the culturally myopic to be identical from one nation to another may contain tricky little pitfalls!

There is also wisdom in recognizing that all of Vancouver Harbour, including False Creek, is patrolled by the Vancouver Police Authority. That authority is among the toughest in the nation due to the problems we have with deadly drugs coming in from the US. False Creek has in the past been a very active port of entry for such contraband.

So there you have it :-) All the best

TP

I followed the link for anchoring in Vancouver. Wow, maximum 3 hours dinghy mooring at any city wharf and not permitted to pull the dinghy up onto any city land (e.g. a beach). Without stopping at a marina, there doesn’t seem to be any way to visit Vancouver by boat and actually spend some time visiting the city and surrounds. I write that as an ex-Vancouver resident who will be arriving in BC with a foreign flagged boat a few years from now.

For the OP, I urge you to head out to the Jericho Sailing Centre as others have. Dinghy sailing is a great way to learn about sailing. The big boat course that you’re planning is a great way to learn seamanship, navigation and handling a yacht, but not so good at learning to sail. There’s nothing like going for a swim in relatively cold English Bay water to reinforce the need to ease the main sheet when hit by a gust!

[SanchoPanda]

Thanks a lot for all the kind words. I do agree that Vancouver is an awesome place to sail around but unfortunately that also makes it very expensive in that regard.

@Renegde_Sailor sorry you had a bad experience, I had similar experiences with cops too, but I try to remember that they are human too, and I don't know their situation, and what happened in their personal life that might have influenced the way they act sometimes. I gave them the benefit of the doubt although I agree with other posters that they are usually friendly around here and you can have actually nice, informative and constructive discussions with them. But hey, there's always bad apples.

Thanks for the rental suggestions, so far I see that there are a few options although I can't say that I would enjoy being thrown in the ocean on a small dinghy while learning. I will likely start on larger more stable boats and once I am more confident I know what I'm doing I will try the small ones too. I can say that I understand the physics of sailing very well being a very technical oriented guy. Also, I think I would turn the experience into a frustrating one, being thrown overboard and not understanding very well why that happens.

I see on the Cooper's website that they charter boats in the $5000 range per week. Am I looking in the right place? Does that mean they will captain the vessel and I am a passenger or will I be part of the sailing crew? Not sure how that works. Although, there is low chance I can pay that since $5000 can make a huge difference in the budget for purchasing one myself.

Originally Posted by fxykty

I followed the link for anchoring in Vancouver. Wow, maximum 3 hours dinghy mooring at any city wharf and not permitted to pull the dinghy up onto any city land (e.g. a beach). Without stopping at a marina, there doesn’t seem to be any way to visit Vancouver by boat and actually spend some time visiting the city and surrounds. I write that as an ex-Vancouver resident who will be arriving in BC with a foreign flagged boat a few years from now.

I am not sure that this is the case for all around the Vancouver area. Don't forget that False Creek is smack down in the middle of downtown. But Vancouver has a lot of coastline with good public transit. I think because of how busy that gets, they had to put in these rules. It seems that it's like any other downtown parking: expensive, limited and hard to get.

Perhaps the people with more experience can pitch in but I know there are a lot of marinas on Fraser River from where you have direct public transport to downtown. Also Steveston is a very nice area.

[desodave]

Sancho ... those prices are without a captain. You have to be able to run the boat yourself. You might have some trouble going straight from a course to chartering for a week. I had some courses and experience before taking a course as a refresher, then chartering for 2 weeks. However, Coopers would likely rent to you for a day if you took a course from them ... have a chat with them about it, ie, what do I need re qualifications to charter from you? Charter boats are owned by individuals and managed by Coopers ... and individuals are very much interested in qualified people running their boats. They probably have one or two older boats that they might be less picky about. If you were chartering for a week, however, there are companies in Sidney (inc Coopers) and Nanaimo which put you a lot closer to nicer cruising grounds. Coopers also run boats out of Lund in the summer for those wanting to access Desolation Sound (as does DSYC out of Comox). Desolation Sound is magnificent ... I refer to it as our home cruising ground.

The problem with Fraser River marinas esp for sailboats is that the river is in full flow in June and July. You have to either buck a substantial current to get to them or, more realistically, time your entry to a rising tide if you can.
Personally, we've always stayed at the Fisherman's Wharf in False Creek when we've visited Vancouver.

[SanchoPanda]

Originally Posted by desodave

The problem with Fraser River marinas esp for sailboats is that the river is in full flow in June and July. You have to either buck a substantial current to get to them or, more realistically, time your entry to a rising tide if you can.
Personally, we've always stayed at the Fisherman's Wharf in False Creek when we've visited Vancouver.

That makes a lot of sense. I learned something new. Thanks for opening my eyes in that regard.

[Adelie]

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