A Whale of a Row. October 4th, 2015.

Whale of a Row.The tide chart for the row:

2015-10-05   (Monday)

Time

Height

PDT

(m)

(ft)

06:13am

1.4

4.6

1:39pm

4.3

14.1

7:50pm

2.9

9.5

The rowing plan is to ride the rising tide into False Creek and then out back to Hollyburn Sailing Club.  I want to be on the water early so I can row around in False Creek & visit Granville Island.

 

 

A Whale of a Row On the beach, ready to go by 8:00am.  The seas are calm and it is an easy launch.

 

 

A Whale of a Row A container deep sea freighter  heads out to sea through the morning fishing fleet.

 

 

A Whale of a Row Today I am part of the fishing fleet.  I am trolling a buzz bomb, green and silver.  The rod tip indicates good action with the lure.

 

 

 A Whale of a Row No more freighters coming out.

 

 

A Whale of a Row The False Creek Pirates are heading into Burrard Inlet.

 

 

A Whale of a Row Their real name is Pirate Adventures.  I saw them quite a bit in False Creek during the Vancouver Wooden Boat Festival.

 

 

A Whale of a Row I row past Siwash Rock.  The channel between the rock and the Seawall is awash.  I do not row around the remnant of a volcanic dike and “baked” sediments.  I am staying in deeper water because I am trolling and do not want my lure to catch on the bottom.

 

 

A Whale of a Row There are eleven freighters out in English Bay.

 

 

A Whale of a Row No freighters in the West Vancouver anchorages.

 

 

A Whale of a Row Some fall colour in Stanley Park already.

 

 

A Whale of a Row These two freighters seem to merge into one super long one.

 

 

A Whale of a Row The Pacific Hickory anchored.  Her engines are 2 x 20 cyl., EMD 645E7, Her thrusters: Tunnel thruster 250 hp Propellers: Twin screw, kort nozzle, Fixed pitch Gear Box: 2 falk reverse reduction Gearboxes 4,719:1 For 191 rpm @ propeller BHP 7200.  Her speed is 12.5 knots Bollard Pull: 100t.  She carries 610 t of fuel.

 

 

A Whale of a Row She has only one anchor, to Starboard.  She was built at Saint John Shipbuilding Ltd., Saint John, NB, Canada She flies the  Commonwealth of Dominica flag. Commissioned in 1973 with acomplete refit 2007. Her length overallis 46.78 m (153.47′), Beam,  11.81 m (38.74′), Draft is 6.7 m (22′). 

 

 

A Whale of a Row Ocean Cement barge anchored.

 

 

A Whale of a Row Pretty flat out by the freighters.

 

 

A Whale of a Row Close-up shot of the barge.

 

 

A Whale of a Row The buzz bomb begins to attract some gulls who are diving on the lure.

 

 

A Whale of a Row I am close to the Vancouver Maritime Museum Heritage Harbour.  I reel the line in.

 

 

A Whale of a Row Remains of a sailboat on the Heritage Harbour breakwater.  The boats came ashore during the windstorm (from the west) we had on September 20th 2015.  

 

 

A Whale of a Row More boat bits under water.

 A Whale of a Row On the breakwater.

 

 A Whale of a Row I row over boat debris.

 

A Whale of a Row A chunk of keel on the breakwater.

 

 

 

 

A Whale of a Row This is Oarlock & Sail’s newest build, Ragna, she is a Paul Gartside ‘Riff’ design.  They launched the Gartside Riff on May 23, 2015, from here at the Vancouver Maritime Museum Heritage Harbour dock. 

 

 

 

 A Whale of a Row Oarlock & Sail’s boats Raga, Sam Mac, Vogler and D’Arcy.

 

 

A Whale of a Row I do not know this boat.

 

 

 

A Whale of a Row The North Star of Herschel Island has been moored here for quite a while.

 

 

 

A Whale of a Row Sadly, this wooden vessel has a fiberglass dinghy.

 

 

 

A Whale of a Row Masts and rigging.

 

 

 

A Whale of a Row Her foremast.

 

 

 

 A Whale of a Row English Bay beach with Grouse Mountain behind.

 

 

 A Whale of a Row Northern Spray,.  I always wonder if her clinker planks are the same on both sides of her hull.  

 

 

 

A Whale of a Row Rowing into False Creek.

 

 

 

A Whale of a Row A barge is at the Kits boat launch.

 

 

A Whale of a Row A little tug is tied up to the new dock.  No name, just a registration number.  Kinda cute how this commercial vessel is tied up under the “No Commercial Vessels Permitted sign”.  

 

 

 

A Whale of a Row No name on the stern.  

 

 

 

A Whale of a Row The old dock has been removed and they are building a new one.  

 

 

A Whale of a Row Past the Burrard Street Bridge.

 

 

 

A Whale of a Row I turn the corner and pass Fisherman’s Wharf floats A, B, C, D, & E.

 

 

 

A Whale of a Row Flags show a slight Westerly.

 

 

 

A Whale of a Row End of the cove.  

 

 

A Whale of a Row I row out past the mega-yachts.

 

 

A Whale of a Row Under the Granville Street Bridge.

 

 

A Whale of a Row I row around the corner into Alder Bay.  No anchoring allowed.  One lap and I row back out again.  The wind is starting to pick up from the West and I figure that I should start home now.

 

 

A Whale of a Row Good-bye Burrard Street Bridge.

 

 

A Whale of a Row Sailboat wrecked at Sunset Beach Park.

 

 

 A Whale of a Row I  row around the wreck.  The water is pretty shallow.

 

 

 

A Whale of a RowI cannot tell is the hull is floating at all.  It may still be aground.

 

 

 

 

A Whale of a Row The boat is probably high and dry at low tide.

 

 

A Whale of a Row I continue along towards the Inukshuk.  

 

 

A Whale of a Row Another beached sailboat.  Looks like a San Juan 21.  Poor old Donegal Mist.

 

 

 A Whale of a Row I notice something off the bow of this sailboat.

 

A Whale of a RowIt is a grey whale.  In reading the news reports, they say that it does look to be the same individual that was in the area in August. 

 

 

 A Whale of a Row I take some more pictures.  They identify grey whales by the uniqueness of the barnacle growths on them.

 

 

 

A Whale of a Row The whale seems to be feeding in front of English Bay Beach.

 

 

A Whale of a RowGrey whales are often seen close to sandy shorelines because they dine on small marine invertebrates that they filter from sediment or sand on the ocean floor.  The Grey whale is  coming close to shore and scooping up mouthfuls of sediment and filtering that for his prey.

 A Whale of a Row The crowd is Whale Watching.  I row along the beach, in 5 to 10 feet of water to avoid the Grey Whale.

Whale of a Row gps 2

I do not want to disterb the Whale…or get run into by it.

 

 

A Whale of a Row The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American fishes, Whales & Dolphins says: “Gray Whales(Eschrichtius robustus), grub along the bottom for gammarid amphipods, the staple of their diet, and leave a cloud behind them as they move”.  

 

 

 

A Whale of a Row The Field Guide also states:  “Their spout is not distinctive”.

 

 

A Whale of a Row This is the Whale heading towards me.  

 

 

A Whale of a Row Diving down for a snack.

 

 A Whale of a Row Up again.

 

 

 A Whale of a Row A lot of this activity happened in front of the Boathouse.

 

Four shots of the Whale surfacing and then diving:

A Whale of a RowPicture one. A Whale of a Row Picture two.A Whale of a Row Picture three.A Whale of a Row Picture four.

 

 

A Whale of a Row Probably my best “spout” picture.

The rest of the row is uneventful, and I am back on the beach at Hollyburn Sailing Club by 3:00pm.  

GPS track of the row.  Six hours on the thwart.

Whale of a Row gps 1An unexpected treat, rowing by the Grey Whale.

Tee Shirt Chart finalfinalGood rowing,

Mike

1 Response to A Whale of a Row. October 4th, 2015.

  1. Lauree Gray says:

    Hello, your website and photos are tremdous! Thank you for your time effort and dedication to the sport of rowing.
    I am wondering if you would grant me permission to print 3 photos from your website for a friend’s birthday who has a passion for rowing and freighters. The photos are:
    Whale of a Row 20
    Whale of a Row 36
    Whale of a Row 38
    With your permission, I will have and 8 x 10 of each printed by London Drugs in Victoria BC but we require permission from you first.
    Thank you,
    Lauree Gray

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