[ Vancouver Island trip #59, FINAL PHOTO. ]
(This series begins here: <A HREF="http://www.fotolog.net/arnoo/?photo_id=1133319" TARGET=_top>http://www.fotolog.net/arnoo/?photo_id=1133319</A>)
At the award deremony the next day, Mike was nowhere to be seen. Kim and I sat together and made pleasant small talk, carefully avoiding any discussion of the dramas in Dodd Narrows the night before. We were awarded our pennants from the leg victory into Victoria, but our failure to finish the last leg into Nanaimo cost us any chance of an overall result.
Whilst Kim was obviously disappointed, I could sense his bulldog determination planning a comeback. He was a tough old boot - he had recently overcome cancer and is a recovered alcoholic, so I had no doubt he would put this race behind him and bounce back. Our parting later that day was polite but slightly awkward, and we have remained in only the scantest contact since.
When I returned to Australia, I found that my life had changed. Whereas I had been deeply content before the race, I found myself restless again, and it took time to exorcise the feelings suppressed from those two weeks onboard "Cheekee Monkee". I resolved that in future adventures I would be my own skipper, and that manifested a year later through my paddling trip down the River Murray (<A HREF="http://www.fotolog.net/arnoo/?photo_id=337888" TARGET=_top>http://www.fotolog.net/arnoo/?photo_id=337888</A>).
Kim did indeed make a comeback, and he won this year`s race convincingly. I followed the race via the website and was genuinely thrilled at Kim`s success. It was an eventful race, and the three time winner "Redshift" capsized dramatically near Victoria(<A HREF="http://www.vanisle360.com/2003legs/leg9/" TARGET=_top>http://www.vanisle360.com/2003legs/leg9/</A>). No doubt she too will bounce back, so next year`s race is set to be a classic.
So, that`s it. Another adventure fotologged.
~
On November 13 2003
28 Views
morochopornstar
On 28/05/2008
eaa hola kmo va?,che effeamos?avisame si?cuando puedas pasate,beso te espero\"
braussie
On 04/03/2006
Hey ArnooIt was great seeing some of your photos!Hope you are having a great year and a great life wherever you are :)Cheers and hopefully you'll be back sometime to share some more of your adventures with us all:))
the_nannish_one
On 27/11/2003
What a tale! You`ve given us as close a look at this wondrous journey as anyone could, with brilliant photographs and riveting narrative. I feel as tho I`ve done it myself, and surely more so than any book could give me. Three cheers for a fantastic job of storytelling, Arnoo! And, er, where do we go next, eh?
colorstalker
On 22/11/2003
Arnoo, Thanks for all your kind comments. It could have been the same Mark, I guess. He was a neighbor, not a real close friend so we didn`t stay in touch after I left Mendocino in 1981. I didn`t go back for many years & he didn`t seem to be around any more. Good guy. Very competent. I always figured he`d end up an engineer or a scientist of some kind. BTW thanks for your post about that pic of Kyla you liked so much. I decided I like it that much too. I`m going to end the portrait series with 2 of her &that`s one of them. Take care.
cork
On 19/11/2003
My goodness....when you decide to do something you really do it big time! Adelaide to Brisbane? That is a long way, but what a great idea! I have only done two cycling tours. The first was in far north queensland. I flew to Cairns and spent 2 monthscycling (and scuba diving) and seeing the sights. I ended up in Brisbane but between Townsville and Bundaberg I took the bus, stopping off at Prosperpine and Rockhampton on the way. My second trip was from Perth to Albany around the coastline, but I only had about 3 weeks to do that in...I preferred my first trip where I didn`t have a timetable and if I liked a place I could just stay longer, but both were great trips. :-)I need new panniers....mine are so old and have holes in them that they are pretty close to useless now.
cork
On 18/11/2003
WOW...I can really understand coming home and being unsettled after that. I saw your kayaking photographs ages and ages ago, before I had my own Fotolog, and was impressed. That really is the sort of thing I would do, though I`ve only started kayaking recently (I`ve done silly things like bicycle touring on my own). Thanks for the tips you`ve given in your recent comments too, I appreciate them. I haven`t yet hired a kayak from Spit Bridge (though it is something I`ve wanted to do for ages) but on Saturday when I was at Manly I saw other people on kayaks and it really made me want to go kayaking again. I have been waiting until next year to really get involved in such things because I`ve found working and studying for the last two years has given mevery little time to do anything else. So what`s the next adventure to be fotologged?? :-)
tomswift46
On 18/11/2003
It`s funny. I sent your kayaking trip foto to my wife so she could look at the series at work . She loves to kayak. We were in Vancouver,BC after Seattle(where she was born) in August 2001. Took the ferry from Anacortes. We saw the Olympic peninsula. Cool trip.Thanks. I`ll add you to my f/f.
hopsmaltyeast
On 17/11/2003
Outstanding photos and story, Arnoo. Cheers to you and thanks for the effort to put this and the Murray River series together. Great fun. And some dang inspirational photographs. You have a true talent for both photography and stories.
hopsmaltyeast
On 17/11/2003
Outstanding photos and story, Arnoo. Cheers to you and thanks for the effort to put this and the Murray River series together. Great fun. And some dang inspirational photographs. You have a true talent for both photography and stories.
mr_worker
On 17/11/2003
g`day arnoo .. i`ve been busy tying things up so excuse my tardy reply. off to india! first time offshore and i`m jumping in the deep end ... and why not, eh? back in a month, will probably have to go goldcam to show all my pics. yippee! and i`m away : )
mseidman
On 15/11/2003
Fotolog? Travelogue? Adventure tale? Ain`t it grand when it all comes together? And I particularly appreciate the ending, that sense of restlessness...know it all to well, though my resolutions are far different.Thanks for your visit to my flog and your comments. Very much appreciated by this landlubber.
stevpete
On 14/11/2003
Great story, Arnoo. And thks for your visit to my log. Yes, you are correct, this area bears a resemblence to some parts of Austrailia. I visited Perth whilst a Submariner in the U.S. Navy, and it reminded me of home.
holger@wownet.net
On 14/11/2003
Sounds like a damn good adventure to me! :-) Although I am more of a cruising yachtie, I have sailed on two racing boats. One, a 12m aluminum monohull with retractable keels and on another one, a big racing tri with wingmast and all. Exhilarating, to say the least. <A HREF="http://www.wownet.net/~holger/" TARGET=_top>http://www.wownet.net/~holger/</A>
mr_walker
On 14/11/2003
mate, your stories make me realise how little i`ve been living my life outside my little circles ... or maybe i`m just much more reticent to explain my adventures in such detail ; )thanks for another tale of odyssey, and all its drama ... i was biting my nails for a bit there!(and - you`re coming to sydney soon? wouldn`t you know it, that`s just when i`ll be *out of town for a while! first time in ten bloody years! ahh, mr murphy and his legal mumbo-jumbo ... would`ve been nice to catch up for a few beers. oh well, hopefully i`ll have some stories to match yours when i return : )
citric
This is a public fotolog for all citric colours: yellows, oranges and light greens. Please, no artificially colored or Copyrighted images. Those may be deleted because they do not fit *CITRIC*`s proposal. :)
![[ Vancouver Island trip #59, FINAL PHOTO. ]
<BR>
<BR>(This series begins here: <A HREF="http://www.fotolog.net/arnoo/?photo_id=1133319" TARGET=_top>http://www.fotolog.net/arnoo/?photo_id=1133319</A>)
<BR>
<BR>At the award deremony the next day, Mike was nowhere to be seen. Kim and I sat together and made pleasant small talk, carefully avoiding any discussion of the dramas in Dodd Narrows the night before. We were awarded our pennants from the leg victory into Victoria, but our failure to finish the last leg into Nanaimo cost us any chance of an overall result.
<BR>
<BR>Whilst Kim was obviously disappointed, I could sense his bulldog determination planning a comeback. He was a tough old boot - he had recently overcome cancer and is a recovered alcoholic, so I had no doubt he would put this race behind him and bounce back. Our parting later that day was polite but slightly awkward, and we have remained in only the scantest contact since.
<BR>
<BR>When I returned to Australia, I found that my life had changed. Whereas I had been deeply content before the race, I found myself restless again, and it took time to exorcise the feelings suppressed from those two weeks onboard "Cheekee Monkee". I resolved that in future adventures I would be my own skipper, and that manifested a year later through my paddling trip down the River Murray (<A HREF="http://www.fotolog.net/arnoo/?photo_id=337888" TARGET=_top>http://www.fotolog.net/arnoo/?photo_id=337888</A>).
<BR>
<BR>Kim did indeed make a comeback, and he won this year`s race convincingly. I followed the race via the website and was genuinely thrilled at Kim`s success. It was an eventful race, and the three time winner "Redshift" capsized dramatically near Victoria(<A HREF="http://www.vanisle360.com/2003legs/leg9/" TARGET=_top>http://www.vanisle360.com/2003legs/leg9/</A>). No doubt she too will bounce back, so next year`s race is set to be a classic.
<BR>
<BR>So, that`s it. Another adventure fotologged.
<BR>
<BR>~ - Fotolog](http://sp5.fotolog.com/photo/21/3/89/arnoo/1068771684_f.jpg)
