The Art of Ralph Eastland
2466 Seine rd V9L 4H9 Duncan, BC, Canada

The Story of Ralph #104 On January 5th we left April Point marina and moved to the Discovery Marina by the ferry wharf in Campbell River. It was quite the change as we were more exposed to weather but had access to shopping and didn’t have to take the ferry. I had some time for painting and did some commissioned paintings as well as painting images from our travels. By the middle of the month we had settled into our new location, but there was a screaming southeaster mid Janu...ary with high tides so the waves broke over the riprap on the foreshore and the breakwater and overturned the concrete picnic tables in the park. Although we were safe behind the breakwater, we even had sand on our deck. It took a few months for the city to fix all the damage to the foreshore and the park. I had started a job finishing the interior of a steel hulled troller that was being built south of Campbell River and also did a commissioned painting of the owner’s previous boat Kirstie Janter. He paid me for doing the work on the boat but never did pay for the painting. The maintenance and upgrading of Nevermore’s systems was ongoing and in February I installed a battery charger that used the shore power. In mid March the coast guard traced interference on their radio to the charger so they told me I couldn’t use it but they lent me one of theirs. I guess it paid off that I had helped them solve a problem on the coast guard vessel Race Rocks when I was working at the Boat Works in Q. Cove so they knew me. I eventually built my own shore power charger and returned the borrowed one. I started working on boats at the government wharf after the interior finishing job and we spent the first part of 1985 working and doing maintenance on Nevermore. I sent the anchor winch off to be repaired but when I reinstalled it it didn’t work at all, so I sent it back again. It seemed like there was always something breaking down but we kept it all going and even installed a TV antenna so we had more entertainment possibilities in addition to the cassette tape player, the radio and the VHS radio. The 12 inch TV was okay but the reception wasn’t great so we didn’t spend a lot of time watching. We liked to listen to CBC radio plays like The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe and other such things. We also bought an Inflatable and an outboard so we could get places when we were anchored since the dingy was pretty small and not a very effective means of transportation. We added a few more conveniences to make living aboard more comfortable and at the end of June with the anchor winch reinstalled and working and all other preparations done we were ready to go on our next adventure. #woodcutprintmaker #marineart #localartist #painter #canadianartist See more

The story of Ralph #103 At some point during our travels Debbie decided to write a couple of articles that she called Cruising With Kids. She submitted them to Pacific Yachting magazine but they rejected the articles and sent them back. She was disappointed with the rejection and didn’t try any other magazines. Imagine our surprise when the articles appeared in the magazine under the name of one of their editorial staff later that year. I think she had the audacity to even...Continue reading

The Story of Ralph #102 July 30th proved to be an adventurous day. The engine was misbehaving as it was difficult to start and kept stopping. Once we had that somewhat sorted, at least the engine was running we hauled up the anchor by hand as the manually operated winch was not working. The engine stopped again so we dropped the anchor back down and worked on that problem again. Hauled up the anchor by hand again and headed out into the Inlet only to discover a heavy fog bank...Continue reading

The Story of Ralph #101 The anchors held okay so we had a quiet night and hauled anchor in the morning and continued our voyage. There was not much sky as a low overcast kept even the mountains shrouded when we left our anchorage in light wind. We put out a fishing line to see if we might catch a salmon and sure enough a small spring salmon took the bait around 10 am. The down rigger didn’t release so there was a bit of a panic but we managed to bring it aboard. By the time w...Continue reading

TheStory of Ralph #100 Port Hardy was a short haul in the morning and we tied up at the government Wharf. The diesel stove was acting up so I fixed that and we went grocery shopping. Overwaitea was a pleasant surprise as they delivered us and our groceries to the wharf for free. So grocered up and ready to go we left Port Hardy at 6:45 the next morning in the rain with a calm sea. By 9:45 the wind had come up to Force 3 and the sea was about 3 feet swells. By 11:00 the wind w...as up to Force 4 and the swells were much larger but we went around Boyles Point and into Wells Passage so the sea conditions eased somewhat. Shortly after a police boat went close by at top speed. Those police boats are what we refer to as dig em deep boats. They achieve their speed by digging a deep trough in the water and generating large waves. Not a very pleasant experience to be tossed about violently by their wake. We anchored that afternoon in Tracy Harbour. This part of the coast is a maze of islands and channels with strong currents and inlets that cut deeply into the mountains. Spectacular scenery and abundant wildlife seem to greet you around each corner. Occasionally one encounters a bay where there is a small community like Sullivan Bay. A few floating buildings and a store and fuel dock as well as some yachts tied to the floats. It looked busy so we continued on without stopping and anchored in Cypress Harbour and set the prawn trap. Next day was my birthday and it turned out sunny and warm. We got to do some tanning on deck and enjoy the warm weather. Theresa and I went fishing in the dingy. We caught some rock cod and prawns and had them and a chocolate cake with cherries and cream for a birthday celebration dinner. There hadn’t been much summer weather during our voyage so this was a welcome change and we decided to go for a swim. The surface was warm brackish water which was the result of outflow from Kingcome Inlet. The colour was green and somewhat milky. The first four feet of water was quite warm but it was very cold below that so it was definitely necessary to stay horizontal, but we enjoyed our swim. When we left Cypress Cove on the 24th we went into Echo Bay where there was a store and fuel dock. The wharf was crowded but we managed to raft alongside another boat at the store. Groceries were pretty dear so we bought one loaf of bread at $2.35 and some ice creams and mailed a post card then left after an hour. Shoal Harbour was the night's anchorage and since we were still having the anchor dragging problem we dropped two anchors to see if that would hold us better. See more