[Public-List] Main Sail Track Fastening

[Gordon Laco]

The 'Lighthouse' story is one of the best might-haves in our life.

On a quiet evening years ago at the Toronto Int'l Boat Show I struck  
up a conversation with the guy manning the Coast Guard booth beside  
mine.  It turned out that he was the Director of Aids to Nav for  
Central Canada.  He described his astonishment that they could still  
recruit people to man lighthouses on remote parts of the west coast.   
I went home that night and described this to my new wife; and she as  
usual was a bad influence on me and said 'let's try!'.

I applied and as expected got a letter right back telling me the  
chances of being considered were slim.   A few months later out of the  
blue I got another letter giving me three days notice to get to  
Victoria for an interview.   Away I went got interviewed.  Later, I  
was told I was 'hired' and that I should stand by for my posting.   I  
called and asked if they wanted to interview Caroline... the deal was  
that I would command a salary as Lightkeeper and she would earn a  
smaller one as Assistant.   The CCG man told me with a deep voice  
"Gordon, we of the Canadian Lightkeeping service have been appointing  
Keepers for over 100 years.  We have come to trust our choice of men;  
we trust their choice in assistants'.  I said 'Thanks'.

My Dad was not very happy about my career choice.  He asked me what I  
thought I was going to do out there.  My half joking comment about  
having a lot of time to chase Caroline around the island did not  
mitigate his feeling that I was side tracking.   Seriously, we  
reckoned we'd do it for a couple of years saving money and have some  
adventure at the same time.  The pay was not huge but there were  
isolation benefits that made the pay nearly tax free.  We had no  
obligations then so we would have been able to bank most of every  
month's joint pay.

The months passed, every time I spoke with the CCG office there was  
some reason or another why our posting might come next month.  More  
months passed.  Eventually we gave up, after two years of 'maybe next  
month' we bought our house and started our first child.   We moved in  
the house in January of '89.    In March, the firm posting came.    Oh  
the agony...should we go or not?   After a week of discussion and  
investigating various plans we decided that with the baby coming we  
could not do it.  I wrote a long letter to the Coast Guard explaining  
and they were good enough to respond saying they understood and  
offered to keep us on the list.  Our names came up again but the  
window of opportunity for us to hide on a rocky point for a couple of  
years had passed.

That's the light house story - now where is the Irish whiskey?

Gord



On 20-Oct-09, at 9:51 AM, Roger L. Kingsland wrote:

> Gord,
>
> Is there anything you haven't done?  Count me in to buy your  
> autobiography.
>
> Roger 148
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: public-list-bounces at lists.alberg30.org
> [mailto:public-list-bounces at lists.alberg30.org] On Behalf Of Gordon  
> Laco
> Sent: Tuesday, October 20, 2009 7:25 AM
> To: Alberg 30 Public List -- open to all
> Subject: Re: [Public-List] Main Sail Track Fastening
>
> You live in a very beautiful part of the world!  My wife and I were
> appointed lightkeepers years ago and would have been posted to Leonard
> Island off Tofino; then Nootka after training.  We didn't make it  
> out there,
> that is a long story best told over Irish whiskey in a cockpit.
>
> Gord
>
>
>
> On 20-Oct-09, at 12:04 AM, Michael Taylor wrote:
>
>> Hi Gord,
>>
>> I am in Gold River.  A small community of about 1200 people about 5
>> hrs drive North of Victoria.  Bit far for a quick visit.  We are  
>> close
>> to the West Coast - hence the refit of the Alberg.  The boat is just
>> off the back verandah. Couldn't get it inside.
>>
>> Mick
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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