Prince Rupert Peel off and National Geographic

Early this morning while Ed was working on our boat, Magic Carpet, a young guy, from a sailboat moored near us, brought Ed a letter and business cards from a couple of gents who identified themselves as being a writer and photographer sponsored and employed by NatGeo.

The men; Paul Salopek National Geographic Explorer and Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and; John Stanmeyer an National Georgraphic Explorer, award-winning photographer, film maker and educator.

Paul is doing a trek of the world called Out of Eden Walk. He started at the birth place of human kind's ancestors in Africa and has been treking in the route the first ancestors walked out of Africa. His intended route was altered due to the Russian Invasion of the Ukraine and the prolonged war. John has been joining him along the way to photograph and film him "while walking backward."

He is going to be doing, as part of his global trek. A journey walking and paddeling from Alaska to Tierra de Fuego, Chile to complete the journey. He came by cargo ship from Japan, arriving in Prince Rupert yesterday and set about finding a ride to Anchorage Alaska.

He had spoken with the manager of the, Cow Bay Marina, Robin, and Prince Rupert Rowing and Yacht Club, Kevin, who told them about us. As he was telling us his tale, Ed and I looked at each other, communicating that we were willing to get him back to the United States and Ketchikan, Alaska from where he could travel by ferry to Anchorage to start he journey through the Americas to Tierra del Fuego. We introduced them to the rest of our crew and invited them to dine with the members of our IPBA, ICR flotilla but were unable join us due to deadlines they had to meet.

Paul like me was raised outside of the United States and has traveled extensively. It will be interesting talking with him as we journey together to Ketchikan. You can read more about his journey at Https://outofedenwalk.nationalgeographic.org. They will join our crew tomorrow at 530 am for an anticipated departure from Prince Rupert Rowing and Yacht Club at 6 am.

Our flotilla had reservation for Breakers Pub at 5 pm, for the IPBA ICR PEEL OFF, that was suddenly cancelled due to a power failure that involve the northern half of British Columbia. We were able to secure a reservation to the Waterfront Restaurant. We trekked up the hill to the Crest Hotel's dining room the Waterfront Restaurant. Shortly after we arrived, the power came on. The food, in my opinion, was great! I probably could have gotten by with not eating the Ciabatta bread of my Cajun Style Chicken sandwich... what the heck, I am on vacation. I am always on vacation since I retired from work 6 years ago. I digress.

The view from the restaurant is breath taking. The restaurant is set up like a dinner theater with seats tables on different levels to afford an uninterruped view of the waterfront. The main attraction of the view was a bald eagle sitting at essentially eye level with the diners.

For us boaters, also the view of the marinas down below where all the vessels of our small flotilla are moored.

View of marinas and bald eagle from the Waterfront Restaurant, Crest Hotel, Prince Rupert, BC courtesy of James Anderson, M/V Fidalgo. .

Last night as I walkd home from the town theater, which is closing this weekend, I noted a boat in a fenced off pavilion with japanese carvings and paint. It peaked my interes but not enough to deter me from going back to my boat and my dogs. Tonight, however, I took the time to lood at this exhibit and I am thankful I did. Please read the inscription I scanned from the placard at the monument.

The inscription on the placard at the KAZU MARU. Please forgive the scan errors.

Kazu Maru at the Pacific Mariners Park, Prince Rupert, BC

The Peel Off... the rookies took first place in the first and second sections of leg 5 AK 2025. Our best time was an error of 1 second for the first segment of the leg and -9 seconds for the second segment of the leg. We won, the rookies took it! Admittedly, we selected the right weather window and fortunately did not have any mechanical mishaps that slowed us down (BREAD AND BUTTER). We have three more legs to go, or six segments. One vessel of our flotilla has returned home, they planned on completing the first have of the ICR and did well. We hope to continue to improve and perhaps win the total race with a respectable 2nd place. Right now for the combined South Section of the ICR and the North Section of the ICR the difference between us, third place 0.937% error and the second place team 0.919% error is less then 2 one hundreth of a percent.... less time than it takes to blink! MOST IMPROVED award for us! Yay!