Wednesday August 27, 2014

Wednesday August 27 dog walk on the nearby pee island, then we lift the Ravens aboard. We retrieve are rode and with the familiar clink clink clink of the chain coming aboard we are soon under way through the crowded anchorage. Destination is Vananda Bay which is on the east side of Texada Island. We hope to meet are good old friend Doby and Gail. As it turns out he is on the ferry over to Powel River to visit Gail (his wife) who has been in the hospital for several months. She is a gallant lady who has had to fight a tough battle for a number of years. We meet up with Doby at the local pub up the hill (walk all he way up hill). He had to leave his precious little black Mercedes on the dark side (Powel River) to meet with us. We don’t know how he is going to get over to Powell River to pick up his car. He picks up his phone and texts a friend who will pick him up and fly him over to Powell River as a favour (ten min flight).

 Old Mines on Texada

Doby's Studio

Doby and Gail have been on Texada for about nine years and they are a perfect match with the island folk. He opened a local art studio where his passion for painting aircraft and cars on canvas has led him to other aspects of his art. We had worked together on many restaurants. Him being an airbrush artist and later the builder of half scale models of the P 51 aircraft.  (That’s the one famous shark’s teeth that flew in Burma during the Second World War.) He once built a half size B 59 bomber aircraft that was to be crashed into a casino roof in Washington as part of their trade mark for a client of mine.  He also created electronic art for many restaurants.

As part of the interior decor pieces he built a large sculpture of the Edmund Fitzgerald as a main decor piece. The real vessel was launched just down the river from this restaurant and now resides at the bottom of Lake Michigan. He also supervised one of the longest and tallest wall murals in the world in Mexico for my client.



Doby & Friends Aircraft for Space Camp

 

Doby & Dave In Simulator

He has been responsible for the once a year fly-in of small aircraft to this island that is becoming hugely popular with small aircraft owners from near and far flung locations. His latest project along with other very enthusiastic Texada (this is an island off the mainland of BC) Island residents who have created a flight simulator for the young and the young at heart. This is made from a salvaged air frame of a real aircraft and has the feel of the real thing. They are calling it Space School and it is on a tandem trailer and they are taking it to shopping centres to excite young people in the thrill of flying an aircraft and being around aircraft as a life ambition. They have managed to excite sponsors to donate to the construction and continued upgrade of this wonder as a young people’s learning tool.

I sat in the co-pilots seat and Doby took over the start-up of the aircraft and the flight. There are all the controllers for the real thing. Ignition keys, air craft brakes, flaps, real instruments ,radios,  control stick, foot pedals with wheel breaks on them, fans to give air motion in the cockpit and TWO LARGE FLAT SCREEN MONITORS THAT ARE FLIGHT SIMULATORS WITH A REAL TIME SOUND SYSTEM THAT GIVES FLIGHT CHATTER AND ENGINE NOISES. They have programed it to take off on the Texada Airport with a landing at the Airport in Powell River.

Just Too Much Fun!

Now the only criticism I have is on the landing at Powell River. Doby landed with one wheel on the grass and the other on the tarmac. Had this been the real thing “DOT” would have sure been visiting him promptly. The other thing he did was buzz the aircraft carrier USN “Nimitz” (the largest nuke ship in the world).  The captain would surly have put him in irons for this stunt and notified the Canadian Consul General, BAD DOBY!!   BUT A VERY GOOD DOBY AND HIS FRIENDS FOR DOING THIS GOOD STUFF for all that your magic touch will come back in spades.

We come back to OA for steaks and libation. Penny did a marvellous dinner and the dog got walked just a little bit. Penny and I want to come here for the fly-in next year. It will be great fun to see the maestros in full flight. Our thoughts are with Doby and Gail, hoping she will have a turn for the best.