shop | Chantal Ireland

Victoria, BC, Canadacraft@chantalireland.com

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His first day of a holiday block, starting off with coffee in the place we met.. dropping my car for some window tint, and after client work today.. boat drinks. Hope you find time for quiet moments too.

It’s a beautiful morning to bring the boat around back to her home port in Oak Bay. The reciprocal stay at North Saanich Marina is a helpful benefit of moorage at any other Oak Bay Marine Group marina. I wish we’d gotten to see the undoubtably cute sea otter who left paw prints in the cockpit though.

Well it was another big day around here. I bought my first car today! Like, no parents, no boyfriend co-signing my lease (thanks babe!), just me, signing on the dotted line, getting new @yourbcparks plates (with his initials?!), a full day of service and booking some tint to be installed. My lease buyout is actually less than the current selling price so, I’ll keep it another year and consider selling it next Spring.

It must be some sort of passage into independent womanhood? She spent the last two months as a mobile boat work shed — we let his insurance lapse to share my car, and save some money, and now she’s cleaned out and ready for some spring road trips. Grand Canyon or bust this Fall!

And now, to add a few more writing and sales clients on the roster for the year and book up our last Airbnb openings because damn this was an expensive week. 🤣

Thanks to Matt, Brad and Michelle for your help today. Nice to get a bike ride and @chinatownvillage lunch in while we waited.

After 54 days in the boatyard.. two haul outs (the thru-hulls were leaking when we went back in the water the first time), and a few days at the dock, we left today.
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Just around the corner (we’ll sail from Sidney to Oak Bay Thursday) to North Saanich Marina for a couple of nights, but we left.
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In those 54 days we brought the mast and boom home and painted it white, added new standing and running rigging, new lines, bottom paint, new lifelines, new rear stainless rails, wind instruments, lights, wiring, steering and engine work, countless inspections and adjustments, and a fresh coat of wax.
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We could not have had better service from Brent and his crew, Paul, Serge, Matt and others at Blackline Marine and we’re now proud owners of the most expensive free tshirts we’ve ever owned. Rich is already wearing his and daydreaming about a retirement job. But Serge actually took the shirt off his back when they lifted the mast out, so our furler (rolls up the front sail) didn’t bang into the mast, so maybe we should be giving him a new shirt.
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The company culture is the most professional I’ve ever seen when working with trades or nearly anyone really. And it wasn’t just the first week. We spent 54 days with them. A model in leadership, team and customer communication, education and selling based on needs and skill level of your clients, absolutely unmatched in any organization I’ve had a long cycle buying relationship with. Bravo boys. Bravo.
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It was a lesson in every corner, every system, topside and bottom, and every inch of the 1985 32’ Ericson we’ve officially declared is the boat we’ll take the leap on. This summer, costal BC, next Spring, Alaska. If all goes well, Fall 2020, somewhere south of the 22nd parallel, 2300 nautical miles south to the tip of the Baja Peninsula and possibly beyond.
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Or, you know, until we need another 6 feet for bikes, tools, surfboards, a vegetable garden, swim grid and room for more guests.
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Leap. Serve. Start.

As much as I love to travel, a weekend at home mostly alone while he’s working — watching the garden, loving the light, spring cleaning and yes, travel research, is a spectacular place to be. Gearing up to be away for the summer, welcoming our first @airbnb guests and what was once talks of far off travel has become planning for a few years of travel and adventures to come.

Last night we gathered with his BC Ambulance colleagues to honour and celebrate ten retirements, including his own later this summer.
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Together these ten Emergency Medical Dispatchers, Advanced Life Support Paramedics, Unit Chiefs and Primary Care Paramedics, Infant Transport Team and more, mark 298 years of service to the people of British Columbia. Many of them will continue to add to that with new part-time roles as well.
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There were some wonderful speeches but a woman who got up and simply said “298 years.. I ask you to just think about how many lives they’ve saved.” may have said it best of all.
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It is an honour to walk beside him these past six years and make plans for the next chapter.
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Thank you to everyone in the building, and emergency services around the world. You are loved.

Made with coffee in Victoria, BC. All photos and content © Chantal Ireland.
I work for money, not exposure. People die of exposure. My camera wasn't cheap. Write your own shit.

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