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Soviet Yachtsmen Visit the Tilikum At the Maritime Museum of British Columbia
by John MacFarlane 2021
Soviet Yachtsmen From Nadhodka (near Vladivostok Russia). From left to right Dima Yermakov, Nikolai Kritsky, Vasily Demyaninko, Volodya Kondraskin, and Sasha Tuzovsky. (Photo from the John MacFarlane collection.)
In the early summer of 1988 I had a surprise visit at the Maritime Museum of British Columbia at the old venue on Bastion Square. My memory of it is hazy now 33 years later but reminds us of the international reverence felt for the amazing dugout canoe Tilikum. I have often mentioned this visit when describing the significance of the Tilikum and her voyage to London by Captain John Voss.
Yacht racing was being to gain popularity in the old USSR, at that time, through sailing clubs and sailing schools. The crew that arrived in Victoria from Siberia worked with dependents and employees of a state–owned fishing company who had been chosen as instructors as a reward for dedication and hard work for the company.
They voyaged to Victoria from Siberia to participate in the Swiftsure Race. Their 13.1 metre sloop, the Kapitan Panaev, were unfortunately involved in a collision with the sloop Omega. Both vessels suffered internal damage and had to withdraw from the race only 20 minutes into the start. Captain Viktor Bukhalsky lodged a protest but I did not record the outcome of the decision of the protest committee.
With extra time on their hands the crew walked up to the Museum and asked to see the Tilikum. They donated a Russian‐language copy of the translated book originally published in Japan by Captain John Voss. It is now in the library collection of the Maritime Museum of British Columbia. The crew indicated that the book was then very popular in the USSR and eastern Europe.
The Tilikum is the single most significant asset in the collection of the Museum and is the focus of interest from around the globe. It is now hidden from public view in a warehouse at Ogden Point, inaccessible to the public. Victoria can and should do better in presenting and interpreting this symbol of First Nations technology coupled with the unstoppable drive of Captain Voss in his three year voyage.
To quote from this article please cite:
MacFarlane, John (2021) Soviet Yachtsmen Visit the Tilikum At the Maritime Museum of British Columbia. Nauticapedia.ca 2020. http://nauticapedia.ca/Gallery/Soviet_Yachtsmen.php
Site News: November 2, 2024
The vessel database has been updated and is now holding 94,538 vessel histories (with 16,140 images and 13,887 records of ship wrecks and marine disasters). The mariner and naval biography database has also been updated and now contains 58,599 entries (with 3989 images). Vessel records are currently being reviewed and updated with more than 35,000 processed so far this year.
Thanks to contributor Mike Rydqvist McCammon for the hundreds of photos he has contributed to illustrate British Columbia's floating heritage.
My very special thanks to our volunteer IT adviser, John Eyre, who (since 2021) has modernized, simplified and improved the update process for the databases into semi–automated processes. His participation has been vital to keeping the Nauticapedia available to our netizens.
Also my special thanks to my volunteer content accuracy checker, John Spivey of Irvine CA USA, who continues (almost every day) to proof read thousands of Nauticapedia vessel histories and provided input to improve more than 14,000 entries. His attention to detail has been a huge unexpected bonus in improving and updating the vessel detail content.