Governor General calls federal election for Oct. 19 as campaigning begins
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The newspaper of record for Nanaimo and region since 1874 || Tuesday, August 4, 2015 POLITICS
Life on the Sea
MLA will represent country on track
Ontario-raised Hans Bongarts is helping fill a summer niche in Nanaimo as a captain of a local catamaran touring business
ROSS ARMOUR DAILY NEWS
Parksville-Qualicum MLA Michelle Stilwell has been selected to represent Canada at the 2015 Parapan Am Games in Toronto, an experience she says will be the highlight of her athletics career. The Minister of Social Development and Social Innovation will compete in the 100-metre on Aug. 10 and the 400 on Aug. 11 and is one of 37 athletes from B.C. who have been selected by Athletics Canada and the Canadian Paralympic Committee for the national team. Stilwell currently holds the world record for the T52 100 and 200 races. She won gold in the 200 at the London 2012 Paralympic Games as well as silver in the 100m and also won double gold for those events at the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing. She won the same double gold at the 2013 IPC World Championships in Lyon. Stilwell was also part of the Canadian women’s wheelchair basketball team that won the gold medal at the 2000 Paralympic Games in Sydney. But this year’s Parapan Ams will mark the first time she has competed at a major international competition on home soil. Stilwell says it’s always an honour to wear the Maple Leaf and represent her country and is excited to compete in front of her fellow Canadians. “Right now I’m training sixdays-a-week,” she said. “I get up really early in the morning to do my training. “I train with my rollers in my garage and at my office in Victoria.” Athletes in the T52 class have limitations in both their lower and upper limbs. Stilwell also acknowledged all the coaches, trainers, physiotherapists and officials who will join her in Toronto, and said that “the contributions and hours these people dedicate cannot be measured.” The MLA will take a seven-day work vacation from politics to attend the Games.
Hans Bongarts and his sailboat ‘Shadowfax’ have taken a variety of clients around the harbour. [AARON HINKS/DAILY NEWS]
Catamaran captain has always been drawn to the ocean
JULIE CHADWICK DAILY NEWS
T
hough he’s worked as a teacher, an acupuncturist and a laser therapist, something about the ocean keeps drawing Hans Bongarts back to the sea. The son of a tobacco farmer, Bongarts immigrated to Canada from West Germany when he was five. Though most of his childhood was spent far away from the sea on the family farm in Ontario, by the time he was in his 20s he managed to learn how to sail on Lake Huron. Now a captain with a local catamaran touring business, the unlikely ocean-farer plans to spent the latter part of his life on the water as much as possible — and he’s taking others along for the ride. “It’s magic, it’s just magic,” he
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said. When he first arrived on the cross-legged and greeted me,” West Coast he moved to Victoria, Bongarts said. “Afterward he and became so enamoured with blessed me, and blessed the boat.” the pickle boats there that he Though his business, Vancouworked on them for four years. ver Island Catamaran Sailing, has While living in a float home, he only been operational for a year, felt driven to emblazon the side Bongarts says he’s had his fair of it with a 34-foot long share of adventure with motto of how he views bachelor parties, excurlife on the sea: “Like sions to the fireworks earth know balance, like and musicians who want wind fly free, like fire be to be taken out into the alive, like water feel at water so they can play peace.” music. Apparently, he’s “Voodoo Dave and his not alone in these group were on here. sentiments. It was like magic” he On Wednesday, he said of having 12 people Julie took a “famous buddhist drumming on the monk” and his entourage Chadwick 18-foot-wide boat. Reporting (he’s reluctant to reveal “We were cruising who, for safety reasons) around and people out on a tour around were clapping and Newcastle Island, somestanding up giving us the thing he describes as a moving thumbs-up.” experience. Custom-built by marine engin“He sat there in his brown robe, eer Derek Kelsall of Kelsall’s
Catamarans out of New Zealand, the boat — called Shadowfax — took ten years to complete. “I had done sailing charters in Victoria about eight to 10 years ago and it was just a regular sailboat. But when I saw the width of this I realized it was perfect to take people out,” said Bongarts, ruffling the fur of Kodi, a Portuguese Water Dog he affectionately refers to as his “admiral.” Though he winters in California and Texas, Bongarts says he hopes to continue filling a summer niche in Nanaimo by offering his unique boat tours. Julie.Chadwick @nanaimodailynews.com 250-729-4238 » We want to hear from you. Send comments on this story to letters@nanaimodailynews.com. Letters must include daytime phone number and hometown.
Raiders squeak by Westshore Rebels
Students aim to make puck for blind players
The Vancouver Island Raiders were forced to play without their starting quarterback but still moved to 2-0 on the season with a 23-21 victory Saturday in Langford. » Sports, B1
A group of students at Sheridan College are attempting to be the ones who design a hockey puck that uses noise to allow blind people to play the game. » Nation & World, A8
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