Victoria Island Explorer

DAVID G. SELLARS ON THE WATERFRONT: MV Coho-sized private yacht visits Port ...

She was the talk of the town for a while Friday afternoon.

Attessa IV, which by any measure is one of the largest yachts in the world, dropped her anchor off City Pier in Port Angeles, not far from this weekend’s beachfront Arts in Action festival.

She is owned by Dennis Washington, 76, a self-made Missoula, Mont.-based billionaire industrialist and philanthropist who has controlling interests in a large consortium of privately held construction, mining and engineering companies in the U.S. and Canada.

With an estimated current net worth of around $4.2 billion, he is ranked by Forbes magazine as the 58th-richest person in America.

To give some perspective to the yacht’s size, the MV Coho, which makes daily runs between Port Angeles and Victoria, is a mere 9 feet longer than the 332-foot Attessa IV.

And the Coho can carry up to 115 cars and trucks and has space for 1,000 passengers.

The Attessa IV’s use of its capacity is stunning.

Attessa IV was launched in 1999 as Evergreen and was originally built for Chang Yung-fa, who is the chairman of the container shipping company, Evergreen Corp.

Washington purchased the yacht in early 2007.

He has spent the ensuing years rebuilding her at the North Vancouver, B.C., shipyard that bears his name, Washington Yachting Group.

This is the fourth yacht Washington has owned, and they have all been named “Attessa.”

In fact Attessa III, a 225-foot Feadship, was seen moored in the Inner Harbour of Victoria early last week.

When Attessa IV was launched as Evergreen, she was 302 feet long.

During her rebuild, she was stretched a bit and is now 332 feet long.

The steel hull of the superyacht is painted a deep dark blue with a red boot stripe, and the aluminum superstructure is painted white with silver-gray highlights.

She is powered by twin Wartsila diesel engines generating a combined 13,200 horsepower.

She cruises at around 21 knots.

About two dozen crew members work aboard the vessel, looking after the owner and up to 18 guests.

There is very little information available through traditional channels about Attessa IV.

Fortunately, I was able to chat with a couple of people close to the rebuild who were privy to some of the details.

They agreed to speak with me only on condition of anonymity.

Storey Creek Golf Club review (Campbell River) | Victoria Explorer

Located in Campbell River, 3.5 hours north of Victoria, is Storey Creek Golf Club. I had heard many people talk about this Les Furber designed course, and it is also internationally renowned for its breathtaking views and challenging layout. During a recent trip to Campbell River, I knew I had to try out this course.

Located on the east-central coastline of Vancouver Island and part of the Vancouver Island Golf Trail, here is the official description from their website:

“Widely publicized as ‘a Course in Nature’, golfers can expect to experience an abundance of natural beauty and tranquility amidst the old growth and second growth forest that is the Storey Creek Golf Club, resulting in a very unique golfing experience in nature’s back-yard. Wildlife compliments this extraordinary environment with regular sightings of deer, hawks and eagles alongside magnificent beaver ponds and streams filled with salmon, trout and water fowl. Black bears and cougars occasionally can be seen on the course as well.”

Practice Facilities: Before your round begins, you can warm up at the natural grass driving range – a welcomed change from the turf mats you always find at most driving ranges. Range balls range from $2.00 for a warm-up bucket (20 balls) to $6.00 for a large bucket. Compared to other driving ranges, those prices are pretty fair. There are also two putting greens, as well as a separate area with two elevated holes that is for chipping practice as well as sand trap shots.

The course: In mid-June the course was in pristine shape. The course lives up to its reputation and definitely has lots of natural beauty and wildlife. We spotted several deer and fawns, eagles and hawks, and many other birds. The course is relatively flat and would be easy to walk for most golfers. Each hole is lined with trees and you really feel like you are the only ones on the course which is a real treat. Our round was mid-Saturday morning, and even though the course was busy, groups seemed to play responsibly and keep up with the groups ahead. I don’t recall seeing the course marshall more than once or twice, so either he was doing a really good job, or wasn’t needed too much that. Either way, we were done our 18 hole round in a little over 4 hours. That’s a welcome change to some courses where rounds can creep up to the 5 hour mark.