Ted Janzen
Viking 1
13 August, 2012 10:46 PM

The 'Viking 1' is someones cottage. Perhaps not so much a cottage as a permanent home for Ken Lund, an interesting west Coast adventurer and plier of all trades common to the old west coast heritage. Although certainly not an old man,( I believe Ken is younger than I am by a couple years) there is not much of the coast this man has not seen in depth, either from the deck of the old Viking 1 or tramping through the coast mountains going from logging camp to logging camp or on the deck of a large variety of other fishing boats or historical craft owned and operated by some of the interesting recent pioneers of this great land. He has met many of the better known oldtimers from the logging, fishing and boatbuilding world, and spent considerable time with them on mighty exiting and entertaining endeavors.

He has also run various ventures from his craft that he has lived on and off for the better part of the last 15 years or so. Some of these include supply vessel for the more remote hangouts for charter yachts, small gippo camps or the cruising fraternity of summer explorers. He has also chartered the Viking 1 to kayakers, sport fisherfolk and just plain old beerguzzling party animals like myself and friends. I was with him dockwalking just north of Nanaimo when we first laid eyes on the Viking 1. She had another name at the time but he told me right then and there that if he picked up this thing he would rename her the Viking1. Naturally he had to rearrange the overhead for his large frame and rebuilt the boat for what he felt was coming. Normally he has been seen at the annual 'Working Boat ' gatherings in Ganges although the last year or two, I believe he has tired of some of the predictability of the crowd and retained further pastures.

A rather striking figure at approximately 6'8" or so, he really is a gentle giant. I have seen this man at the end of a long day of setting chokers or landing bucking or some such work and simply state that he was going to work in some other camp as the fancy struck him. He once left Kelsey Bay at the end of the working day and headed out cross country 'as the crow flies or perhaps as the cougar or bear ambles, to a camp 25 miles through the forest. When I asked him how it went he simply said " well I got into camp with my lunchbox still partially full, corkboots still on from the hike in and showed up at the marshalling yard of the camp and asked the logging boss which show he was working at". Of course with this attitude and striking appearance any camp was happy to put a man like this to work and he just "went to work at my new job". Further digging exposed a fascinating tale of a tramp including travelling in fairly deep water around the edge of the lake for several hours, much blackberry hacking and plenty of animal meets. He thought nothing of this and during my years around Ken this was not really outstanding.

Ken also hung his hat in Nanaimo for several years as a realtor specializing in island properties - that is entire islands. I believe his listings even held some rather exotic properties/islands well beyond our continental borders and of course interesting tales to go with.

I haven't seen Ken for a couple years now although I did get an email last year asking if he still had the right email for me, which of course it was but apparently the one he sent from somehow didn't exist when I tried to respond. I hope to see him soon and look forward to a few more brewskies and yucks. If you run into him you will find a genuinely friendly local man ready to lend a huge hand. I certainly wish him well and thanks for the posting Noof.

fulfordfoto (fff) monday 13august2012

i can't help but wonder if the viking 1 is still a working fishing vessel or if she has become someone's cottage on the sea as she plies the trincomali channel

now i know

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