Victoria Harbour Ferry captain Stan Huston is rarely far from the water.
The lifelong boater lives on a sailboat, so becoming part of the harbour ferries crew was a natural step when he retired to the capital region from Ontario after running restaurants for years.
Huston, 73, said most of the captains tend to be “retired type-As,” like him, and have included former lawyers, naval officers, pilots and more through the years.
Former Oak Bay mayor Chris Causton and retired Oak Bay police chief Ben Andersen are both part of the current group.
Huston is the leader of the hugely popular ferry “ballet” that is performed during the spring and summer months.
The first one of the year will be held at 10:45 a.m. today to mark Mother’s Day, and mothers can travel free on the ferries all day, as well.
Huston joked that the ballet is like the Snowbirds aerobatics team on the water, “but instead of 300 knots we’re going six knots.” He called the ballet routine “organized chaos.” “We run the boats as hard as anybody can, with the boss’s blessing.”
A ballet performance involves precision maneuvering of five ferries, with Huston calling the shots for what has generally been about a 10-minute show but will be lengthened a little this year. Captains put in many hours of practice to learn their moves, Huston said. “It’s very challenging,” he said. “That’s the fun.”
Murray Boyce, who is in charge of the music for the ballet, chooses a lot of classical tunes to play over a public-address system located onshore near the CPR Steamship Terminal building, where the best viewing area also happens to be.
Hungarian Rhapsody No. 5, Flight of the Bumblebee and Ride of the Valkyries are popular selections on the playlist, he said.
“Every year it gets better and better and bigger and bigger, and we get people from all over the world coming in.”
Huston said a day doesn’t go by during the ballet season that he doesn’t get at least a dozen inquiries about when the ballet will be happening.
The ballet will be performed 30 times this year from Sunday through Labour Day, Huston said.
The ferries, which first appeared in 1990, had about 250,000 riders last year and a similar total is expected in 2023.
> Ballet schedule: victoriaharbourferry.com/water-ballet/
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