Basic HTML Version
24
APRIL 2012
•
HEMISPHERESMAGAZINE.COM
BRIAN BOWEN SMITH/AUGUST IMAGE
VANCOUVER
Sails Projection
“THE KILLING” STAR AND EX-LANDLUBBER
BILLY CAMPBELL CONTEMPLATES LIFE AT SEA
In the waters just beyond Coal Harbour, Billy
Campbell pullshis jacket tight against themorning
chill. But the star of AMC’s slow-burning hit “The
Killing” doesn’t seemtomind the temperature, nor
the fact that—even thoughhe’s anavid sailorwho’s
crewed aboard tall ships in some of the world’s
choppiest waters—today he’s skimming along
calm seas in a rented 17-foot motorboat because
he doesn’t have a license to rent a sailboat in
Canada. He is still very much in his element.
Campbell wasn’t always a seafarer. When
he was growing up in Charlottesville,
Va., his only exposure to the sea was
through books and movies. During a
2001 hiatus from the Emmy-winning
relationship drama “Once and
Again,” however, he got the oppor-
tunity to tryhis hand sail-training
aboard a tall ship in Sweden.
Three years later, he followed
that up with a 14-month
around-the-world voyage
aboard a deep-oceanbarque
(an old-fashioned vessel
with three or more masts).
It was then that he had
what he thinks may be his
perfect moment (“tacking
along somewhere in the
South Seas at seven or eight
knots to thebreeze of the trade
wind”), but he also caught a
glimpse of his own mortality,
when the ship was caught in a
squall offNamibia’sSkeletonCoast.
“That was the one time I thought,
‘Well, OK,
here we go
,’” he says. “It
was fine, though. You learn to trust and
respect the people around you.”
Then Campbell—who’s building his
own 48-foot sailboat in Nova Scotia—spots an
eagle in a tree along the coast. “I remember sailing
offthe coast of Vancouver Island. Iwas in this cove,
completely alone. I lookedupand sawfive eagles in
the air.
Five
.
Howgreat is that?”
—ALEX STRACHAN
THEWORLD
||
Dispatches
BOARDING PASS
Whether you’re lured by
Vancouver’s maritime diversions or its lively
food and culture scenes, chart an easy course on
United with daily nonstop service to Vancouver
from Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver, Chicago
and Houston.
Go to united.com to see specific
flights and get schedule details.