It's difficult to describe what a gale feels like in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, Bob Quinn said.
The wind screams, its force stealing one's voice and grasping at one's breath. Unrelenting waves turn into rutting hills, threatening to roll your vessel, and the waterscape becomes a vicious swirl of dark uninviting greys, blues and greens. It's nature's way of reminding you that you're just a tiny part of it, Quinn said.
"There are times where you thought you were going to never make it," the 81-year-old recalled.
But Quinn did make it, and with every minute on the sea, his blood grew thicker with salt. Today, it pours out of him in the form of acrylic paint. Quinn's apartment at The Manor is stuffed with ocean and coastal scenes splattered on canvas. Last weekend, the paintings were on display in an exhibit at The Manor.
"They are in my head," he said of the images. "[Painting] keeps me back on the ships."
Quinn boarded a Canadian merchant navy vessel at the age of 14, lying about his age to get a job as a mess boy. Quinn celebrated his 16th birthday in China, by which time he had already seen a large chunk of the world - from the poverty in Ethiopia to dunes of Poland. Quinn crossed the majority of the planet's water - the Arctic, Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
"When you are out there, you are alone with it," Quinn said. "You are alive with it, because it's telling you things: the waves, clouds and wind."
The Cape Breton native was married by the age of 19 and had two children, Mike and Patricia, by 21. Determined to instill in his children the same lust for adventure that he enjoys, Quinn bought a fishing boat, refurbished it and sold everything the family owned. They then headed on a trip from Nova Scotia to the Bahamas. The family lived in the Commonwealth country for seven years, while Quinn worked at various hotels and harbour projects.
He also took his family to the Arctic for a five-year stint. Later, Quinn headed back to his old companion - the sea - this time as a lobster fisherman.
"I would have to be awfully greedy to say I need more," Quinn said of his experiences.
Quinn moved to Squamish in 1992. He helped his son, Mike, build an office on Green Lake for his business, Whistler Air. The travelling bug was passed down, he quickly added, with a flash of a smile. Nine years ago, Mike flew his single-engine turbine Otter from Whistler to the Antarctic.
"Travelling has got to be one of the most essential and invigorating components of life," Quinn said.
It's important to try new things, he noted. Quinn first picked up a paint brush 20 years ago. His children bought the paints for him partly for a laugh, he said.
"See what you can do with it," they said.
Quinn did.
"If you don't try, you don't do. And if you don't do, what the hell are you here for?" Quinn asked, sitting in his apartment surrounded by his work.
