VIDEO: Snowbirds at sea: Victoria water ferry ballet returns to Inner Harbour

For over three decades, Victoria Inner Harbour has played host to an “exhilarating adrenaline-pumping” show – all performed at the rather modest speed of six nautical miles per hour.

The stars of the spectacle are five Victoria Harbour Ferry pickle boats and their captains, who gather on the water opposite the Empress Hotel to perform a carefully synchronized water ballet.

“I often tell passengers we’re like the Snowbirds, except they’re at 600 knots – we’re at six,” says John Palmer, who’s entering his second season with the water ballet.

First created in 1990, inspired by the RCMP Musical Ride – a troop of up to 32 police officers on horseback who perform intricate formations and drills set to music – Victoria’s water taxi ballet has become a much-loved local tradition and also “world famous,” so they say.

“Self-proclaimed,” Palmer jokes.

But while the five captains are quick to poke fun at themselves, the ballet is a serious business.

Between 60 to 100 hours of training are needed before a captain is given the green light to join the ‘dancing’ troupe.

“It takes absolute focus,” says Paul Thomas, who has been with the ballet six years and with the company for eight.

Even those well-practiced need time to rehearse. Before performances resume in May for the summer season, captains attend at least three training sessions; a dozen “at least” for those new to the team.

And rehearsals are also held on the morning of each show, under the watchful eye of Stan Huston, who has been the ballet captain lead for eight years – a ‘regular’ captain for 12 years.

“It’s basically my ‘raison d’âtre’ for being involved with Harbour Ferry,” he says. “This is more fun than barreling monkeys, truly. It’s the most fun we have all week.”

Huston describes the ballet as a “series of maneuvers in close confines,” sometimes travelling only six inches apart, performed to music for 13 minutes.

“So I’m the monkey in the middle and the guys on the outside are coordinating their moves – but they don’t do anything until they get a command from me,” he explains.

However, the music is not as important as some might think.

“We’re not coordinating our moves to the music,” says Huston. “It’s incidental to what we’re doing.”

Which comes in handy when things go slightly off beat.

“There’s no way, even if we get out of sync a little bit for whatever reason … we can’t stop,” says Huston. “We do it no matter what happens. If the music stops, we don’t.”

While Huston says they have never had an orca join in, there have been boat failures, and he cites floating plastic bags in the harbour as one of the biggest risks to smooth sailing.

“If you wrap one around your prop, you’re done,” he says. “It just stalls the boat.”

Risks and hazards aside, the team strive to make each show one to remember for the watching crowds.

“There are lots of moving parts, but it’s fun at the end to see the smiles on the faces of the people that are watching and know that we’ve given them a really special show,” says Palmer.

For Thomas, who admits the captains can be their own worst critics, nothing beats the feeling when they “nail” a show in front of a big crowd.

“We know when we’ve done a good show, because we know how it should be – the crowd probably doesn’t realize it,” he says. “But it’s great knowing that people have really enjoyed it.”

It’s not just the audience who get a buzz from the ballet; it’s the captains too, who enjoy the sense of camaraderie that comes with the role.

“I was in the Royal Canadian Navy for 25 years, so I’m always striving to be part of a team,” says Palmer, who adds he also “foolishly” thought the ballet would help boost his skills as a captain for his day job.

“There’s really not very much we do in the ballet that converts to what we do in regular service,” he continues. “We’re not driving our boats six inches apart and doing manoeuvres really fast – we’re making nice, even slow movements for our passengers.”

Looking ahead to the season, Palmer says the team is determined to deliver performances that will make both Victoria Harbour Ferry and the City of Victoria proud.

“We hope people will come out and enjoy our performances and acknowledge what the captains have done,” he says. “We’re really here for the people to enjoy themselves – and it’s absolutely free and there’s not a lot in life that’s free.”

Victoria Harbour Ferry water ballet performances run from May through to September on select dates, starting at 10.30 a.m. The best spot to view the water ballet is at Ship Point in the Inner Harbour.

For more information, visit victoriaharbourferry.com/water-ballet.

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