Rare sun-break means smoke-break for BFF

Each year at this time, as Daylight Savings Time nears and the sun peeks out from behind the grey Pacific Northwest clouds, long-time ferry rider Jamie Flounce begins a Spring ritual of his own.

The 38-year-old Bremerton native slips out of his Weinerschnitzel uniform and cap, grabs a fresh Marlboro Menthol, and drops effortlessly into the frigid waters of Elliott Bay, his ankle tethered to a cleat on the rear of the ferry by a bathrobe sash.

"It's the most relaxing way to cruise into the weekend," explains Flounce, who commutes daily between his hometown and his job at the Pacific Place Mall Food Court.

According to Flounce, he decided upon the creative way to get around the boat's strict "NO SMOKING" policy about four years ago. "I was dying for a drag and thought, 'hey, the ocean is everybody's!' Plus, I lost most of the feeling in my skin, and my hair, volunteering for pharmaceutical testing at Washington State in the 90s, so the water temp really isn't an issue."

Flounce says applying Vaseline and a heating pad each evening helps him overcome the low-grade hypothermia that sometimes sets in to his extremeties.



Washington State Ferry spokeswoman Virlie Keene explained that, technically, Flounce isn't violating ferry rules. "I have to hand it to him," said Keene on Friday's Seattle-to-Bremerton crossing. "He's floating a full four feet behind the boat, clearly out of the NO SMOKING zone," she said. "And he splashes his hands now and then to keep the risk of igniting the floating oil coming out of our bilge pumps low. So it's pretty safe too."

Flounce admitted that he's become something of a celebrity on board the boat, but warns kids to think before following in his footsteps.

"You have to be well-prepared to do what I do," he said. "Lots of people try this but they fall short on the preparedness aspects. Me? It's no hotdogs at least a half-hour before going in. Always double-knot the bathrobe sash. And take a 'live and let live' attitude towards jellyfish. Lots of young people see me do this and just want to go willy-nilly into the water like what I do is easy. It's not."