Dear WaveLength

February-March 1996

This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.

High Impact Issues

I was both dismayed and encouraged to read Ken McLeish and Terry Knight's letters published in your December '95/January '96 issue (see Letters). I was dismayed to read of the experiences that Ken, Terry, and their friends had. I was encouraged to find that others had the energy to try and do something about the growing problem of recreational impact on B.C.'s coastal wilderness.

Over the past decade the impact of kayakers on the areas they visit has increased to what some of us consider a point of urgency. The impact results both from recreational kayakers and commercial kayak operations. The impact, I believe, generally results not from malice but from ignorance, and has become progressively more noticeable not because of changing camping techniques or attitudes but rather because of increased recreational and commercial traffic and a lack of compensatory change in techniques and attitudes. In other words, many of us are still acting like we are the only ones out there.

Being one of the despised who makes a buck (sometimes) taking others out paddling, I wish to address Ken and Terry's letters in relation to commercial kayak operations or guided tours. From Ken and Terry's letters I identified three key issues which irked them:

1. monopolization of beaches by guided groups,

2. large groups,

3. inadequate minimum impact techniques.

It has become increasingly common practice for some companies to set a base camp on a particular beach for a summer or portion thereof. This is done for a variety of reasons, but particularly in higher use areas to insure space availability. This practice is perfectly legal; whether it is ethical or not is another issue. It is easily argued that, at the least, it is questionable for these base camps to use more space than necessary, or for occupants of the base camps to be unwelcoming or hostile. When paddling, I tend to avoid camping on beaches where others have erected base camps, mostly to avoid unnecessary conflict and in the hope of finding some solitude. If safety is an issue, be it grave or slight, I don't hesitate to plunk myself and/or a group in the middle of another group, then smile and make the most of it. In instances where this has been met by hostility, I have simply taken the other guides aside and told them just where to get off. A final interesting note is that guiding companies who set base camps and leave them unattended run the risk of returning to find someone else happily making use of their oh-so-convenient kitchen.

Group size is perhaps a more contentious issue. Although several well thought out guidelines exist that address group size, no guidelines are legally binding on the B.C. coast. Guiding companies are motivated by the fact that for most, if a trip is 80% full there is no profit, if it is 100% full they may be able to eat that winter, and if they add two or three more participants to a trip, the month off in Baja lurches closer to reality.

As a guiding company, it is economic suicide to decrease your group size if the competition doesn't. Also, remember that if maximum group sizes are too small, cost to participants increase to the point where such experiences are available only to the likes of those interviewed on Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.

As a recourse I can only suggest to individuals that they pressure government bodies, as well as the owners of companies operating with extraordinarily large groups. Maximum group size is an issue that has to be looked at on an area by area basis both for safety and impact reasons.

Inadequate minimum impact practices is also a serious issue, and a pet peeve of mine. Again, I believe that most transgressions are the result of ignorance, not malice. After long and careful consideration, I believe that a return to the old seafaring tradition of keel hauling would be most effective, but in this age of political correctness, we may instead have to rely on education. After witnessing particularly gruesome examples of high impact practices, I have taken aside guides and explained to them, with a plastic smile glued to my face, my exact frustration. I have also found it worthwhile contacting company owners with particulars (including names) of the infraction. Ecomarine has produced and distributes free of charge a brief brochure on minimum impact practices. When firmly placed in the hands of strategic people, for example guided trip participants or guides, this simple tool may be able to turn on a few lights upstairs. And if in anger they're used for nothing more than starting a fire, be assured they will burn down to a fine ash.

In sum, I believe in personal responsibility. We must hold individual guides and company owners responsible for their practices, but try to do so in a way engineered to create cooperation, not conflict. My thanks again goes to Ken and Terry for raising this important issue. Dave Weir
Ecomarine Coastal Kayaking School
Vancouver, BC

(Ed. Dave will be instructing at WaveLength's Ocean Kayak Festival '96 in June.)

Paddling With the BIG Boats

I've been a canoeist for twenty five years and a BC Ferry deck officer for thirteen years. I've been paddling in a small boat when a large ship went by and I've also been an officer-of-the-watch on a large vessel passing a small boat. Both situations can cause concern and always require due care and caution.

From the small boater's point of view, weather and tidal influences require that you navigate in specific ways if going from one place to another. If, on the other hand, you are out on the water for recreation only, then fun, relaxation, and maybe some excitement are the priorities. Believe me, being too close to 8,000 tons of steel approaching at twenty knots can cause unwanted excitement.

The marine phrase "Constant Vigilance" should not be under-rated. It is not unrealistic to think of yourself as invisible in a small boat near large vessels. Assuming ship's personnel cannot see you is a way of encouraging a more active role for yourself in avoiding a close quarters situation. The sooner the ship driver sees you the better, and since you can usually tell where the ship is going, the sooner you take steps to avoid a ship the safer you will be.

From the large vessel officer's point of view, all ship handling and maneuvering is regulated by "The Collision Regulations". The consequences of disobeying these regulations are very serious for any ship's deck officer.

Rule number five (near the front of the regulations indicating its importance) enforces the requirement for the officer to keep a safe lookout. Constantly watching out the windows, having the radar working and keeping an eye on the radar screen, listening to the radios, encouraging the seaman at the wheel to report any boats he sees, and staying focused on the job are all parts of keeping a safe lookout. The deck officer's expectation, with regard to other large vessels, is that the other ship is being maneuvered by someone who has to obey the same regulations. With regard to small boats, the ship's officer has no idea at all what that boat might do. Small boats can move very erratically and they can become erratic very quickly.

I work the Nanaimo-to-Horseshoe Bay route, in Howe Sound between Bowen Island and the mainland where there are many small vessels. Other ferry officers who work between Swartz Bay and Tsawwassen tell me that Active Pass is similarly hectic.

I am occasionally asked what it is like to maneuver a large vessel when there are many small boats around. Eventually I found what I think is an honest analogy to the question. It's like driving a car through an elementary school playground at recess.

Gerry Lavallee is a 2nd Officer with BC Ferries based in Departure Bay, Nanaimo.

The Invisibility Factor

At the request of a member of the Kayakers' Association, I offer the following comments on kayaking, based on my own experience as a ship-master.

Last fall the 126 foot Charlotte Princess was south-bound in Seymour Narrows to Victoria for her winter lay-up. It was a calm, clear morning with small vessels in transit, intent on making slack water at 1030 hours.

About the same time as this ship was in the immediate vicinity of Ripple Rock, several kayaks were seen to be approaching mid-stream from the Maud Island shore, directly in its path. More kayaks were then observed under way close in on the Maud Island shore, appearing to be north-bound.

My reason for writing this letter is to emphasize to kayakers the dangers which the first group posed to themselves and others, as opposed to the prudence and safety margin of the second group.

The main problem, of course, is that kayaks are often not seen from a larger vessel until it is almost on top of them. The state of the sea and its reflection of light in various states of cloud cover, the amount of flotsam in the vicinity, and the variety of tide and current at any particular time, influence the visibility of kayaks.

For the past few years, "ocean-going" kayaks have been extending their adventures (a sport for which I have every sympathy). However, there are phrases in the collision avoidance rules which should be studied, such as "...limitations of the vessels involved" (rule 2).

It is impossible to legislate intelligently for a sport with the built-in hazards of the ocean in a craft which all too often cannot be seen. The initiative must, therefore, be taken by paddlers, to avoid impending problems.

James Butterfield,
Victoria, BC