Mothership Meanderings: 'Family' Gatherings

April-May 2002

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

Hundreds of thousands of boaters call these waters home, on both sides of the border.

Take a look at the map of the Pacific Northwest and you can immediately see how intimately related the waters of the USA and Canada are. There is no division between Puget Sound and Georgia Strait other than the dotted line shown here. The same birds, fish and marine mammals roam the area. We share the same ecosystems, the same issues, and will will inevitably share much the same future.

There is an enormous amount of cross border traffic by land, sea and air, as citizens (and animals) of both countries travel back and forth between British Columbia and Washington. There are countless examples of cross-border relationships, from the daily commerce between the countries, to joint environmental stewardship projects (such as the Orca Pass initiative-see www.GeorgiaStrait.org).

And there are hundreds of thousands of pleasure boaters, including power boaters, sail boaters, and paddlers who all ply this region, enjoying the natural beauty of each other's home waters.

The enormous bulk of Vancouver Island shelters these waters, creating an Inside Passage for boaters to travel north from Puget Sound, up Georgia Strait to Desolation Sound and Johnstone Strait. Some continue on up the BC coast to Alaska.

I've lived pretty much my full life on this coast (nearly- gulp-half a century now) but there's far more than a lifetime of exploration here. Not only is the region vast and its byways complex, but every time you go on the water, it's different-different weather, different tides, different wildlife.

Fortunately, with our marine-oriented careers, Laurie and I have plenty of opportunities -or excuses-to go boating. And this allows us to reconnect with our longtime friends and colleagues.

Each spring for the last several years we have headed down from Gabriola to Thetis Island to the Coast Kayak Symposium on the Canadian May long weekend (this year, May 17-20).

The event, which is organized by the Pacific International Kayak Association (PIKA), is directed by WaveLength's Industry Advisor Mercia Sixta. PIKA is a good example of a cross-border partnership, linking paddlers from BC and Washington.

Paddle designer Werner Furrer and daughter Melinda pose on the steps of the dining hall at the Coast Kayak Festival on Thetis Island.

Each year, many Symposium registrants come up from the States, especially from the Whatcom Association of Kayak Enthusiasts (WAKE), to join their Canadian counterparts on Thetis. The Symposium (formerly run under the auspices of the Sea Kayak Association of BC) is a non-commercial event and in our opinion the best learning environment around. It was this event which inspired our WaveLength Ocean Kayak Festival for 5 years in the mid-1990s.

We still enjoy dropping in for a few hours to say hello and meet old friends like Mercia, Bridget, Dennis, and the gang of volunteers who've been putting it on for 17 years.

One of the highlights of the Symposium is the private ferry PIKA charters for the trip across Georgia Strait from downtown Vancouver. If you've never seen the loading of kayaks and gear, it's a thing to behold. (604- 597-1122, mercias@telus.net).

Thetis Island, of course, is a good destination for boaters and paddlers at other times of the year. Telegraph Harbour is a very sheltered spot and has two marinas (with fuel and services). Paddling around Thetis includes traversing a long, narrow canal between Thetis and Kuper Islands. Tent Island, near the southern end of Kuper Island, is another lovely spot. And you're not far from what many consider the premier paddlers' campsite in the Gulf Islands, Blackberry Point on Valdez Island.

Another of our 'excuses' to get on the water is the Vancouver Island Paddlefest at Ladysmith in June. Ladysmith is located just a few miles from Thetis Island. It was here that Seaward Kayaks relocated its kayak plant from the BC Interior and, working with SeaLegs Kayaking and others in the community, established the Paddlefest three years ago.

We always anchor our boat across the harbour from the Paddlefest site, in the shelter of a pretty little group of islets, and paddle across to join the festivities.

Trying out a kayak at the Vancouver Island Paddlefest in Ladysmith. Photo: Laurie MacBride

This event is similar to our Ocean Kayak Festival, a blend of commercial and non-commercial interests, designed to bring the whole paddling community together-including designers, manufacturers, retailers, guides and recreationalists. It's kind of a family reunion.

This year's Paddlefest will be held June 21-23 (Paddlefest@ PaddleCenter.com, 250-245-4246).

However, neither of these events is the first of the year in the region. That honour goes south of the border, across the Strait of Juan de Fuca, to the Port Angeles Kayak Symposium (April 13-14) on the Olympic Peninsula (888-452-1443, www.raftand kayak.com). There's a ferry from Victoria, or you can boat over.

Similarly the final event of the season-the world's largest-is also in Washington, the West Coast Kayak Symposium, organized by the Trade Association of Paddlesports in Port Townsend, (Sept. 20-22).

Port Townsend, of course, was a mecca for wooden boat building long before paddlers ever came to town, and remains so.

At the Port Townsend Symposium, commercial and recreational paddlers from around the United States and Canada mingle as one, demonstrating the brotherhood and sisterhood of paddlers, and the strength of the paddling industry in North America (www.go paddle.org, 800-755-5228).

So there you have it, some of the big events of the year for our little part of the globe. We hope you can find time to travel to one or another however you can-by boat, kayak, car or ferry.

Come meet the Family!

 

Another of the Festivals which emerged in the wake of WaveLength's Ocean Kayak Festival is the annual Okanagan PaddleFest, instigated by our friend Wendell Phillips. It's set on Okanagan Lake, a couple of hundred miles inland from Vancouver, in the arid BC Interior. This year, after three successful events, Wendell has handed on the organizing to Dave and Susan Bain of Nimbus Paddles, and the event will be held in beautiful Summerland, June 15-16. 250-862-804. susan_bain@telus.net.

Family threesome launch at the Okanagan Paddlefest. Photo: Laurie MacBride

 

© Alan and Laurie travel the Pacific Northwest by boat and kayak.

Editor's Note: If you've got a High Performance spirit, try the San Juan Challenge race in Washington (May 18-19) or the Necky Series races in British Columbia (June 8, July 14, July 27).