Wes said: <Big Snipity> >>> and I thought back to the passages Upton wrote about crossing that strait in thirty and forty foot fishing boats, and sixty and seventy foot fish packers, and how they got the crap kicked out of them more often than not. And, he has the pictures to prove it. He points out that it's highly appropriate that the last refuge to the north is known as "Safety Cove", and the first one you come to on the south side is "God's Pocket." Appropriate names, I'm sure. I have difficulty imagining being out there in kayaks! Me 'ats off to the duke . . . >>> I'm laying low on the Storm Island stuff right now, but just HAD to say something to this comment above: Fishermen, of course, have to be out there. The three of us didn't. Bear in mind however, we did not anticipate it would be as cold and rough for the spring as it was that last April. The tides are also notorious up there (a 16 knot tide runs just around the corner from where we were). If we hadn't done the crossing, we still weren't out of danger yet. When we arrived back in Port Hardy after the rescue and finished up with the Coast Guard, we went to a tavern and ate pizza and drank bear the whole night away (official rehydration methodology for North Island residents). A number of inebriated locals came up to us and said they new the seas very well around the Storm Islands, and even they wouldn't go near them in small craft. What a night we had - I'll never forget the comaraderie of shared survival - words cannot express the euphoria. As a non-drinker, I did pretty good that night - hardly even got a buzz we were so dehydrated. BTW, THIS spring is a little different weather wise. Our biggest problem here on Vancouver Island is all the blossoms that track in to the front hallway from outside. What a difference this year. Can we do our trip this year instead of last year? :-) BC'in Ya Doug Lloyd *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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