Re: [Paddlewise] "Commando" Camping

An interesting (to me) perspective to the discussion on "commando camping". 
I keep my single sea kayak and my whitewater boat in a community boathouse 
which local paddlers rent from the city. When I go to access my boats I 
often find "street people" sleeping in the recessed boathouse doorway, 
taking shelter against the heavy Vancouver rains. These people are not 
"commando camping" for fun or sport - they have no homes, and I am generally 
very sympathic to their situation. However, just as the private property 
owner's attitude towards kayak campers varies with the conduct of the 
"guests", so my attitude varies with the way these visitors deport 
themselves. Most are very polite and civil, but a few leave behind 
newspapers (their "bedding"), empty bottles and cans, and a strong smell of 
urine, necessitating a clean-up and hose-down of the area. These thoughtless 
ones may eventually ruin an otherwise congenial "dual-use" of the doorway, 
if the abuse results in the installation of a folding gate which would block 
access for the "innocent" sleepers.

Philip Torrens
N49°16' W123°06'


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