[Paddlewise] Around BC Coast

Some interesting goings on around here for your consideration:

The drug runners are at it again, this time avoiding the use of kayaks, and
instead stealing Zodiacs for running BC Bud to the USA. Only in this latest
twist last week, the thieves stole a small boat from a dock facing the San
Juans here in Victoria (near where the kayaking drug-runner bailed-out a
number of months ago). A kayaker's wife saw the thieves brazenly steal the
their boat, whereupon the owner, her husband, raced down to his dock and
jumped into his kayak in hot pursuit. The Zodiac had some problems going
fast (had another boat in tow I believe), so he was able to keep up pretty
good. As my RCMP friend said, the guy suddenly realized a mile out that he
"didn't have a very good plan" chasing possibly hardened criminals in a
kayak. He was able to flag down a passing fish boat, which took him aboard
after some convincing on the part of the kayaker (yeah, right man, like you
are chasing thieves in THAT). The fishboat estimated the Zodiac was hiding
behind Trial Island eventually, and radioed the RCMP patrol boat who after a
short chase apprehended the criminals. The kayaker got his Zodiac back. The
wife got her husband back.

Luna, the lonely killer whale of Gold River/Nootka Sound fame has been
constantly on the news. Authorities were set to net-capture the young male
Orca a few weeks ago but the First Nation peoples in the area lured him away
in their dugout canoes each time. Luna had a close encounter with a float
plan, and more recently broke another rudder on a sail boat while toying
with it. Authorities want to reunite him with his family (just as they did
with the successful reuniting of Springer), whereas the local indigenous
peoples believe the spirit of a departed chief now resides in Luna (like,
what happened to the vacating Luna's spirit?). They want Luna to stay (if
Luna wants to) and/or if he must be reunited, they want to have the Killer
Whale follow them down the coast in their open canoes. Authorities feel this
would be too "dangerous" - an ironic wording when one considers the original
inhabitants use of these open-ocean dugouts in the area. For now, boaters
are advised to continue to exhibit caution if Luna is in the area, So far,
one kayaker has been pushed around briefly, but nothing severe.

While on the killer whale side of things, I have it from some very reliable
sources (surfer dudes) that bull (possibly a non-resident rogue) pulled a
puppy off Gordon's Beach, sort of like the way they take penguins off the
beach in Patagonia. The puppy was in a few feet of water). In another
incident, a skiff operator reported being pushed aggressively around in
deeper waters in the same area by a large male Orca. And finally, a well
known surfer a Zinn's Beach north of Sooke was solo surfing down a glassy
swell when he saw a black fin racing toward him. A huge mouth appeared out
of the face of the breaking wave, but instantly aborted the attack when the
bull realized the prey was human. My brother-in-law, a surfer himself, spoke
with a couple of French-Canadian hikers who spoke with the surfer just after
the incident. It was reported that the surfer had a bad psychological bit
that may have left a few scars. This is not posted as humour, though it
appears the above came out that way.

Doug Lloyd
Victoria BC
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