Skippers and crew at the Schooner Cove Yacht Club are gearing up for their annual summer cruise, this time heading to world-renowned Desolation Sound.
The trip leaves the dock on July 22 and continues until Aug. 16, with stops at Pender Harbour, Nelson Island, Westview, Lund, Gorge Harbour, the Octopus Islands, Heriot Bay, Campbell River, Comox and Jedediah Island.
• The Deep Bay Yacht Club has added its voice to a chorus of complaints about a proposal to site a marina complex at Squirrel Cove on Cortes Island.
Club members use the beautiful anchorage at Squirrel Cove because of its peace and tranquility. However, a proposal by Klahoose Resort Limited Partnership proposes a large water lease in Squirrel Cove for a marina and resort.
• Boaters have known for some time that they can rely on 19 Wing Comox for rescue when they get into trouble on the water, but now they’ve come to the aid of the tiny fish that use beds of eelgrass as a home.
The unit is restoring marine habitat near Royston as compensation for the habitat affected by the maintenance dredging of the Goose Spit Marina that took place in January.
The dredging was required to remove sediment that built up around the pilings and threatened both dock infrastructure and the safe use of the marina by various Canadian Armed Forces and Sea Cadet vessels.
The eelgrass harvesting and transplant work started on May 28 and is slated to continue for the following four weeks.
• It was one of the most dramatic and yet little known incidents in B.C. maritime history.
In June of 1811, the 290-ton bark Tonquin stopped at Nootka Sound on Vancouver Island to do some fur trading at a spot called Woody Point.
As the crew conducted their business, the captain tossed some otter pelts at a local Tla-o-qui-aht chief, who was deeply offended.
Under the guise of returning to do more trading the next day, the chief’s men attacked the boat, killing all but five on board. Four of the five survivors attempted to flee in a canoe, but three of them were killed once they got to shore.
The man who remained aboard the Tonquin was able to light the powder magazine and blow up not only the ship, but himself and many of the people who had come to pillage the ship.
Only George Ramsay, the pilot of the ship, survived the incident, which went down in history as the Battle of Woody Point.