It’s raining outside but it’s warm in here. The dog is curled up at the side of the wood stove, I have a cup of tea… life is as it should be.
At Solander Island right now, it’s raining a bit harder. The wind, from the ESE, is blowing 28 knots and gusting much higher than that. There are sure to be little pockets of calm water in and among the islets along the north shore and the wind wouldn’t be nearly so strong there as long as you stayed close in. The surf would even be smaller because of the wind, right up until you start around the corner, cutting between Solander Island and the tip of the peninsula. The full force of the gale would smash into your chest and your eyes would instantly tear up and the power of the elements would touch you like an explosion. It would be foolish to attempt to round the Brooks Peninsula in a kayak on a day like this.
Tonight, in Tacoma, the circus is coming to town. By that, I mean that the first of two public comment meetings is being held at the Tacoma Convention Center focused on the strange saga of the Chinese methanol plant that is being proposed for the Tacoma tide flats. The idea is to give the city office that is doing the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) some citizen feedback on questions they might want the EIS to include:
“How much water will it use?”
“How much power will it take to run?”
“Where is that water/power going to come from?”
“What about earthquakes? Sea level rise? Fire and/or explosion hazards?”
“What are the impacts of the fracking that was used to get the natural gas this plant will use?”
“What does a plant like this mean for shipping in the area? What other local environmental concerns might arise from increased traffic and potential spills?”
“The methanol will be shipped to China, where it will eventually become plastic. As in, plastic packaging, bread bags, soda bottles, toothbrush handles and pizza savers. How much more plastic do we really need? How much of that is going to end up in the ocean, or right back here in the Salish Sea?”
“Did we really spend 30+ years cleaning up the worst Superfund site in the country so that we could give ourselves a shiny, new methanol plant? Environmentally speaking, how low is this city willing to go to turn a buck?”
I will be there tonight and I will add my voice to the others in opposition to this stupid idea. But there is a part of me that would far prefer being in an 18-foot kayak, dodging death near Solander Island.
Hey – that’s a picture of me! It wasn’t taken at Solander though (I looked it up). The image was taken by my pal Dave Aharonian as we cruised down to Lawn Point. We had paddled around Cape Scott and rounded the Brooks Peninsula a few days earlier though. Find out more about Super Dave here: http://www.rapidmedia.com/adventurekayak/categories/departments/2444-kayaking-saved-my-life.html
I stumbled across your post via paddling planet.com. Thanks for the memories!
Here’s a little more beta on the Brooks Peninsula and Solander Island:
http://www.neckykayaks.com/plan_a_trip/destination_ideas/rounding_the_brooks/
Hi Alex… it is a great shot! I went around the Brooks in September of 2001, with Andy Bridge (who was at Werner Paddles at the time), not long after 9/11. It was a weird experience being out of touch right after such a huge traumatic event. Didn’t see any planes in the sky.
Lots of bears though, and so much wind. We went from Coal Harbour to Winter Harbour and it took us 10 days (only 4 of which we actually paddled.) Did a lot of beachcombing and got real good at building fires with wet wood though. Solander Island was amazing but the weather was brutal and we hardly even saw it most of the time. We were wind-bound on the top side of the Brooks for 3 days before we could get around, and then we only had a 1-day weather window. I remember paddling close to the shore of Mount Paxton into the teeth of the wind, fighting for every meter.
I plan on doing more paddling around the island in the future and I am pleased that you found the site. Thank you for writing too!
I remember Andy talking about that trip – how is he? I haven’t seen him in ages. Please say Hi to him for me if you have the chance. I was the marketing guy at Necky back then, when the company was still based in BC (and still cool : )
I’ve been around the Brooks 3 times and it was different on each occasion. Although wind does tend to be a big feature, the last time I went around it was extremely calm. Go figure – just the luck of the draw.
You definitely got the whole Brooks experience. As an Islander, please let me be the first to apologize for the filthy weather we supplied for your trip. It can be a little damp and breezy on the north coast of Vancouver Island.
I haven’t seen Andy in a long time either. Back then, I was running an outfitter called “Tahoma Outdoor Pursuits,” based here in Tacoma, but we did a lot in the San Juans too. The Port Townsend symposium was really down that year because of 9/11 and all. I remember that the Brits weren’t able to get here because of all the flight cancellations and even some Canadians decided not to attend, so the beach seemed pretty sparse. (The weather, of course, was perfect.)
Andy and I left from there and drove up to Zeballos and connected with our shuttle. I had just paddled around Newfoundland the year before, but even that didn’t seem as wild and exposed as the Brooks. It still seems like the edge of the world to me. I didn’t really mind the weather in the end. It’s the kind of place you don’t mind working a bit to see.