A mutual love of sailing, fishing and beachcombing brought June Cameron and Paul Holsinger together and has resulted in their book 26 Feet to the Charlottes, Exploring the Land of the Haida (Heritage, 2009). In 1983, after three summers of calm sailing together, the couple decided to cross Hecate Strait in Paul's 26-foot wooden sloop Wood Duck. June was used to skippering but it was a major undertaking for a small craft making only four-and-a-half nautical miles per hour and without the assistance of electronic navigational aids. As June and Paul visited uninhabited First Nations villages, a remote logging camp, a defunct whale meat cannery and abandoned gold and copper mines, they were struck by how hard it could be to make a living in the Charlottes. Like the islands' ancient inhabitants, they found themselves challenged to keep warm, find food, stay healthy and just plain survive.

BOOKS:

26 Feet to the Charlottes, Exploring the Land of the Haida (Heritage 2009) 978-1-894974-61-5 $19.95

[BCBW 2009]