British Columbia Small Craft Guide: Vancouver Island, Port Alberni to Campbell River, including the Gulf Islands, Vol. 1

Elsie de Bruijn was Associate Head, Woodward Biomedical Library, University of British Columbia, Vancouver.

A fretwork of inlets, straits, and islands, British Columbia’s inner coast is one of the world’s great unspoiled cruising areas for the recreational boater. However, its spectacular scenery masks some very real hazards. Sudden gales, poor visibility in fog or rain, unmarked rocks, and tidal currents of up to twelve knots call for particular care on the part of the small-boat skipper.

Until ten years ago, the only comprehensive guide to navigation in this area was the two-volume B.C. Sailing Directions. Like the Pilots and Sailing Directions covering other Canadian regions, this was written chiefly for operators of larger commercial vessels. Channels, anchorages and recreational sites of interest only to cruising craft were generally omitted. Yet pleasure boaters were taking to coastal waters in unprecedented numbers, and Coast Guard rescue figures were rising to match.

It was this background which led the Canadian Hydrographic Service to produce the first B.C. Small Craft Guide in 1973. Expanded and updated editions have appeared at roughly two-year intervals ever since. Volume I (Gulf Islands) now includes all of the Vancouver Island coast from Barkley Sound to Campbell River, while Volume II covers the mainland from the U.S. border to Desolation Sound.

The newest Volume I retains the best features of its predecessors. Visiting boaters are given a condensed introduction to Canada and British Columbia, a summary of customs regulations, and a survey of the charts and printed aids recommended for all boaters in B.C. waters. Concluding this section are notes on radio aids, distress procedures, coastal weather conditions, and currents.

The body of the Guide provides point-to-point piloting information for virtually every mile of coast within its area of coverage. Chart numbers are supplied for each region, along with data on tidal streams, recommended courses, navigational aids and hazards, and details of anchorages suitable for small boats. Sixty-five up-to-date photographs of major channels and harbours are included.

Much useful quick-reference information is also available in a series of appendices. These list commercial marinas, medical and repair facilities, sources of weather information, distance tables, and details of police and customs services.

While the Small Craft Guides have become steadily more comprehensive, there is still some room for improvement. In this volume, both the scope and the indexing of illustrations need attention. For some reason, not one photo is included for the most treacherous hundred miles of coast covered: Barkley Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca from Ucluelet to Victoria. Nor is there any easy way for the reader to find out just which photographs are available, short of leafing page by page through the rather lengthy volume.

But these are minor points compared to the solid achievements of the Guide as a whole. Fact-filled and succinct, it is an indispensable handbook for every West Coast boater, and a useful addition to more general collections on the marine geography of British Columbia.