CHRISTIANA WIENS.

SKEENA ANGLER
ROB BROWN

That old boat

ubberized catamarans are floating down

salmon streams everywhere it secms.

Kispiox guide Bob Clay was the first per-

son | know who had one. One December
day Webb and J floated five miles of the Kispiox
with Bob and caught a trio of brilliantly coloured,
sluggish steelhead from pools that usually have ice
lids at that time of year,

As we drifted alongside him I squinted through
snow gauze and watched Bob maneuver his pon-
tooned boat down ‘river, his Labrador retriever
Waker perched on a small net seat in the stern.

The craft was agile, but its drawbacks were
apparent, First, it had no flooz, and though not hav-
ing one affords its skipper the opportunily lo set
down his fect like landing gear on a fleeting strand
or a large rock and cast from there, having no floor
ensures that the boat’s skipper will spend the large
part of acold day in cold water, Second, unless your
friend is the size of your dog, he will need his own
form of conveyance. Third, the design. of Bob's
catamaran and its cousins, requires a rowing frame
which guarantees it will be awkward to transport
when the launch site is open and damned frustrating
to maneuver to the river through the bush.

On the day under discussion, Webb and I were
bobbing downsiream in my Avon Red Crest, a boat
with 10 years of experience on the Kispiox when I
bought it from a lady on Queensway who, with her
husband, had moved here and was; selling -the- raft

because jt wag idle since:they’d bought a Jetoat;. |.

"| My-little boat if now 30-years old. have patched
itonce, on the shore at Baxier’s Riffle back in the
‘days when it fished best from river left, and that
patch js still there holding in air. ’ve deftated the
_ Avon, stuffed it into a Trapper Nelson, tied the
pump around my neck, taken the cars in one hand
and my rod in the other, packed through a mile of
Kitsumkalum Valley bush, inflated it and drifted the
lower four or five miles of the Kalum in it,

I've thrown the little boat aver the bank at
Shames on more than one shiny spring day, then
floated five miles to the spot where the Germans
disembark, and caught steelhead at Dasque and
Either Island and the Radio Run,

The Avon has carried me down the Lakelse a
dozen times. One time Ed Chapplow and I hit some
tohubohu there when we drifted under a gnarly
Lakelse log jam and survived, I used the Avon to get
Finlay aad I into spots and sea trouting on the
Kitimat we would never have made otherwise. I’ve
floated the Kwinamass from Talahat Lake, 20 miles
of the Daln when it was fully treed, the lower
Zymacord, the Bulkley, the Morice, and all of the
Copper River except for the stretch from
MacDonnell Lake to Red Canyon Creek, and the
parts confined by the canyons. It was the Copper
where [ almost came a cropper in my boat only a
short time alter ils first voyage with me al the oars.

On that day I packed the boat down the road now
marked by the white pipe the guys at Pacific
Northern Gas call “Pig 53.” 1 threw the boat in,
clipped the painter to my wading belt, and looked
downstream. Assured that everything was straight
and smooth I shoved off. Around the first bend the
river began to buck and roli. Before I could regroup,
I was rowing feverishly to get away from a rock
wall. Zip, | was around another bend, and into a run
hewn by some powerful forces.

At my back stood one of those cliff like culbanks
littered with fallen trees, and in a state of constant
slow motion avalanche. At run’s end sat a rock the
size of a supermarket with a log jam perched on its
roof like a nest of some mythic bird. I imagined
myself looking up from the bottom when this great
run was filled with roaring water.

Below the log nest, the river turned a hard left. | cau-
tiously floated down along the edge until 1 could float no
more. When in doubt scout, says the rafting rule, but here
a rock bluff hung with vines and topped with decaying
trees pula full stop to the scouting, I listened, Around the
bend, the river roared. [ looked upstream — out of the ques-
tion, I went for it.

The river whippsd me around the rock then passed the
bluff. The water was while, I shot through it then slid into
a glassy pool, went through a gateway formed by two big
rocks, tripped over astep and filled (he boat, but continued
fo float,

The old boat has only one chamber now. Bits of it are
hanging loose waiting for glue, She has one valve plug and
‘the oars are cracked, It may cost me more han tie $450 I
paid for her to have her repaired, but 1'll put her in dry dock
and pay it. She's been a passport to all kinds of adventure
~ and | can't sland (he idea of her being moored in a landfill

1

Me)

WADE LOUKES floods the

at the Terrace Arena Oct. 29, Loukes js
race. Besides making sure day.
drives the Zamboni to make sure

job in town

BEING; A. Zamboni; driver, -

in-thg oyinter,
cracked up to-be,

navigate icy roads in winter
better than geese at the lake,
but your day starts pretty
early.

The first flood begins at
4:30 am, before the 5 a.m.
hockey practice. It ends
after adull leagues finish
around midnight.

Terrace’s four recrea-
tional attendants — the pre-
ferred job description for a
Zamboni driver - work 10
hour shifts, four days a
week.

Bul the Zamboni dovsn’t
Starl for just anyone, Ter-
race’s icemakers each re-
quired a refrigeration ticket
to gel the job,

Wade Loukes took
courses via correspondence
five years ago,

Bluebacks win
first meet of year

THE TERRACE BLUEBACK swim team
is flying high after taking home first place
at the Prince Rupert Invitational meet

Qct. 23-24.

Not only did the Bluebacks win their
first meet of the year, the win represents

the club’s first group medal
a year.

“It’s very exciting,” said
Carlyle, “It's a good. way to
off,”

And even though lar-
ger clubs, such as Kiti-
mat, caine to the meet a
few swimmers shorter
than others, the win im-
proves swimmers work
ethic at the pool,

“The kids feel really
positive and they want
to come back and train
the next day,” Carlyle
said.

Carlyle added

10

club usually doesn’t train swimmers to
Instead coaches
have each swimmer concentrate on

win individual meets,

clocking their personal best.
So when the club does w

— the win acts as a real morale buoster to
kick off the season. Still, it takes a lot of
personal bests \o win a meet.

Blueback swimmers charted 71. per

cent best times — about 40 p
than their: first meet last

ice between

Back. then; icemakers

fall it’s had to: pass:a lengthy -test,
~-+- 4 compléte with diagrams and
‘“Sufe;"you learn’ how’ to’ “

multiple choice questions lo
graduate,

Amazingly enough,
Loukes doesn’! skate — not
as @ kid, not as a teenager
playing minor hockey, not
ever,

Okay, so he’s occasion-
ally donned the blades and
skaied a solitary round on
the fresh ice surfaces once
or twice at Christmas, but
generally, it doesn’t appeal
to him.

“Tm here long enough,”
he said.
After five years behind
the wheel, Loukes knows
the routine.

There are two or three
different patterns drivers
need to follow so the icc
docsn’t groove or bulge -
and Loukes knows them all

in more than

coach Mike
start the year

0 Per Cent Best Times:
Alastair Beddle, 9
Marlee Cater, 8
Hali Downs, 13
Robert Lind, 12
Joshua Lozinski, 19
Caitlin Scales, 12
William Shack, 13
Conor Simpson, 11
Leanne Whyte, 11
Emily Wright, 9

the

sports psychologist, lo work with the
swimmers later this weck, : .
Usher, who has worked with: national

teams, will
ell as a team

er cent betier
year, when

periods during the Bantam hockey game
one of four recreational assistants in Ter-
‘to-day arena operations run smoothly, Loukes
local teams get a skate-able ice surface.

The coolest

swimmer had less time to train because
of pool renovations,

Nine swimmers clocked 100 per cent
best times on all their races.

Carlyle said Terrace’s 32 swimmers
also swam a strong technical meet, with
only one infraction in 189 races, ©

“Almost everyone scored a point in the
relay,” Carlyle said.

Jenine Barton won all six of her

Judy Stevenson, Edmund -

and parents lo develop the visualization,
self-confidence
swimmer
If--his techniques work, swimmers
Should begin to see preliminary results: at
upcoming meets in Prince
Smithers

this month: =

The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, November 3, 1999 - BS

638-7283

Sports Scope

by feel,. - cose,

‘ The ice needs to be kept: _
at different temperatures de-_-
pending on the weather and,
there’s even different floods
for different ice users ~ fig-
ure skaters like soft ice,
while hockey players like it
cold and hard.

Loukes says driving the
the tractor-like machine is
so normal now it’s “just like
driving a truck.”

Bul he admits being in:
the public cye is a bit
stressful. “It can be a little
nerve-wracking during
playoffs, or when there’s a
full crowd in the stands,”

To make matters worse,
Zamboni’s only go 10 miles
an hour. “The slower you
go, the better ice surface
you make,”

It sounds like good ad-
vice for winter driving to
me.

events, while Alastair Bed-
die, Tristan Brown, Holly
Derow, Hali Downs, Kaya
Downs, Allison’ Knoedler,
Aaron’ Moldenhauer, Kyle
Narzt, Evan Palahicky, Fer-
nando ‘Polanco, Willlam
Shack, Chance Sterner,

od

Swan and Wallace Keely
also clocked top-three fi-,
nishes.

The club is bringing in Dr.
Peter Usher, a well-known

talk to swimmers, coaches

and life skills of cach

George and

seniors plan Annual
General Meeting

THE B.C. Seniors Games Zone 10 team are holding
their annual general meeting at Terrace’s Happy
Gang Centre, Saturday, Nov. 13 al 2 p.m.

Members will elect officers fur the upcoming year.

Four Hundred Club Winners for September are Vera
McKenzie (#17) and Karpal Contracting (#190). Oc-
tober winners are Bud Kirkaldy and Louise Radford
(#308) and Aileen Frank’(4213)3 4;

‘For more information. contact Maxine at 638-8648
or Hugh at 635-3833. Pe,

Soccer clinic
IMPROVE your child’s indoor soccer skills and get
them ready for the 2000 outdoor season by enrolling
them in seccer clinics this November,

The clinic is for youth six to eight years old, who
were registered to play with Terrace Youth Soccer
Association last summer,

Lessons run every Saturday in: November at Cen-
tennial Christian School, beginning at 10 am.

The lessons concentrate on improving basic indi-
vidual skills, from dribbling and passing to receiving
and shooting drills to fun 15 minute games. The Ies-
sons are taught by longtime player and licensed B.C,
Soccer Association coach, Nick Kolias. All children
need running shoes and shin pads to participate, For
more information, or to register, call Nick at 635-
9231. Forms are also available at the Terrace Arena.

Shames plans

annual general meeting

THE SHAMES Mountain Ski Club is holding its an-
nual general meeting at the Coast Inn of the West
Tuesday, Nov. 9 al 7:30 p.m,

All club members and interested members of the
public are invited to attend and contribute. Your suc-
cess is needed to ensure another fun, successful ski
season. Call Paulette Kelly at 638-1833 for more in-
formation.

Women’s Basketball

DO YOU like to shool hoops? Know your way around
the basketball court? Why not try basketball?

A group of focal basketball enthusiasts are looking
for women, interested in playing ‘ball this winter. Ex-
perience is nol necessary! Call Debbic Scarborough
at 635-3597 for more information.

Learn to skate

THE TERRACE skating club is offering a new pro-

gram for preschoolers aged three and up who want to
learn how to skate,

Thirty minute lessans run every Tuesday from 5:40
p.m. to 6:10. Classes began Oct, 12 and run all sea-
son, or until mid-March. —

The program is designed for children who have
never skated before and are old enough to take in-
siruction. _ -

‘To put your child

! on the ice call Debbie at 635-
2477,

You asked for it

THE TERRACE Skating Club has added ‘yet another
Canpower session (o their already jam-packed season.

Added sessions on Thursdays (level 1) and Sundays
(level II and II) will hopefully, alleviate the club's
Waiting list this year. -
~ Canpower teaches basic skills to children who al-
ready know how to skate and want to improve their
speed and agility, .

Greal great for hockey and ‘ringette players looking
to better their game! Cali Debbie al 635-2477 for
more information, we

Call Debra at 635-1258 or Norm at 635-2249 for
lickets or more information, ©