B4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Mm SKEENA ANGLER |

~ ROB BROWN . Adventure ventures lie mist smells of brine. The ‘glow behind

time being it’s chilly enough to make me- ‘pull the heavy black plastic zipper of my ~

_ survival suit up tight under my chin.

A hazy blue car ferry sits in. the misty distance -

to port — Digby Island. A ‘short. time later.a scat- - tering of buildings and boats’ comes into. view to

- starboard.’ :

- Metlakatla,- says Mike, adding a smattering of town facts including a mention of William Duncan,

the controversial Scots tanner and: Anglican lay: - minister, who, after a doctrinal dispute with church

brass, took some loyal Tsimshian converts and the

* name of their home and relocated’on Alaska’s An-

‘T- nette Island after securing the blessing of:the US

government, something he had to travel all the way,

to Washington D.C. to do.

- Mike, whose bald pate and earring beg for a ker- chief and three cornered hat to complete the i image

of buccaneer, mentions none of that detail, or the » fact that Metlakatla i is Tsimshian for “calm chan-

ned” ian

I am tempted to, but rm not ‘the tour guide, and,. besides, . the French Canadian family — maman,

deux fils, grand-mére et grand- pere, seem satisfied . A with a brief:description. "Mike and our skipper Troy have another reason

for brevity, I: suspect: it’s going to be a hot day, upwards of 30 degrees, and my limited experience

- of long, hot summer days in waters such as these is

Leer

that you really don’t want to be trying to get any- whére fast —‘or anywhere. at all.in.a small craft full -

‘of land iubbers — past midday because such condi- ‘tions conjure up heavy winds and the rough seas

. that attend them.

We're still a long way from the sheltered waters

-of Khutzeymateen Inlet.

La! says maman, and everybody fore follows

her finger to where a black diving duck dips under —

the calm waters of.Metlakatla Channel. In moments we're at full throttle again, power-

ing over the light chop past Ryan point, toward Big

Bay and Port Simpson. Melville, Dunira, Baron and Dundas Island are. distant shades, mere glimpses

“appearing then vanishing like vapour.

» . Ghost boats appear, at first a few, then by. the dozen." ” What are they? Maman turns and asks. ' Gillnetters, I say, fishing boats. They’ re fishing salmon — le saumon, sockeye:

Troy slows to half throttle. He scans the wa- ter for scotchmen, not wanting to run over a net.

When we're free of the ‘fleet, Mike gets back on

the step. No outboard: is quiet. but the pair of 200

Mercs that power this craft are quiet by outboard »

standards. ; Time and again on this trip, I think of my good

friend, Mike Whelpley, intrepid Mike, who made’

this trip, or took the alternate route down Work. Channel, alone in a Zodiac a quarter the size of this

one, armed only with his Canon camera when no-

body contemplated such an adventure.

I'd been to the Khutzeymateen in Mike's trans- parencies, seen grizzlies munching grass, standing _ on two legs, copulating, but I was eager to see them in the fur. ~The sport fishing fleet plies the waters between Flewin and Father points: Mike and Troy are pleased to sec the curtain of fog lift and the moun-

tains appear at centre stage.

Grand-mére was agog. We have nothing like. this in Quebec! she exclaims. ; Mike points us to creek estuaries.: The first is

barren of bears. There is motion in the green sward

covering the second, and — yes! — a bear,.a large, dark boar. The tittering spooks the bruin and it lopes off into the brush.

-Mike hastens to assure us that this seldom hap-

“pens; it’s clearly a tender spot with him. I’m sure

I’m the only tourist aboard who appreciates the rea-

* son for his concern and the politics behind it, and T

think it’s no big deal.

Troy takes us to Mouse Creek. We pass one of his competitors on the way, the guy with the glass walled lodge. We glass the place and the new green roofed cabin for the guardians.

- Then, at the place Mike and Trey have obvious- ly saved for last, there is a grizzly, rubbed now that summer is here, but scruffily magnificent nonethe-— less.

‘Nobody says anything above a pale whisper. ‘Maman shoots picture after picture. We move to the next estuary where we find a sow and cub.

A herring ball, a fisherman picking sockeye from his net, sea lions, seals and eagles are sighted on the réturn trip. We have a grand time thanks to

. Seashore Charters and their contractors, H2O.

And the Montrealers, foreign to this coast and new to this kind of sea cruise, did they think it worth $135 a head? Mais Oui!

it promises a warm afternoon, but for the —

“races and isn’t going to predict. how she’ ll finish.

' uf

Track stars

ready to race

for the gold —

TERRACE sends 54 talented athietes, including the largest ; “track team ini the last decade to compete, to the BC Summer, Games in Kamloops with many of the: “youth expected to

crack the top 10 in their events.

Dighton Haynes, coach of the track and field team, wills watch over 10 athletes competing ina variety of track and. fj

’ field events at the games. : . He believes that Jessica Ames, who came fourth at Pro- _

- vincials, will be a medal contender. :

“She'll be our best chance at getting a medal,” he said. The 4x400 relay team, anchored by. Ames, stands a good chance of running its competition, into the ground. -

“Part of the job is to get the best out of |

an athlete, ” --Dighton Haynes

D

Athletes like Eric Anderson and Brandon Baverstock i im- |

prove at every meet... _ 0 ’ “That’s what we’ re really aiming for,” he said. ' He believes he’ll be nervous as a coach and as dad when

watching daughter Lynsey Haynes, run in.the 400-metre,

"800-metre, 1,500-metre and 4x400- metre races. » Fourteen- ~year-old Lynsey said she prefers the shorter

“I’m not sure. I’m just going to try my best,” she said. Her dad said he expects her to be in the.top of the stand- ings inthe 400-metre race and believes the same for triple -

7 jumper Katherine Scarborough, hurdler Della Orrey, and

high jumper Janna Olynick. “Part of the job is to get the best out of an athlete,” he -

_ Said, adding that encouraging a high placing helps athletes

put in the extra effort needed to achieve it.

TERRACE STANDARD pp

NAHANNI BALFOUR will tackle the triathion |

course at the BC Summer Games in Kamloops this weekend. ~ MARGARET SPEIRS PHOTO

Get to know a 1 few of the young athletes eager to experience the B. C. Summer. Games

, “Crystal Thomas, .- going to the Games as a -

“Triathletes _ take on B.C.’s

best |

who's

triathlon coach, expects it

“to be a“cool” experience.

“The point is to give -

_ the kids an experience

and let them see what the world is like,” she said. ~~ “We have some amaz- —

-ing triathletes here - in

BC. ie

“She’s really proud to

be representing Terrace. “I’m proud these kids

get a chance to go down .

and see other kids in their |

' sport,” she said.

“We're pretty darn ex-

' cited.” +

Triathlete © Nahanni Balfour, 15, has been en- joying the sport since she’ was hine. :

Balfour grabbed a third place finish in this year’s Envision Triathlon to

. qualify for the Games.

“Tm just going to have

fun,” ‘she said, adding that “her favourite part of .the

triathlon is biking.

Competing

just part of | the Games for cyclists

CASSANDRA KINNEY will play the centre position on the girls’ volleyball team in

Kamloops this weekend.

MARGARET SPEIRS PHOTO

Teen aims to serve up victory

Volleyball player Cassandra Kinney, 15, has previous Games experience from two years ago when she went to play soccer.

She's been. playing volleyball for four years after a coach asked. her to try it and she liked it.

“At first I didn’t [like it] because a lot of the players weren’t great, and it was-hard to get a game going but now they’re.good,” she said.

“It makes it fun when there’s competi-

tion.”

Kinney, who plays centre, isn’t nervous

even though she believes Terrace residents will depend on the team todo well.

“They take it really seriously,” she said about the Summer Games. ~

She believes the team has a chance to” medal and she’s ready to spike the ball past .

her opponents. 4 “That’s my job,” she said about spiking the ball over the net. ;

time,”

‘against bigs:

Cycling coach Lucy Praught said the Games will give . her cyclists the chance to . see how they rank against others in B.C. aan

The goal is for her rid-

ers to have a lot of fun just as her team did at the 2004 BC Summer Games in Ab-

‘ botsford.

“They had an awesome she said, adding somie. still continue to cy-

cle.

In between the r races, SO- cial events such as a party in the park and mixers have been planned, she said.

Each cyclist. will take

two bikes, one road and one mountain, that will be taken apart for the trip.

_The riders will compete in a mountain bike race, in-

dividual time trial and road — race.

Cyclist Connor Gough, 15, really got into the sport at age seven.

He started racing recent- ly and uses his mountain

‘bike on the trails and the

road, although he prefers

_ mountain biking. _ “It’s just more fun,” he said, adding a mountain .

_ bike is better’ suited for

jumps than‘a road bike.

Teamwork is. key *» for lacrosse team

Twelve local Midget lacrosse players join six teammates from the zone under the guidance of coach Pat Prest.

“This is the best of the best out of BC so it’s hard to say,” he said, about how tough the competition will be.

Prest, who played lacrosse for seven years when younger, hopes the talented team will medal.

“We're going there to have fun and meet people and

learn more about the sport,” he said, adding it’s 8 possible that

scouts might be present.

Player Chapen Lebiond said the club will do well if his teammates all work together as a team.

He believes the squad will face a lot of fast competition

ger, stronger players.

“We have a chance,” he said about their medal hopes.

Score Board

Score Board

Women’s outdoor soccer standings — Top 4

Top 4 women’s goal scorers

Leanne Praticante

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