Angus Adventures

Well, I’m sorry to say that it wasn’t the satellite updater that stopped working.  Colin was pulled up on a beach near Schooner Bay but I didn’t see him when I went looking.

I just found out when I returned home and he called.  ”I was hurting so much, I couldn’t go on,” he said.  His tendonitis is worse than ever, and I’m sure the poor night’s sleep didn’t help.  He’s going to see if he can continue tomorrow. Hopefully a day’s rest will help.

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I ordered a burger at the Sea Shanty restaurant in Tofino, which has a great view of the ocean, and searched the waters for Colin. He appeared a half hour later, his red boat slowly materialized out of the grey mist and headed toward the pier we agreed to meet at. I grabbed Leif and ran outside, leaving my purse and diaper bag behind as collateral.

Colin looked weathered. His face was darkly tanned, blood covered the top of his right hand, and he limped out of his boat. “I’m so glad to be here,” he said. “I would have been here earlier but the current were against me most of the time.”

Colin had travelled a less exposed route, rowing on the inside of Flores and Vargas Islands. This was safer from big waves and winds, but more impacted by the currents.

After changing out of his dirty clothes, we went back to the restaurant and ate a celebratory meal. There’s lots to celebrate; Colin is nearly two thirds of the way around the Island. But there’s lots that’s not going swimmingly, and that brings us to our next stop.

The medical clinic is two blocks up the street, and although it’s not a walk in clinic, the reception said she’d squeeze Colin in. Two hours later, Colin had his diagnosis. He has severe tendonitis in his arm and leg. Colin had hoped cortisone shots might provide relief, but the doctor said that would make it worse before it got better, and it could give him increased pain for the next three days. Instead, he recommended rest, ice, ibuprofen and a brace. The first two Colin can’t do, but the second two he can.

After checking into our hotel room at the Weigh West and rowing the boat to the marina below, the real work got started. Colin cleaned out his boat, throwing out trash and giving me all the extra things he decided he didn’t need. He’s only worn one outfit since leaving Comox. And yes, that outfit stinks.

By the time he had all his chores done, it was 10:30 at night and two and a half hours past his bedtime. Leif woke up and cried a couple times throughout the night and then the alarm went at 3 am. I’m afraid Colin’s restful day in Tofino wasn’t to be. He had a quick breakfast, loaded the boat and then before the sun was up he was gone into the rainy night.

I went back to bed, exhausted. When I woke up and checked his position, he had travelled some 20 km already. I don’t know how he does it.

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Colin’s another 58 km closer to the end, but it was a tough go today. He had headwinds against him the whole day and the seas were rough.

The region he travelled, from Nootka Island to Hesquiat Peninsula Provincial Park and then past Maquinna Marine Provincial Park, was exposed without any bays or inlets to seek shelter in. This meant he had no reprieve from the headwinds. It was impossible to stop ashore for a break and he couldn’t rest in the rowboat. As soon as he stopped rowing, he was at risk of being pushed into the rocky shore. And if the headwinds increased, he feared he wouldn’t be able to make any forward progress at all and instead would have to return to where he started in the morning, the last safe shelter he passed.

After rowing for 11 hours non-stop, Colin reached his destination, a small bay across from Hot Springs Cove, and he could finally pause.

“I’d row 50 feet and then I’d have to stop with the pain,” he said, describing the final half an hour he rowed around the bay to search out a camping spot.

Colin’s hands are blistered. He has tendonitis in his right arm and his bottom is sore, very sore. The tendonitis is too severe to continue feathering the oars, which makes rowing difficult. The oars are constantly battered by the waves, causing his hands to smash together. So now his knuckles are also bloody. No one ever said this would be easy, but I don’t know if he expected it to be this hard.

Now he’s a day away from reaching Tofino and seeing Leif and me! Tomorrow night we’ll be celebrating with Colin!

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Colin’s made it past Brooks Peninsula!! He began just after 4 am and by 11 am he had passed it. He then continued on until nearly 5 pm, rowing an impressive 76 km and pulling ashore at a small island near Rugged Point Marine Provincial Park.

If you look at his route, you’ll notice that he’s rowing quite far from shore. That’s because another danger he’s currently dealing with are the submerged reefs that abound in this region. He calls them boomers, and they’re impossible to see until a large wave hits them. Then they create an enormous wave far from shore. These waves can be 50 feet high, which is more like the famous surfing wave Jaws in Maui and not anything he’s keen on testing out with a rowboat. Because he’s in a rowboat and has to turn his head to see where he’s going, it’s harder to spot the boomers that lie ahead.

When I spoke to Colin, he sounded happy to have this hurdle behind him but when I gave him the marine forecast that happiness faded. The forecast is for strong winds from the south for the next few days. This means his already blistered hands are going to get worse and if they are indeed as strong as the forecast predicts, he’ll have trouble making any progress. But weather forecasts are notoriously wrong and we’re crossing our fingers that will be the case here.

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