Josh Hite and Rebecca Bayer are members of the ‘Ten Fifteen Maple’ art collective, in residence now at the Hadden Park Field House in Vancouver, Canada.
Josh and Kristen Roos purchased a canoe last August, and Josh has been going on excursions related to his perspective projects.
There is one place though, that Josh has yet to paddle; around Stanley Park and under the Lions Gate Bridge.
Dangerous tidal currents move through the Lions Gate into the Burrard Inlet, but I found a chart that indicates times when the current is perfectly still.
The only thing was, we disagreed slightly about when that perfect time would be,
and I was making matters worse by talking about all the confusing numbers on my chart.
“It’s nice to go on an adventure in your own city.” said Rebecca.
I got to ride in the middle while Josh and Rebecca expertly piloted the canoe.
Josh was doing all the worrying that I usually do,
and as a passenger, I realized how little cause there actually is to fret,
when you are out in a boat, not far from shore, on a warm pretty day.
Vancouver looks great from the water, like it was made to be seen from a canoe.
Rebecca pointed out the The Euginia Building. The tree on top is the original height of Vancouver’s virgin pine forrest.
There was something horrible about the idea, like seeing a severed head on a pike.
To our left, the container ships waited 15 deep to enter the shipping port.
The day was so clear that we could see a ship 20 miles away, its hull hidden by the curve of the earth.
Eagles were being chased around by angry crows,
and every time we turned around, a little head poked curiously out of the water; a harbor seal was following our canoe.
Stanley park seemed like a theater, looking out onto the natural world, and we were sneaking quietly backstage.
We passed by Slhx̱i7lsh rock, a powerful site for the Squamish people who lived on this peninsula before the British colony.
My heart raced as we came within site of the Lions Gate,
but we passed under the bridge without a hitch.
The water was as still as glass. Josh had been right; the slack current seemed to coincide perfectly with high tide.
We found a little beach to pull over,
and sent word back to friends that we had made it through the Lions Gate.
As traffic filled the channel, my confidence was rattled.
Lucky we’re not coming through there right now, I thought.
We set out to see more of downtown Vancouver,
followed by our curious little friend.
Josh and Rebecca pointed out the giant sulfur piles in the Port of Vancouver,
the stoic ‘Girl in a Wetsuit’ by Elek Imredy,
and whatever the heck that was.
We slipped quietly by the Naval Base on Deadman’s Island,
and let ourselves into the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club.
It was fun to peek into all the boat garages,
and see the million dollar yachts.
We found a secret passage under the pier,
and tied up to a dock downtown.
We sat and rested for a bit,
but when we set out again, I wondered if we had timed things wrong.
We would be coming through the Lions Gate right between high and low tide, during the period of fastest moving current,
exactly when we said we wouldn’t go.
A concerned boater stopped and asked if we knew what we were about to do,
but once again, there seemed nothing left to do but try,
and we sped back through the channel like we were whitewater rafting.
It doesn’t look like much in the picture here, but that dark patch in the water was a wave of current moving faster than I have ever seen before.
We made it under the bridge in just a few minutes, accompanied by our little friend.
A new friend appeared to be following us though;
a Vancouver Police vessel. The concerned boater we spoke to earlier had radioed ahead for someone to help us.
The police asked if we were aware that traveling under the Lions Gate in a canoe was against the law.
I had to look back at Josh’s video to see what we said in return.
“Yeah… Yeah… o.k… thank you.” we said.
A helpful wind pushed us all the way back to Kitsilano Beach.
We had been out for 7 hours and traveled over 12 miles.
Josh and Rebecca’s friends would be wondering where they were by now,
but we took some time to enjoy the sun before going back to real life.
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