Barefoot Raid Around Cortes Island

Originally Published on Cortes Currents The SMURFETTE reached Squirrel Cove about 1 PM on Wednesday, August 21. According to a  crew member, it is one of the catamarans battling it out for the lead. The last of the small boats arrived over the course of the next three hours. They are mid-way in the 2019 Barefoot Raid around Cortes Island. Origins of The 2019 Barefoot Raid On their website, the event organizers state they were inspired by “Norseman in their longboats; soggy, determined Haida in their war canoes; and sun-baked Island-hopping Polynesians … As long as people have been taking boats out on the water, groups of boaters have been plying oar and sail, for adventure, exploration, and to visit mayhem on their neighbouring communities.” A group of small boat enthusiasts from Gabriola Island started holding “raids” in 2005. These early events inspired the better known Race to Alaska (R2AK) The 2019 Barefoot Raid is a 102 nautical mile event that started at Heriot Bay, Quadra Island on Aug 18. Participants stopped overnight at Carrington Bay, Penn Island, Squirrel Cove, Cortes Bay, Mansons Landing and Shark Spit. They finally return to Open Bay, Quadra Island, on Aug 25th. 2019 Round Marine Island Race This is the third race in our waters since August 13. Heather and Dan Drugge’s 16-foot-long wooden dingy MIRROR MIRROR participated in every event.  “We set out from Heriot Bay on the Tuesday before [the Barefoot Raid] so that we could participate in two other races. One is called the Round Marina Island Race. The other is called the August Full Moon Regatta,” said Heather. “The first race was actually amazing for...

Barry & Amanda Glickman

Originally Published on Cortes Currents While many Cortes Islanders associate them with emergency communications, there is a great deal more to Barry & Amanda Glickman’s story. “If you have DNA damage from radiation, if it is repaired accurately it is not going to lead to cancer, but if it is repaired with some-error rate, that error rate ultimately leads to cancer. But one of the things at that time is that we didn’t know if the people who repaired well made errors which caused cancer, or if people who repaired poorly didn’t repair and that problem led to cancer. So we were quite ignorant of that relationship and in a way we still are.” – Dr Barry Glickman, Founder of the Centre for Environmental Health (now the Centre for Biomedical Research), University of Victoria.  In The Podcast:  Dr Barry Glickman’s pioneer work with radiation genetics in Canada, the United States and various locations around the World. The radiation accident in Goiânia, Brazil; five years in Brazil with a research team. After Chernobyl, world’s biggest nuclear accident, Working with the Canadian and Soviet Space Agency on the challenges of radiation when considering travel to Mars. HIV studies in Africa. (Access 219 of B W Glickman’s research articles,)How a Victoria girl like Amanda ended up working for a synthetic biology company called Diversa in San Diego; Why she did not complete her doctorate.Barry & Amanda went sailing for almost ten years. Following John Steinbeck’s “Log from the Sea of Cortez“; Their book “Patagonia Through The Eyes Of Darwin”Last years with the University of Victoria, studying how birds spread nutrients through forestsWhy traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) is...
Becoming Cortes Community Radio, CKTZ 89.5 FM

Becoming Cortes Community Radio, CKTZ 89.5 FM

Originally Published on the ECOreport George Sirk whispered “Cortes Radio” for years before he found the right pair of ears. This led to a meeting at Manson’s Hall, to  discuss possibilities. Howie Roman attended and, six months after the station was launched, became a DJ. He still is. “My prime interest in Cortes radio is [that] I really enjoy having a show.”  Howie served on CKTZ’s board for five years, the maximum amount allowed by the society’s constitution, and now is the station’s manager. In this morning’s interview, I ask Howie about the process of becoming Cortes Community Radio, CKTZ 89.5 FM. [/et_pb_text]   Becoming Cortes Community Radio “This is my story. It’s not Sean’s story, it’s not Amber’s story; it would not have been Vicki’s story and not John Jordan’s story - people who were really there at the very beginning and are still part of Cortes Radio,” he explained. Then he proceeded to describe incidents from CKTZ’s past. The station’s first antennae was up a tree. After it was destroyed in a storm, they used a 30 foot analog TV tower. One of Howie’s “coolest, craziest days” was when he and about twenty others raised the current 85 foot radio tower at Thunder Road. “Those are the days I live here for. The days when a group of us get something big done,” he says. (Listen to the full story in the podcast above) Two weeks later the board received letters stating that if they did not apply for a license, the society was liable for a $20,000 fine and each director was personally liable for $5,000, and...