Mother Ocean – Roy Henry Vickers

I grew up on the ocean and learned a healthy respect for her at a very young age. I remember my grandfather, Henry, telling me the ocean was like a women, never take her for granted and things should go well. I didn’t know what he was talking about at in those days but I was to find out later in life.
There have been numerous times at sea when I thought my life was over. I can still hear my Mother praying on our fishing boat and asking my Dad to turn around and find a safe place to anchor. I recall another incident travelling with a friend on the northern tip of Vancouver Island. We had left Port Hardy and were heading across a section of shallow water at the north end of Johnstone Straits. The tide was ebbing and we got caught in something known locally as the elevators. The tide running hard came up from hundreds of fathoms to a few fathoms and this caused a section of standing waves so high the were called, the elevators. When I heard my friend scream in terror at the top of a 40 foot high standing wave, I knew it was time to turn around and find a safe harbour to wait for slack tide.
Another ocean incident I recall was off the coast of Long Beach when I was commercial fishing back in 1980. I was one of the last trollers to leave in a steadily increasing westerly wind. When the wind reached 35 knots I headed in for Ucluelet and for 45 minutes it was a very uncomfortable ride before reaching the calm harbour of Ucluelet. These are some of the stories that have inspired this creation I call, Mother Ocean.

Roy Henry Vickers