Raised along the B.C. coast, June Cameron was the first woman to race her own boat in all the major B.C. sailing races. She has been sailing up and down the coast of BC since the mid-1970s. Holding a Masters from UBC in special needs communication, she has published articles in Pacific Yachting magazine.

Inspired by her late father's taped reminiscences, Cameron has recalled her own visits to her grandparent's homestead on Cortez Island during the summers of the 1930s and 1940s in Destination Cortez Island (Heritage, 1999 / Fine Edge $17.95). She travelled to and from Cortez in a 36-foot wooden boat, the Loumar, purchased for $750 in 1930.

A mutual love of sailing, fishing and beachcombing brought June Cameron and Paul Holsinger together and has resulted in their book 26 Feet to the Charlottes, Exploring the Land of the Haida (Heritage 2009). In 1983, after three summers of calm sailing together, the couple decided to cross Hecate Strait in Paul's 26-foot wooden sloop Wood Duck. June was used to skippering but it was a major undertaking for a small craft making only four-and-a-half nautical miles per hour and without the assistance of electronic navigational aids. As June and Paul visited uninhabited First Nations villages, a remote logging camp, a defunct whale meat cannery and abandoned gold and copper mines, they were struck by how hard it could be to make a living in the Charlottes. Like the islands' ancient inhabitants, they found themselves challenged to keep warm, find food, stay healthy and just plain survive.

BOOKS:

Shelter from the Storm
Destination Cortez Island (Heritage 1999). 0-93865-60-X
26 Feet to the Charlottes, Exploring the Land of the Haida (Heritage 2009) 978-1-894974-61-5 $19.95

[BCBW 2009] "Local History" "Maritime" "Women" "QCI"