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Sixty-Five Sunsets: A Canadian West Coast Journey

by Jaquie Bunse and Rick Davies

184 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); Black and White Images; catalogue #05-3089; ISBN 1-4120-8091-6; US$17.35, C$19.95, EUR14.25, £9.98

Spectacular kayaking from Alaska to Vancouver. Storms, tidal rips and injuries challenge the skill and endurance of a middle-aged couple paddling and camping amid bears, wolves and helpful coastal people.

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About the Book

About the Authors

Excerpts

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About the Book

Sixty-Five Sunsets takes the reader on a kayak trip with a middle aged couple who planned a challenge their skill, experience and endurance, designed as a summer holiday to experience the coast and coastal people from the Alaska Panhandle to Vancouver, BC.

In the winter of 2000, Rick Davies and Jaquie Bunse set about planning for an extended kayak trip, and one June day they drove north with kayaks, food and gear, eventually ending up on Somerville Island in the Portland Canal, along the border of Alaska and British Columbia. In this book they recount the challenges, joys and anxieties as they made their way home to Vancouver.

Rick includes his lists of safety equipment, charts of the coast he needed to navigate as well as a description of the day-to-day food and tools carried in two single kayaks. His philosophy of adventure for the sake of enjoyment weaves around the pragmatic detail underlining the scope of such an adventure, the distance travelled and challenges met along the way.

Descriptions of birds, wild flowers and people encountered set the reader on the misty seas, brilliant sunny beaches and in tiny villages among the unique north coast people. Jaquie shares stories that evoke a sense that you have been with them, straining in rapids, toiling up rainy shores laden with heavy gear, cooking every meal on a single burner stove and collapsing exhausted in a tent too tired to think about tomorrow. Doubts and disagreements, injuries and exhaustion illustrate the human costs of such an undertaking. When most couples are reducing their physical stresses, these two will show you how to save energy when you can, and put it out when you need it. The result is a practical guide, a wistful look inside oneself, and an adventure as a template for life.

The two voyagers have included maps, photos, drawings and recipes designed to inspire you to follow their paddle strokes, wherever they may lead.

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About the Authors

Rick Davies:

Rick Davies was born in London, England, beginning his travels as a youngster of four years, wandering out to see the world on fine days to the dismay of his frantic mother. Each subsequent adventure only served to whet his appetite for higher climbs, further exploration and he set himself the task of learning everything he would need to survive and thrive in the wilderness.

When his family emigrated to New Zealand just before his fifteenth birthday, he knew he had arrived in a land of his dreams. The next two decades were filled with mountaineering, travelling the world with the Royal New Zealand Navy, and developing a life-long romance with mountains and the sea. After two years with his wife and two children on the South Pacific Island of Guadalcanal, he moved to Canada in 1980. Rick has tramped the mountains and kayaked the farthest reaches of the West Coast of British Columbia sharing his skills and passions by training others in navigation, weather, leadership, inspiring multitudes with his positive attitude.

Rick runs a training company, specializing in corporate leadership and management training. Rick's background in outdoor recreation has enabled him to deliver curricula in the office or boardroom, as well as on the water, in the mountains, on skis or in the wilderness. He teaches at Capilano College in North Vancouver and UBC in Vancouver. In writing a book full of hints, philosophy and inspiration, he has found another avenue for sharing.

Jaquie Bunse:

Jaquie Bunse was born in New Westminster, BC. She began adventuring in the Okanagan outdoors where she grew up and attended school. As a youngster with her parents, she enjoyed fishing, bird hunting, horse back riding and camping. Her two children shared her love of outdoor activities and were skating, skiing, paddling, camping and sailing early in life. As an empty-nester, Jaquie took up rock and ice climbing, kayaking, scuba diving and beekeeping in her forties, adding a bit of international travel to spice up her interests. The family continues to enjoy backwoods trips together with the crew expanded to include spouse Rick, his children, and two grandchildren.

While on a 1000 kilometre kayak trip in the summer of 2001, she sent excerpts of her journal to friends and colleagues via email. They asked for more. With a love of life and language, Jaquie joined Rick in the next adventure - writing a book.

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Excerpts

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Catalogue Information

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