A Brief History of Ripple Rock Squadron

Laury Lafleur

In the fall of 1958 an interested group of boaters from Campbell River came together and discussed the merits of organising a small boat instruction course. The course would be sponsored by the school board and offered in the night school curriculum of the winter of 1958-59. One of the original interested boaters and organisers, Morgan Brethour, in correspondence to the Squadron January, 1981, described this first venture; "The course itself was a flop as far as instruction went, so out of this evolved a small group of interested people getting together ... "

The fledgling group were in contact with the then Commander of the Victoria Power Squadron, Lt. Cdr. Vic Griffin. Through his urging and support, and support from the Valvoline Oil representative for Vancouver Island, a CPS study group was fromed. Vic Griffen later went on to become Vancouver Island District Commander.

The original group numbered about a dozen individuals, "crammed into a clubhouse, a floating bunkhouse owned by Baikie Brothers Logging that came from Granite Bay and was moored in the slough, later (the) Fresh Water Marina". At the time Baikie Bros. had in their employ a skipper, Capt. Jack Bradley. He commanded the tug, "John W" of Baikie Bros. Under Capt. Jack Bradley'e tutelage participants sat for the exam in the high school under the watchful eye of Vic Griffen. It is believed that everyone in the group passed.

Now to the task of forming a Squadron and selecting a name. After much discussion it was decided that "Ripple Rock" was the most uniquely descriptive of the area. In anticipation of a CPS Charter, the Campbell River group whose names appear below continue to learn and grow:

W. Wallace Baikie
Ronald D. Bartlett
James P. F. Boulding
Capt. F. A. 'Jack' Bradley
Morgan J. Brethour
L. George Davis
Edward N. Enns

Harry W. Gagne
Raynard Johnson
Miles J. Lynch
Gordon K. Noren
Charles G. Sandquist
Harry J. Sethre

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