I just got back from a week on my sailboat in Barkley Sound, which is the sound just to the south of Tofino on the west side of Vancouver Island. Maybe it is a

I just got back from a week on my sailboat in Barkley Sound, which is the sound just to the south of Tofino on the west side of Vancouver Island. Maybe it is a local culture thing, but I was very surprised by how few boats had AIS transponders on the west side of Vancouver Island, especially now that the price of a transponder is well below $1000. Then again, while AIS and EPIRB can save your bacon, they can also give a sense of false security especially if help is more than an hour away. Self-reliance comes first on the water.