Geordie Tocher
West Coast Adventurer
Geordie Tocher whittled a 31/2 ton, 40 foot canoe out of a B.C. Douglas Fir and sailed it across the Pacific Ocean in order to prove the theory (see Heyerdahl for more info) that some of the original inhabitants of the Hawaiian Islands were Haida Indians, over 1400 years ago.
There is a wealth of evidence to back the Hawaii theory. The Hawaii and Haida languages have more than 200 words that are the same. Some of the legends in Hawaii bear a striking resemblance to those of the Pacific Coast tribes, as do the techniques used to build boats and houses.
In 1971 Geordie's first canoe, the Orenda I, was carved from a cedar tree, 7 feet in diameter, 200 feet tall, and straight as an arrow. After 2 years of sawing, chopping, chiseling and carving the craft would measure 50 feet long and 4 1/2 feet wide. It was lashed to a half size replica which served as an outrigger. Unfortunately this first vessel was doomed for destruction in the vicious storms off the coast of California.
Geordie spent the following years sculpting, working and saving until his next opportunity would arise. In 1976 his second chance came when the city of West Vancouver gave him an enormous Douglas Fir that had been felled in a municipal park. It was almost 300 feet long, 9 feet in diameter and 600 to 800 years old. Two more years of carving and it was down to 40 feet by 6 feet. This vessel, the Orenda II was shorter, wider, more stable and comfortable than the first boat.
In the spring of 1978 Geordie and his crew, Gerhard Kiessel, a veteran sailor and experienced navigator, and Richard Tomkies, friend and free-lance writer set off on their journey of a lifetime. After a long, hard, 2 months at sea, the Orenda arrived safely on the beaches of Waikiki. Geordie and the crew were welcomed by Hawaii's Maori Indians, who told them that they had always know that their ancestors had come from around British Columbia. Maori legends describe their homeland as the place where the sun rises, the trees are without leaves for 6 months of the year, and men can walk on water.
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