June Cameron

June Cameron (1929-2016) sailed the coast of BC beginning in the mid-1970s, after raising four children and working as a teacher in Vancouver. She was a competitive sailor and the first woman to skipper her own boat, with all-female crews, in major BC sailing races. For six years, she lived aboard her cruiser, where she painted watercolours and wrote articles for boating publications. Eventually she returned home to the scene of her happy childhood summers, purchasing a cottage on the shore of Cortes Bay. June was the author of three books, all published by Heritage House: Destination Cortez Island: A Sailor's Life along the BC Coast, her memoir of early summers on Cortez and a tribute to the pioneers of Desolation Sound; Shelter From the Storm: A Sailor's Life of Havens, High Seas, and Discovery, about her sailing racing days; and 26 Feet to the Charlottes: Exploring the Land of the Haida, about sailing north to Haida Gwaii.