Brent Reaney
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Aug 26/05) - With plant hangars swinging, and pots and pans banging, Yellowknife houseboaters hunkered down in a wind storm that rocked their world.

Strong autumn winds from the south, combined with a current from the Yellowknife River can bring meter-high waves to the floating community on the bay.

Wednesday evening was "particularly rocking," according to houseboater Adrian Richards. "You kind of had to hold onto stuff as you walked around," says Richards.

He described the motion as a series of two or three times rocking side-to-side, followed by a "whack!"

He slept on his back to avoid rolling around in bed, though the boat's motion still woke him up in the middle of the night.

In the back of his mind, as a worst-case scenario, is the feeling that maybe the 40-foot rope anchor rope will break. If it did, he would crash into another boat in minutes. "But I have a pretty strong feeling that it won't. I trust my anchor," he says, adding he has a second anchor just in case.

But he does make sure that everything on the deck is properly secured. So far, the worst thing to happen seems to be a mild case of sea-sickness.

After getting used to the motion of the bay, "I sometimes feel more sick when I'm on land than I do when I'm on the boat."

High waves can also have positive effects.

"The rocking puts me right to sleep," says neighbour Craig Scott.