Ride along with these brawny boats as they catch the swells and waves of the wild West Coast, navigate deadly tidal rapids and squeeze through a winding maze of boats and bridges as they ply the mighty Fraser River.

Join the Captain Bob, the biggest tug on the coast, as she tows the world's largest log barge across the open waters of the Pacific. Watch Fraser River tugs guide 600-metre log booms between bridge supports with scarcely a whisker of clearance. Observe the intricate ballet as tugs manoeuvre 2,000-tonne chip barges into impossible places. These and many more strikingly illustrated stories will both entertain and inform the reader.

Peter A. Robson was born in Vancouver, British Columbia. He has spent much of his life crewing and skippering boats in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Caribbean and has worked as a tenderman in the BC salmon industry. He is a freelance writer, and former editor of Westcoast Fisherman. Robson has written and edited hundreds of articles on fishing and logging and is the author of the award-winning bestseller, The Working Forest of British Columbia.

Peter A. Robson's profile page

Robb Douglas was born in Edmonton in 1950 and began his 26-year career as a still photographer with CFRN television, later switching to 16mm film and eventually video. He moved to Regina to work for CBC National TV News, then to Vancouver. After racing endurance horses in BC for a couple of years, Douglas eventually shifted his focus to boats. For Skookum Tugs Douglas donned a pair of caulk boots and learned to run up and down logs with his cameras as nimbly as a boom man. He lives in North Vancouver with his wife Linda and their daughter Kate.

Robb Douglas' profile page

Betty Keller's profile page

• Winner, BC Book Prize - Bill Duthie Bookseller's Choice Award