July 9, 1992

Ogopogo is staying out of sight
Capital News

Ogopogo has been unusually quiet this year. It could be this summer's record hot weather followed by record rainfall which kept Ogopogo in the depths of Okanagan Lake.

In any case, there has been only one significant sighting reported to Ogopogo expert Arlene Gaal of Rutland.

That June 18 sighting was by Ewalt and Jackie Bart who just moved to Casa Loma from Nikomis, Sask., their son, Ken, his wife, Jackie, and grandson, Devin, who were visiting from Regina.

At 5:45 p.m., they had just gone through the passage around Rattlesnake Island and were headed south around Squally Point in their six-metre boat.

The lake was like a mirror when Ken Bart directed everyone's attention to a very large wave that suddenly appeared on the water. He zoomed in on the wave with his video camera.

The Barts were somewhat surprised at seeing something so large. Jackie thought it was a deck of logs bobbing up and down be cause she had often seen them in northern Saskatchewan lakes. Devin is certain he saw something, but is not sure what.

Whatever it was, it was gone in a few minutes.

After viewing the videotape, Gaal said it appears to have been "a very large animate object breaking water, creating a frothy, rolling wave around sections of what appears to be a dark body."

"It submerges and reappears throughout the video and in two spots, there is at least 20 feet or more of the animal visible. For some reason, although moving continuously in that one spot, it doesn't appear to be going anywhere."

"Viewing it more closely in slow motion, it seems to be going around in a circular fashion almost as if it was chasing its own tail or perhaps feeding on a school of fish."

A frame-by-frame analysis might reveal more and perhaps show what may be either an appendage or head moving in many directions, she said, adding there are similarities to the Thal film shot in 1980 and the Simmons video taken in August 1990, both very close to the same area.

Someone called Gaal at the end of May to report a sighting off Westside Road near Bear Creek. However, she has still not seen videotape and other photos reportedly taken at the time.

Ogopogo received national attention earlier in the month when Macleans magazine featured the Okanagan's lake creature in its July 1 edition.

A manufactured Ogopogo was also sunk off Paul's Tomb north of the Poplar Point pump station, a popular spot for local scuba divers.

ARLENE GAAL/Courier Photo

OGOPOGO SPOTTERS. Ken and Janet Bart were vacationing in Kelowna last month when Ken videotaped a disturbance in the waters off Rattlesnake Island.