Sunday, April 30, 2006

Forrest Island April 30th (#21)

Mike, Roscoe, Dennis, George, Mark, Tony, Gary and I headed east out from Amherst. The weather was magnificent and there were some great currents around Dock Island. We had a leisurely lunch on Forrest Island. After lunch we paddled on over to Domville/Sheep Islands and out to Reay Islet. There was a great low tide – dozens of big gumboot chitons on Reay. Interesting outhouse on Sheep!…

 2006_04_30_Reay(8.8 nm, 16.2 km, YTD 291 km)

Photos from today:

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Sunday, April 23, 2006

Cadboro Bay April 23rd, (#20)

Ben, Beth Anne, Craig, Stacey and I too the grade 11 outdoor leaders (17 of them) for their test paddle day today. We set out from the Beach at Cadboro Bay and worked on strokes and rescues. All went well and the group of students were great.

2006_04_23_cadboro(2.5 nm, 4.7 km, 275 km)

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Saturday, April 22, 2006

Beaver Lake April 22nd (paddle # 19)

I ran a CRCA flatwater course today for the VCKC. We held the course at Beaver lake. The day started off cool, but it was nice and sunny throughout and my four “students”(Brian, Dianne, Debbie and Chris) fared well. It is suprising to realise that this was paddle # 19 for the year.

(2.2 nm, 4 km, YTD 270 km)

2006_04_22_beaver2 2006_04_22_beaver ScreenShot038 Shots of the GPS track…

Monday, April 17, 2006

Island View to Hamley Point, April 17

Gordin and I set out from Island View Beach and paddled out to Sallas rocks and then over to Sidney and up to Hamley Point. Right as we arrived at Hamley Point, Hans, John and Heike came round the point from the other direction and we all had lunch together on the beach by Hamley. We then paddled together (Heike and I switched Nigel Foster boats) to the southwest corner of Sidney Island where the two groups went their separate ways. Gordin and I continued back via James Island and practiced some self  and assisted rescues. I need to work on my roll…. The NF Shadow continued to impress me as a comfortable, fast and manoeuverable boat…

2006_04_17_hamley (11.4 miles, 21 km, YTD 266 km)

 Photos of the day:

Oystercatcher at Sallas Rocks Gordin poses by the oystercatcher One of many eagles seen today S1ishamleyptimg_3696_resize

All 5 kayaks at Hamley tafoni at Hamley point Looking South from Hamley Fossils at Hamley Point

Sunday, April 16, 2006

April 16, Ten Mile Point

I took the NF Shadow for a test paddle by myself this afternoon out of Smuggler’s cove. I had it loaded for day paddling as a comparison and wanted to see how the boat performed in waves. It was fast, a little bit twitchy compared to my Gulfstream, but still paddled well in some decent waves in Baynes channel. I had no problem rolling it with my Greenland paddle, but had some trouble using my AT carbon paddle. I probably need to refine my technique! All in all, I am liking the Shadow and will try to paddle it tomorrow to Sidney Island.

2006_04_16_tenmile ( 4.7 nm, 8.7 km, YTD: 245 km)

Friday, April 14, 2006

April 14th, Ten Mile Point

Heike, Kent, George, Doug, Ian, Nancy and I set out from Cadboro Bay to paddle around Ten Mile Point towards Gordon Head. The wind and weather cooperated quite nicely until we were on our our way back around Ten mile point. The wind had picked up and it was quite a slog to make our way back to Flower Island. I was paddling a demo Nigel Foster Shadow for the day. I loaded it as if for camping and it performed well.

Today’s track: 2006_04_14_tenmile 10 miles, 18.5 km, YTD: 236 km

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