Jan 28th - D'Arcy Island (#5)

Bill, Doug, Gordin, Gary and I set out at 9:30 from Island View Beach to paddle out to visit the campers on d’Arcy. Craig paddled up from Agate beach to join us for the paddle out. Dennis and a group were camped on d’Arcy for the night which was a tad chilly since there was frost all about in the morning. The morning started off breezy with 5–10 knots of wind which gradually died. By the time we began the paddle back via little d’Arcy and James, the sea was calm and the sun was out – a beautiful afternoon. We all had a snack/lunch on the beach  on the south side of James – some recent mud slides since our last visit. I saw a pair of Dall porpoises on the way back. There was a good ebb running between James and the peninsula…

   

18.3 km, 10 NM, YTD: 65 km

January 27 - Becher Bay

I joined a VCKC "Energizer" paddle today and we (all 27 of us) went to Becher Bay. The weather was great, though a bit windy at the start, and we made a very pleasant paddle over to Aylard farm. I had a quick go at sailing at the end and the Pacific Action sail worked well. We finished off by going to MyChosen Cafe to celebrate Duncan's "62nd" birthday!

http://www.islandnet.com/~mjackson/google/2007_01_20_becher.htm is an interactive Google maps link to our track.

- fixed track image - 10.7 km, 5.8 NM, YTD 47 km.

Some shots from the day:

The group!

Jan 12 - no paddling today

For some reason, I don't plan to paddle today...

 

January 7 - Bazan Bay (#3)

Mike and I went for a fairly early paddle out of Roberts Bay. The forecast was indicating that the wind would be out of the south and then build out of the west, so we decided to stay close to shore and follow it down to Bazan Bay - I hoped for a good tail wind back from Bazan... The sail rig worked well and Mike took some pics. However the wind was already turning to the west, making it harder to track.

11.2 km, 6 NM, YTD 36 km 

January 6, Trial Island (#2)

Pete and I snuck out for a couple of hours from McNeill Bay. My main goal was to try out the new Pacific Action sail that arrived on Friday and I installed this morning. It worked great in that it was easy to deploy and to furl. It also moved me along at a good clip - a fast paddling pace at least. It also seems to work quite well off directly downwind. I will need to tinker with the location of a couple of things and practice sail trimming a bit more, but it looks like it will be fun! I was sailing in all the purple/blue sections of the tack below and also in the second run north east from Trial Island. The wind was probably about 10 knots most of the time and gusting occasionally to 15 knots.

8.8 km, 4.8 NM, YTD 25 km.

New Year's Day - Forrest and Coal Islands (#1)

Mike and I  decided to start the year off with a good paddle and set out from Robert's bay at 0930. We had calm dry conditions for launching and the wind gradually built while we made our way to Ker. By the time we got to Forrest, it was blowing nicely from the SE, so we paddled to the south end of Forrest and then let the wind take us to Coal Island. Great ride. I had my small (0.75 sq m) Sprit Sail up and was making great progress without paddling (max speed 15 kph or just over 8 knots!). Mike paddled and got some great rides on the surf. We rounded coal and entered calm quiet waters where we stopped for lunch. Mike found  a bottle with a message in it and is e-mailing the writers... The wind was blowing strongly when we were making our way from Curteis Point to Roberts Bay, making it quite hard work, but conditions were pleasantly exhilarating. We made it back to the beach by about 1330.

Kelp Reef recorded fairly steady SSE winds between 23 and 28 knots for the period from 0900 to 1300.

17.8 km, 8.2 NM, YTD 18 km!

  
 North of Coal                                          Now you see him...                                Now you don't!