April 28 - Portland Island WCP camp out (18)

I left fairly early today to head out to Portland Island  to spend the day with the West Coast Paddler group that was camping on Portland Island. I joined Ian and Michael at Swartz head who had come over on the ferry from Vancouver. Conditions were magnificent – sunny and calm. On the way we saw a couple of huge flocks of geese. Once there I rested for a while and met several of the campers. A little later, I headed around Portland with “Kasey”(Kathy) and “Candikayak” and we had a nice circumnavigation with a snack stop in the main park bay. Shortly after I returned, Philip came back from Fulford Harbour and we compared sail rigs. Philip and I then went for a paddle up wind so that we could have a sail. Unfortunately the wind was not strong, but enough for me to test a two sail rig. Around 6 PM, I left the camp site and paddled solo back to Swartz Head – almost exactly an hour.

27 km, 14.4 NM, YTD:247 km – my track from the day:

The day’s photo gallery: (the pics are full res – so they are big…)

Ian Michael the geese  the camp at Arbutus point

     

 

April 22 - Beaver Lake (17)

I met Bill up at Beaver Lake for the launch of his brand new skin on frame kayak that he built with Heather’s help over March break. I took my sof as well and we had a nice paddle around the lake. It is only 21 inches wide and was tippy to start until we lowered the seat a bit. It paddles nicely and rolls easily.

3 km YTD: 220 Some pictures and hopefully video to come.

April 22 - Chatham Island (#16)

Tony and I made a nice quick morning trip out from Smuggler’s Cove and around the Chatham group. There was a nice current running. On the way back we paddled up to 10 mile point to take a look at the house with the weather Station.

9 km, 4.8 NM, YTD: 217

April 14 - Portland Island (#15)

Today I helped co-lead a VCKC paddle organised by Neil S – 14 of us in all. We left Amherst and paddled around Coal and then to Portland for lunch. Nice day, nice conditions, nice group! We all paddled well together and kept up a good steady pace. I started the day of shakily, managing to forget my lunch, water and paddles at home! Fortunately there were enough spare paddles around and I was able to mooch enough food!

9.2 NM, 17 km, YTD: 208 km  

Dave sent in a couple of pics: two trusty leaders  lunch on the beach

April 13 - Ocean River (14)

I joined an instructor development course today instructed by Nigel Foster and organised by Ocean River Sports. We paddled around the ocean river dock area and managed to clock up 9 km!

We had a great day, Nigel was a great teacher and I learned some new strokes as well as some teaching techniques.

 Yours Truly with Nigel Foster. my track for the day!

9 km, YTD 191 km

April 8th - Tod Inlet - (#13)

Monica and I went for a nice paddle from the Brentwood ferry dock into Tod Inlet. The tide was low, it rained a bit and I was paddling the SOF and using the Tuilik for the first time. Surprisingly, it was not too hot to paddle in. I did not try any serious sculling, bracing  or rolling as the SOF is quite loose on me and I did not have any hip padding installed.

 3.5 NM, 6.5 KM, YTD 182 KM. Yours truly in full greenland gear!

March 21-April 1 - Snorkelling and kayaking in the Andaman Sea (Mergui Archipelago) #12

I spent 11 wonderful days aboard the MV Faah Yai leading a Wilderness Travel tour to the Mergui Archipelago. We kayaked and snorkelled virtually every day, visiting beautiful white beaches, mangrove forests, green islands and some magnificent limestone islands. I only GPS’d two days worth of paddling which amounted to 29 km. I conservatively estimate that we managed to clock somewhere well over 60 kms.

I have attached a google map screenshot of the two days spent paddling into the mangrove areas of Lampi Island. I’ll post some photos later…

 60 kms+, YTD 236+.