May 25th and 26th - paddling north of 60! Yellowknife (#25, 26)

I was up in Yellowknife for a Geology conference/workshop and had a great time. A highlight of my visit was borrowing a kayak from Greg Loftus of Tundra Sails (http://www.tundrasails.ca/), distributor for Pacific Action Sails ( I had bought one earlier this year) and heading out for a couple of padddles on Slave lake. There was still quite a bit of ice on the lake, though it was disappearing quickly, which made for interesting paddling. One of the neatest things was hearing the tinkling of the “candled” ice as my wake went past it. I went for a longer solo paddle on the first evening and went round both islands. On the 26^th I joined 3 colleagues in a canoe (Eileen, Christy and John) and we paddled around the smaller island.

    
   

25^th: 7.5 km, 4 NM; 26^th: 5 km, 2.3 NM

YTD 340 km

May 19-22 2007 - Deer Group (21-24)

Beth Anne and I led a group of grade 11 students on their outdoor leadership trip to the deer group. We were lucky with the weather, encountering heavy rain only on Friday and Saturday nights – some showers and drizzle at other times but generally good weather. Due to strong winds on the firsdt day, we did not make it to the Stud Islets and instead camped on the Ross Islets – a great spot.

On Saturday we paddled from bamfield to the Ross Islets, on Sunday we paddled around Fleming Island with a side trip to Marble cove and Swiss Boy island. On Monday we paddled around Helby and Diana Islands with a lunch stop on Edward King. On Tuesday we paddled back from the Ross Islets to Bamfield. A great trip with a great group. I managed to get the sails up a couple of times. The swells were big off Kirby point…

Track Plots:

May 19 and 22 (out & back): May 20 (Fleming) May 21 (Diana and Helby)

You can view an interactive version of the trip plot with Google maps at: http://www.islandnet.com/~mjackson/google/deergroup2007b.htm

51.5 km 28 NM, YTD: 318 km (The students paddled 48 km)

 

 

May 6 - VCKC towing clinic (#20)

8 of us arrived at the second parking lot at Thetis lake to do a towing clinic that I was leading for VCKC. Weather was overcast to sprinkling but really quite pleasant and not enough rain to interfere. We discussed tow types and towing gear and then went and practised a number of different tows: contact, short, intermediate and long, in line and V tows with a supporting paddler etc. Everyone had a chance to test out their gear and learn a few new tricks (including me!).

4.3 km, YTD:266 km

May 5th - VCKC energizer - Agate Beach to Gordon Head (#19)

I lead a group of 20 VCKC paddlers on a paddle from Agate Beach in Cordova Bay to Gordon Head. There was an ebb tide to help us in the morning, turning to a flood in the afternoon, but this was eclipsed by a steady breeze from the south which was in our face all the way out. We made steady progress along the shore until Gordon Head, where we decided to stop for lunch. After lunch we made a very speedy return to Agate beach with the wind at our backs. I popped up the spirit sail for a little added boost! I was ably assisted by Neil and Tony.

The lunch beach:     Shots by Gary:   

Neil’s group shot:

14.6 km, 8 NM, YTD 262 km Neil’s (agate2)and my (agate)  tracks compared!