Brooks 06 video trailer

George has put together a 2minute trailer for our 2006 trip on youtube:

 Gives a nice taste of last year’s trip…

August 26 - Pedder Bay (#53)

Bill, Paolo and I set out from Wier’s beach near William head and followed the coastline around William Head, Pedder Bay, inside Bentinck Island, Christopher Point, Whirl bay and eventually to a beach by Large Bedford Island. Conditions were nice and we avoided the wind and any flood current by hugging the shore and pokinmg around islets. After lunch the wind had built a bit and the current was flooding strongly. I put up the PA sail and we cruised quickly from the Bedfords to Pedder Bay by way of Race Pasage. Once in Pedder Bay, the wind was at our side and there seemed to be a current eddy pushing us out, so it was slow going from there back to the beach. A very nice day, sunny, breezy but not too much. The winds at Race rocks rose gradually from 15 knots at 10 AM when we started to 25 at 3 PM when we finished.

 Bill and some deer A narrow channel

23.5 km, 13 NM, YTD 919 km   two views of the track

Record breaking circuumnavigation of Vancouver Island

Joe O’Blenis has just completed his record breaking circumnavigation of “our rock” :  23 days and 10 hours – the previous record was 28 days. Read about it at: http://www.geocities.com/outrageous_outdoors/ – we met Joe at Carmanaha point on our last day and I ran into him again a couple of days later on Vargas.

August 18 - Pictures from Oyama

Here are some images from the week…

 MJ in the wisper with rolling rib installed

 Monica in the wisper

 Looking Down Wood Lake  A view of Kalamalka and Wood Lakes from Oyama Lake Road

 Looking south down Kal lake  Camp Hill Outback Development on Okanagan Lake

 Kathy and Candy on Okanagan Lake

 Candy’s little place on Okanagan lake…

Some Video clips:

 

August 18 - Oyama track logs (#s47-52)

I am posting a “week in review” post with tracks since I sent all the daily posts by e-mail from my pocket PC. I’ll follow with some pictures.

The tracks for the whole week…

August 12; August 13; August 14;

August 15; August 16; August 17

100 km for the week, 54 NM, YTD: 895 km

August 17

Kathy and Candy from Kelowna (and WCP) joined me for a paddle from Carr's Landing/Coral beach to Ellison Park. Conditions wer very nice with a pleasant breeze from the south. Some nice pink granite cliffs and pretty coves. There were also a bunch of very expensive looking homes along the lakeshore. We stopped for a nice break at Ellison Park. All in all, a very nice paddle.
After dinner I went for a last paddle around the south end of Kalamalka lake. Made it to 100 km for the 6 days.
18 km + 4 km
sent from my PocketPC

August 16 - Oyama

I paddled the wisper north today along the west shore up to the new development at crystal waters and then over to the park boundary on the west side. There was enough wind ffom the north to slow things down, but it abated somewhat before I could take advantage of it on the retun. However, there was enough that I did have the spirit sail up.
Mid afternoon provided an opportunity to try some more rolls. I managed the elbow crook roll on both sides as well as the shotgun roll. I could not get the behind the neck roll to work...
In the late afternoon, I paddled out to help Rod with the waterski equipment. As there was a good wind from the south, I went through the canal to Wood lake to play in the wind and waves. There was enough wind to get me surfing up to 10 kph.
17.5 km total for the day.
sent from my PocketPC

August 15

I went for a short paddle around the south end of the lake as far as "security point" in the wisper. I like the feel of the water moving under the skin of the boat. Coming back there was a bit of a tail wind and I had a bit of weathercocking (I did not have the skeg on) but also a bit of surfing.
In the afternoon I went for another short paddle around the south end of the lake - Kaloya park and over to the bench. After that I did some more roll and brace practice - more successful this afternoon since static braces workede on both sides and I was also able to get a "static brace roll" to work. Rolls seemed smoother today - it is great to practice in warm fresh water!
11 km total
sent with my pocketPC

August 14 - Wood lake

I got up early and paddled down Wood lake to Winfield. Nice conditions again. When I got back, there was a good breeze from the north, so I paddled into it so I could have a short sail with the spirit sail. I saw quite a few osprey on Wood lake.
I practiced my rolls again in the afternoon. I tried rolling both the wisper and the sirocco and found little difference in their rollability. Have not been able to get a static brace to work, though I was able to roll back up using a chest scull in both boats. It is not smooth yet.
19 km for the morning paddle.

August 13 - Kal lake

I headed north along the west side of the lake for about 5 kms and then crossed over to the cliffs on the east side - again another nice paddle.
In the afternoon I went for a short paddle across the lake with Monica and then spent half an hour practicing my rolls and braces. I saw a definite improvement over yesterday and really like the wisper with rolling rib.
19 km
sent with my pocketPC

August 12 Kalamalka lake

I went for a nice paddle in the sirocco around the south end of Kal lake. Afterwards I installed the rolling rib in the feathercraft wisper and then tested it out - it worked well, allowing one to lay back easily. I also like the lines with the lower back deck. I got Jenny to take some pictures and a video clip.
11 km
sent with my pocketPC

August 10 - Discovery (46)

George and I went out for a quick paddle from Smugglers cove out and around Chatham and Discovery Islands. Weather was perfect and we had little or no current when we crossed over and a nice flood to help us on the return.

11 km, 6 NM, YTD 795

August 9 - elk lake (#45)

Went to Elk lake to help out with the VCKC practice session. Took my SOF boat and my new feathercraft klatwa paddle which arrived yesterday. It is almost excatly the same dimensions as my usual GP, so it was a comfortable “fit”.

Did not have a GPS, so estimate 1 NM of travel…

2 km, 1 NM, YTD 784

August 8th- D'Arcy island (#44)

Duncan, Roscoe, Jennie, Lani, Gary, David, Stephen and I set out from Island View Beach for a nice paddle out to D’Arcy Island. Conditions were great with a steady flood all day. We had a nice lunch break and paddled back by way of Salllas Rocks. The pace was relaxed and the company was great – good chats!

17 km, 9.1 NM, YTD 782 km

August 7th - Albert Head to Witty's lagoon (#43)

Gordin and I set out from Albert Head lagoon and paddled leisurely along the shoreline to Witty’s lagoon for lunch and back. We explored the shoreline and saw a bunch of kelp which seemed to be suffering from something – many heads had no fronds and were bleached and almost eaten-looking on one side. I also enjoyed seeing all the pillow basalt lava close up and from the ocean. We also had a nice chat with an American couple who were just finishing up a year long sailing trip from Seattle to Mexico to Hawaii and back. Lots of seals with pups along the shore. The weather was grey but quite calm.

  some damaged kelp

seal and pup Gordin Pillow basalts

12 km, 6.4 NM, YTD 765 km

 

Some track logs from our west coast trip

Though my GPS stopped recording the track from around rafael Point onwards, I have been able to do our first few days. I will have to make up the remainder of the tracks using what I can get from Pete and George’ GPS units

 July 20 – Cougar Creek to Escalante Point

July 22 – Escalante Point to Barcester Bay

 July 23 – Barcester Bay to Hot Springs

 July 24 – Hot Springs to Vargas Island (note missing data)

Remember the main trip report is at: http://www.islandnet.com/~mjackson/pblog/2007/07/july-20th-to-28th-nootka-sound-to-port.html and photos at: http://picasaweb.google.com/mhjackson123/WestCoastVancouverIslandTripJuly2007 

August 5th - Rum Island (#42)

Bill, Roscoe, Gordin, Kent, Paolo and I set out from Amherst and made our way around to Roberts Bay where we met up with Heike and Hans. We paddled out through the Little Group, past Dock Islet, through the Greig Islets, past Reay, Brethour and Comet Islands to the North Beach at Rum. W had a very lesiurely lunch break and then made our way back along the south side of Gooch Island, over to Forrest island and back to Amherst with a short stop at Ker Island. A beautiful sunny day with virtually no wind.

Paddling along the south side of Gooch:

21 km, 11.3 NM, YTD 753 km.