Sunday, November 30, 2008

November 30th - Trial Island (#72)

Dennis, george, Gordin and I set out from Cadboro Bay to paddle along the shore of Oak Bay towards Trial Island. We met Pete in McNeill Bay and then Andy in Gonzalez Bay, after which we made our way around Trial Islands to a lunch spot. The day was foggy but calm and we had adequate visibility throughout.


ScreenShot051 20 km, 11 NM, YTD 1048 km.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Nov 23rd - Discovery (#71) Two islands and two marinas!

Paolo, Dennis, Heike Daniel and I set out from Killarney to paddle around the islands. We had good conditions most ofd the trip with a bit of a ebbing tide and headwind on the way back. We visited “cactus inlet” on Chatham and also paddled through both Oak Bay and RVYC marinas. Beautiful vviews of Rainer and Baker.


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20.5 km, 10.5 NM, YTD 1028 km.


 

Video from Discovery Island Paddle on November 8th

Mark has sent me the link to the video he made from our paddle to Discovery on Nov 8th:


 


I have also posted some pictures at:


http://picasaweb.google.com/mhjackson123/20081108_discovery#


 

Saturday, November 22, 2008

November 22 - Bedwell harbour (#70)

I went out with a group of 8 colleagues as part of a Department Heads retreat in Bedwell harbour on Pender Island. We had a delightful paddle from Poett’s Cove along the shore to Beaumont Marine Park and Back. Conditions were wonderful – sunny and calm.


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4.5 km, 2 NM, YTD 1008 km

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

November 11th - Spectacle falls (#69)

I joined David Spittlehouse and several VSKN members (Doug, Marg, Judy, Lynn, Peter, John) for a delightful paddle over to Spectacle falls. We managed to avoid most of the rain and the wind. We left from near the feery terminal and made our way to Mckenzie Bight  and then over to the falls which were in good flow, but the tide was too low to get close. We had lunch on the “movie set” steps and then made our way along the shore (where I saw a nice specimen of slickensides in the wild) to Sheppard point and then back over to Willis point. I made may 1000 km about half way between Sheppard and Willis points! We stopped after at the Brentwood Bay Inn for a glass of lighthouse brew. Thanks to David for organizing a nice paddle!


Dave sent me some pictures which I have posted at: http://picasaweb.google.com/mhjackson123/Spectacle_nov2008#


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14 km, 7 NM, YTD 1003 km – made it to 100km!

Sunday, November 09, 2008

November 9th - Albert Head and Witty's lagoon (#68)

Monica and I joined a SISKA paddle to Witty’s Lagoon from Albert Head Lagoon. Conditions were ideal. Overcast but calm. We made our way along the shore of Albert head, poking our noses into little bays and around islets. We stopped around Tower point for a brief talk about pillow basalts – the geology teacher in me could not resist! We then made our way around into the lagoon and all the way up to the waterfall which was in good flow. We managed to get some surfing in the small waves off the mouth of the lagoon. Lunch was on the beach at Witty’s and then we paddled down to the nudist beach  and then made our way back via the Haystock islets. I put in some static braces and rolls in at the end and was happy with their execution!


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15 km, 8 miles, YTD: 989 km.

Saturday, November 08, 2008

Nov 8th - Discovery

I paddled out from Cadboro Bay to meet Craig and Mark at Maynard Cove. We set out across baynes for Discovery and though it was fairly windy the waves were not too big. We wended our way among the Chatham islands and then around to seabird point where the waves and sea started to become interesting! Progress was slow, but exhilarating as the waves were at least double overheight. We made it around into the bay by the park camp site where we had some fun surfing. Mark managed to get himself hung up on a rock which made for some interesting manoevers! My GPS says that my speed maxed out at 21 kph at one point – probably during a surf. We stopped for lunch in a quiet bay on the west side of Discovery. By the time lunch was over, the wind had calmed down, but I was able to get a small push home using the spirit sail.


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19 km, 10 NM, YTD 974 km – 26 km to go!

Saturday, November 01, 2008

November 1st - Discovery (#66)

Dan, Heike, John, Tony and I set out from Killarney for a paddle out to Chatham and Discovery Islands. The forecast was for Gales later in the day, so we had our eye on the weather but these did not materialize until late in the day (after our paddle! it gusted at up to 74 kph around 5 PM) Conditions were good and we spent quite a bit of time poking arouond various coves that were accessible at high tide. The tide was high all day, so much so that the lichens were under water in some places. There were a few nice currents in some of the channels and we also played in those. The current did not create any significant waves but gave us a good push from 10 Mile Point to Strongtide – we stayed at over 10 kph the whole trip over!


IMGP2320 high tideIMGP2317 Dan in my sirocco IMGP2318 Heike IMGP2319 John


17.5 km, 9.5 NM, YTD 955 km.ScreenShot037 IMGP1489 later in the evening, the waves were building