Feb 27th - Chatham (#18)

Dan and I set out for a short paddle out to the Chatham group.I decided to paddle the Delphin to give it another test drive and also it was much easier to launch than the Tahe in the waves that were coming in - the wind was fairly steady at 30 to 40 kph from the SE throughout the paddle. It was relatively slow work going out and much faster coming back with the wind at our tail! As we launched, we met up with a group doing a Level 2 instructor course with Mike and JF. They looked like they were going to have fun too! We had fun almost surfing all the way back.

12 km, YTD 238 km

Feb 26 - Jemmy Jones (#17)

Dan and I went out for a morning paddle despite the chilly light snow conditions. There were some waves which made it a challenge to launch without a flooded cockpit. The wind was in our face on the way out which slowed us a bit and when we made it out to Cadboro Point, we saw that some waves were building - so we went and played for a while. I got a few excellent rides. We then went over to Jemmy Jones and the NW side of Caddy Bay.
Level 6 mitts and MEC Hott Mitts definitely make paddling in these conditions practical. We were both quite warm with our Comfort Paddling Tuiliks over other clothing.

click to enlarge

8 km, YTD 226 km

Feb 23 - Caddy Bay Snow (#16)

Well, school was cancelled so Monica and I decided to go for a ski around Gyro Park and then for a paddle in the Bay! It was snowing lightly when we left and then a bit more as we went along and the wind picked up. It was neat to paddle in the snow!

4 km, YTD 218 km

2011-02-23_caddysnow

Feb 20th - Trial Island (#15)

Dennis and I paddled to Oak Bay Marina where we met up with Gordin and then continued on to Trial Island. It was a beautiful day, currents were in our favour both ways, what more could we ask for? The tide was quite low so we got great views of intertidal life along the shores of Trial. we also stopped and chatted with the light keeper for a few minutes. Lots of sea birds on the water, including a group of "old squaw" or long-tailed ducks.
On our way back we noticed a strange vessel in Oak Bay and went to investigate - it turned out to be an almost completed, home built(?) small hovercraft!

2011-02-20_trial

17 km, YTD 214 km

Feb 19th - Discovery (#14)

Paulo, Dan and I set out from Killarney Kayak Base for a paddle around Discovery. There was a reasonably strong cold northerly wind (steady around 25 kph and gusting to around 40 kph). The sun was shining brightly and we headed fairly straight for Commodore point on Discovery. A bit of current help and a few surfing waves made for a good speedy trip. Seabird point back to Chatham for lunch was a bit of a slog against the wind but the beach was sheltered, sunny and beautiful. We made our way across Baynes with a moderate flood pushing us towards Cadboro Point and a few fun waves. We ran into Patti and Yves again in the bay as they were practicing towing

15 km, YTD 197 km

February 13 - Margaret Bay (#13)

Dan, Dennis, Gordin and I set off for a morning paddle along the coast. We met up with Dave S and the VSKN paddle in Arbutus cove and paddled with them to Margaret's Bay. I had to get back by 1 PM so we paddled back fairly quickly. Fortunately we had an ebb current to help us.

18 km, YTD 182 km

Feb 12th - Chatham (#12)

Dan twisted my rubber arm and I decided to go for a short morning paddle so as to clear my head for grading and report writing - it sort of worked! Paulo, Dan and I set out from Killarney and paddled out to Chatham. We poked around islets and went through many normally impassable passages since the tide was high. We also went into Cactus Islet Inlet and checked out the cacti that still seem to be alive after their inundation by a winter king tide. We stopped by 10 mile point so that Dan could check out the seal on his new Tuilik by Comfort Paddling.
On our way in we ran into Daniel, Patti, Yves, Michel, James and Mac who were heading out to play in Baynes.
This was also the first time I had taken out the "new" Cape Falcon F1 that I had traded with Gerhardt for the Disko Bay. It's a bit bigger than my other one, but paddles nicely.

14 km, YTD 164 km

feb 7th - Baynes (#11)

I paddled out to Cadboro Point to meet Yves in the hope of having some nice waves there. The current was building and there was a stiff SW wind, but not too much action at the point. However we could see a line of waves stretching from Jemmy Jones Island to Chatham Island so we paddled over to Strongtide and then played in some very big green waves. The Delphin performed well and I had some great surf runs. It was hard work staying with the waves as the current was fast but it was fun and I returned exhausted! It was great to get out 4 days in a row!

11 km, YTD 150 km

Feb 6th - Discovery (#10)

George, Dan, Gordin, Paulo, Gerhardt and I set out from Killarney to paddle around Discovery. It was a grey misty moisty day. Gerhardt wanted to try the Disko Bay and I decided to paddle the Tahe. When we got out to Cadboro Point, we metu up with Patti and Yves who had been having a blast playing in the waves. We joined them for a while (I wished I had the Delphin today!) and then made our way over to the "sluice" by Vantreight. Nice currents. We then continued on around Discovery, had a nice lunch and carried on around Discovery. the wind picked up a bit during the afternoon. We stopped between cadboro pt and flower islet to do some rolling - Dan had to try his new Comfort Paddling Tuilik!

17 km, YTD 139 km

Feb 5th - Chatham Island (#9)

I paddled out to Cadboro Point where I joined Yves, Patti, Christian, Michel, Thomas and James for a paddle in Baynes Channel and over to Chatham. We were hoping for some waves, but there was just a steady current with a few small waves in Baynes. We then made our way over to "the sluice" where George joined us and we had fun surfing the rock and eddying in and out of the current. After playing for a while, Christian, George, Thomas and I set off for a paddle around Chatham. We had our eyes out for birds and Thomas had a great set of binos with him so we put together a pretty nice list (pelagic, brandt's and double-crested cormorants, belted kingfisher, harlequin, black scoter, bufflehead, hooded merganser, common megranser, canada goose, white-winged teal, american wigeon, dunlin, black turnstone, oystercatcher, bald eagle, great blue heron - I am sure I missed a couple)

14 km, YTD 122 KM

Feb 4th - Cadboro Point (#8)

Dan and I went over to Loon bay to do some rolling and then went over to Cadboro Point. It was the maiden voyage for the P&H Delphin and I was able to get it to hand roll on both sides after a couple tries. I need to make sure my techniques is on to make these work! After some rolling we went out to Cadboro Point and had a pretty good slog against the wind on the way back. The Delphin is definitely harder work to paddle in a wind. Hoping to try some waves tomorrow... It was also my first rolling session since the shoulder injury - glad to see that things still work!

7 KM, 4 NM, YTD 108 km