April 30 - Cadboro Bay (#27)

I went out for a quick paddle around the bay in the F1 as the rest of the weekend may be busy! The F1 is so light to carry and paddles very nicely. averaged 6 kph including a few stops.
RVYC folks are getting ready for the sail past tomorrow...

6 km, YTD 338 km

April 23rd - Cadboro Bay (#26)

I headed out of Killarney with Ed and Rick - both from Westcoast Paddler - for an afternoon paddle in the bay. Conditions were nice and sunny with a bit of a breeze. Ed is visiting from the Prairies so borrowed an F1, I paddled the other F1 and Rick paddled his Trident Angler.We saw otters in three different locations on the way to and from Cadboro Point. The tide was very low - as you can see from a couple of detours on the track! The route through the yacht club was too narrow to pass at this tide. We decided to adjourn to Smugglers Cove for a beverage to finish of a nice afternoon of paddling!

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6 km, YTD 332 km

April 17th - Harbour Celebration (#25)

I launched at James Bay Anglers Ramp to paddle over to the Songhees and participate in the first (hopefully annual) Harbour Celebration. I did a bunch of demonstration Greenland Rolls and also the sea kayak race. Surprising myself, I came in as the first sea kayak in spite of using a Greenland paddle! I averaged 8.5 kph (4.6 kt) over the 2.34 km race route. The day was a bit cool and showery, so the turnout was not as good as hoped for but it was great to see many familiar faces. David Anderson spoke well.

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the race route detail

5 km, YTD 326 km

April 16th - Discovery (#24)

Michael E, Dan and I set out to go around Discovery Island. It was Michael's first proper paddle with a Greenland paddle and he took to it pretty quickly. We encountered calm and favourable conditions to begin with and decided to go around the top side of Chatham to take advantage of the lee. We decided to make a figure eight so as not to have to fight the tide across Rudlin Bay and were rewarded by speeds of up to 7 kt going across the south end! We stopped in boathouse bay for  a snack lunch and then continued on up between the Chathams. On our crossing back to Cadboro point, Michael experienced trouble turning his CD Solstice in beam winds and we ended up getting swept a fair ways down stream. Dan put a line on his bow which made a huge difference and we were able to slog our way back home against wind and current. Winds were gusting in the 20-25 kt range. It was 30-40 kt around Trial Island! We were all a tad tired when we made it back to the beach!

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18 km, YTD 321 km

April 9th - Discovery (#23)

Dennis, Dan and I set out relatively early from Killarney and went around Discovery. There was a fairly strong ebb building as well as a decent south-westerly wind so there were a few waves. We had to work hard along the south side of Discovery. We stopped briefly for a snack on Vantreight Island and made it back shortly after noon. Another nice day on the water!

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15 km, YTD 303 km.

April 7th - Jemmy Jones (#22)

I managed to sneak out after work for a quick paddle around the bay. It was a beautiful afternoon and I was in a short sleeve top... it was great to be back on the water after a few weeks' break. On my way back I met up with a couple of paddlers and also stopped off to chat with the folks on Freya and Heliomare.

6 km, YTD: 288 km