September 17th - Sidney Spit Cleanup and 1000 km (#87)

Monica and I joined the SISKA beach clean up paddle to Sidney Spit. Monica was paddling her new Feathercraft XPS and using a Greenland paddle. Conditions were very nice as we made our way out through the Little Group and then to Dock Island, before running with the current to Sidney Spit. We walked the beaches of Sidney Spit and gathered up about 5 small garbage bags full. Quite a bit less than last year which is a good sign. This paddle was a small part of the 26th International Coastal Cleanup day. As a bonus today I went through the 1000 km mark for the year!

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 10 km, YTD 1002

September 16th - Chain Islets (#86)

Dan, Gordin and I went out for a morning paddle before Gordin and I had to be at work. We had a nice run out to the Chain islets and then back up through the Chatham Islands.

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12 km, YTD 992 km

September 11th - Discovery (#85)

George, Gerhardt, Dan and I went for a lovely Sunday paddle around Discovery. Conditions were sunny and calm and we had cooperative currents. I was using my Aleut-inspired paddle and Dan was using his wooden Aleut paddle. They are definitely good paddles for maintaining a good cruising speed. I think I saw more paddlers out there today than I have on any other day this year - everyone else had the same good idea!

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17 km, YTD 980 km

September 9th - Jemmy Jones (#84)

Monica and I went for an after dinner paddle out to Jemmy Jones. It was a wonderful calm sunny fall evening!

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5km, YTD 963 km

Google stats

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I just discovered the stats function in the blog maintenance page - kind of neat to see where the 10,000 or so page views have come from...

September 7th - Rolling at Thetis Lake (#858)

Paulo and I joined James and Sheila for a rolling practice session at Thetis Lake. It was worth the wait for a good spot! It was nice to do some rolling again after a month's break! James continues do do amazingly well!
No track plot for this trip since I left the GPS at Home... but here is a rough guess...

1 km, YTD 958 km

Paddling around the Island in pieces?

Back in 2006, Pete, George and I did our first West Coast Paddle from Quatsino to Nootka Sounds (http://mhjpaddling.blogspot.com/2006/07/trip-journal-july-17-to-27.html) and the next year we did from Nootka to Renfrew (http://mhjpaddling.blogspot.com/2007/07/july-20th-to-28th-nootka-sound-to-port.html). After that we gave it a yeasr break before we did the next leg from Hardy to Quatsino (http://mhjpaddling.blogspot.com/2009/08/august-21-to-30-north-island-s-84-to-89.html). Last week we did from Renfrew to Victoria, thus completing a trip over four separate trips from Port Hardy to Victoria via the west coast. I think my goal eventually is to make it all the way around the island which means I have from Nanaimo to Port Hardy still to do. Alan (Nootka on WCP) has very kindly taken a bunch of my trip logs  and turned them in to an image of the whole island showing the various legs.

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PS, I am not trying to beat Joe O'Blenis' 16 and a bit day record!

September 5th - Discovery (#82)

I decided that I wanted to get in a lst paddle before school starts again tomorrow. Fortunately Paulo was available and came over on his bike - I was able to provide a boat and paddle! We set out to go around Discovery Island, passing in between the Chathams. Conditions were a little windy at the start but calmed down - by the time we finished it was warm, sunny and calm! Lots of paddlers out and about. We ran into Ron and Thor out on Chatham and stopped for a brief chat.

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16 km, YTD 957 km - looks like I should be OK for my 1000 km goal for the year with almost 4 months to go!

September 3rd - James Island (#81)

Monica and I joined 22 others on a SISKA paddle around James Island, led by Michael E. Though there was a bit of a headwind to begin with, this diminished as did the current and we had a great day. It was nice to meet many fellow paddlers again. It was nice that Paul made it over from Mission and Larry from Shawnigan Lake.

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15 km, YTD 941 km

September 2nd - RVYC (#80)

Monica and I went out for a test paddle with Monica in the CD Expedition. Though it is a big boat, she seems to like it. We wanted to do a test paddle before the club paddle on the 3rd. All went well and I checked out the moorings as well.

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2 km, YTD 926 km