Jan 29th - Dodd Narrows (#8)

I drove up to Cedar to join Reale and Walter for a paddle into and around Dodd Narrows. There was a good south easterly wind and the ebbing current had set up quite a nice wave train running from the narrows to Round Island. We worked our way through the narrows catching back eddies and then spent some time playing in the top eddy. It took me a while to figure out how to get into it correctly, but I had lots of fun trying and got a chance to practice rolls in whirlpools! It was great to paddle a new place!

click to enlarge

10 km, YTD 92 km

January 21st - Gordon Head (#7)

Michael E and I set out from Caddy bay with the intention of heading over to Chatham, but decided that the wind might make it "interesting" for the return, so we decided to paddle the lee shore to Gordon Head. You can see from the track that we were making a good pace with some small surf between Jemmy Jones and Cadboro Point. We stopped for a nice lunch break at Margaret's Bay and then made our way back along the same shore. The wind had picked up. Michael had trouble with his CD solstice and 20+ kt headwinds, but we were able to overcome this with a tow line on his bow to keep him going straight. A very nice paddling day with lots of variety!

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20 km, YTD 82 km

January 15th - Race Rocks (#6)

I joined, Yves, Patti, Michel, Dorothea, Gerhard and Joanne for a day paddle out to Race Rocks from Weir's Beach. Conditions were nice with a max ebb of 5 kt at race passage forecast. We made good progress on our way to the race and had fun playing in the currents, overfalls and eddies around the islets. It was hard work heading back to Bentinck Island were we stopped for lunch and again after lunch heading across Pedder Bay into the wind and current. While at lunch we tried out my outdoor shelter which I got in the UK. Works well and warms up quickly inside! To debrief we went to My Chosin Cafe for a glass of Race Rocks Amber - how appropriate!

click to enlarge - lots of  >10 kph on the way south, lots of  <5 kph on the way north!

Close up around Race Rocks - click to enlarge

17 km, YTD 62 km

Jan 10th - Chatham (#5)

Alex and I went for an afternoon paddle out to Chatham. A goal of the paddle was to give Alex more practice with a GP. I also got to try Alex's Shuna paddle which worked nicely for catching waves in a following sea.

click to enlarge

11 km, YTD 45 km

Jan 8th - Cadboro Bay (#4)

I led a SISKA relaxed paddle (the first club paddle of the year) for a meander around Cadboro Bay. We had 27 boats and 28 paddlers (we were 28 boats and 29 paddlers for a while as Olivier joined us for a while). I was ably assisted by Jo, Dan, and Tom and we managed to do a great job of staying together. We were off the water by 1 ish and repaired to Olive Olio's for coffees and hot chocolates.

click to enlarge

9 km, YTD 34 km

Jan 7th - Jordan River (#3)

click to enlarge

James and I went to JR for a bit of surfing with our Delphins. We both used Greenland paddles and had a blast. This was perhaps the  best day of kayak surfing I can remember in quite some time! The waves were just the right size and green! I had some great rides. The GPS claims I hit over 20 kph several times. With some pointers from James, I found I was having much better control as well. Two wonderfully spent hours! Hopefully James will post some video soon! I was also surprised how much ground we covered!
Here is a link to James' video on Youtube. Gives a good idea of the conditions.
http://youtu.be/tBxX6BIfMJU

8 km, YTD 25 km

Jan 6th - Cadboro Bay (#2)

I went for a quick paddle around the bay after work to clear some cobwebs. There was a brisk wind out of the SE and the F1 performed well. I noticed some pretty good waves at Cadboro Point in the distance.

the usual screenshot - google hybrid - click to enlarge

I tried some other map options using GPS Visualizer as well as the internet maps feature in Oziexplorer... they all have their pros and cons...

GPSViz - Open Street Map - click to enlarge

GPSViz - Yahoo Hybrid - click to enlarge

Ozi - Virtual earth map - click to enlarge 

Ozi- Highest detail of virtual earth - click to enlarge

Oziexplorer highest detail chart - click to enlarge

Ozi- Race Rocks to d'Arcy Chart - click to enlarge

5 km, YTD 17 km

2011 paddle tracks

I used Oziexplorer to plot all my tracks for the year and have displayed them at various zooms...

Cadboro Bay and environs -click to enlarge

You can see that I covered quite a bit of the bay...

South Vancouver Island - Ladysmith to Port Renfrew - click to enlarge

All the paddles for the year - click to enlarge

From BC to the UK...

Jan 1st - Chatham Island

I paddled out to Cadboro Point to meet up with Ben, Brian, Peter and Lindsay. We had intended to play in the waves but the NE wind was making it small and confused so we went over to the sluice by Vantreight and had some fun playing in the eddies. There were even some surfable waves coming into the sluice! A nice way to satrt the 2012 paddling year! On our way back we ran into and chatted with Nick and Dave. I think I may have seen Paulo paddling across Baynes in the distance... You can see that the current was strong enough to carry us down to Jemmy Jones!

Click to enlarge

12 km, YTD 12 km