September 28/29 - Ucluelet and Grice Bay (#s 71 & 72)

I went up to Ucluelet to assist with a kayak fishing outdoor trip run by JF. It was great to do a trip with JF again! We stayed at Surf Junction Campground and spent one day fishing in Ucluelet Harbour and another in Grice Bay. The Ucluelet Harbour day was a bit cool and damp and there were no salmon biting. We managed to hook and land a few mackerel in the afternoon. The next day in Grice Bay was much nicer and we found a nice little bay near the east end that had a school of coho that were interested in cast lures. The students (Kevin, Jacob and Bryce) and JF  managed to hook into eight nice coho in a period of 2 hours around high slack. In addition Jacob was towed around the bay in his kayak by a 17 lb coho for a good fight! I enjoyed the paddling and trying out my trident Angler fishing kayak that has not seen enough use since I got it!

Ucluelet Harbour - click to enlarge

Grice Bay - click to enlarge

29 km, YTD 852 km

September 26th - Brentwood Bay (#70)

Bill, Beth, Simone, Benson, Monica, Steven, Heather and I went for an afternoon paddle in Brentwood Bay to unwind after a day's retreat for the science department. Conditions were wonderful and we saw thousands of moon jellies just below the water's surface as we entered Tod Inlet. We also met up with Pete and Kyle in Pete's beautiful row boat. It was also Benson's first trip in a kayak!

our track - click to enlarge

4 km, YTD 823 km

September 23rd - Discovery Island (#69)

While I left Helen and Mark with the intermediate rollers for the morning, Alan and I went for a paddle around Discovery. Conditions were glassy calm and beautiful, though here was a bit of a flood against us on the way out which slowed us down (especially as were were heading to Heritage Point on Chatham), but I was able to show Alan a fairly different route than Friday evening's paddle. In the afternoon I participated in another clinic with Helen and Mark. I made some progress on mt elbow roll, though it is not quite there yet and also on my forward finishing norsaq rolls. At the moment I am working on a forward-forward avataq roll that is giving me a good feel for how the norsaq roll should feel. I also had a go at a back deck sculling roll which was fun.

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15 km, YTD 819 km

September 21st - Discovery (#68)

Helen, Mark, Al and I went for an evening paddle over to Chatham. It was nice to be able to show them our "back yard". There was a 10-15 knot breeze and a mild flood and it was the first time I had paddled in my bib pants and tuilik in a while. Autumn is definitely here. The tide was high enough that we were able to paddle into the inlet and check out the cactus patch! By the time we got back it was getting dark.

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12 km, YTD 804 km

September 16th - Discovery (#67)

Dan, George, Dennis and I went for a paddle around Discovery. Conditions were magnificent with an ebb helping us to head out and a flood beginning to help us on the return. A beautiful sunny calm September day!
A brief snack break in Boat House Bay. Great chats..

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15 km, YTD 792 km

September 15th - Sidney Spit (#66)

I led a group of 10 paddlers to Sidney Spit for a SISKA contribution to the Great Canadian Beach Cleanup.
We had perfect conditions and managed to clean the spit in about an hour and a half. We finished with about 5o lbs of garbage.

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10 km, YTD 777 km

September 9th - Kayak for a Cure (#65)

I paddled over to Willows Beach to help out with the KFAC (Kayak for a Cure) paddle that Don Lowther had organized to raise funds for cancer research. The paddle went back to Cadboro bay, so I ended up having a nice paddle back and forth! It took me only 25 minutes to get to Willows on the first leg!
There were over 40 kayaks and close to 50 people, plus volunteers in safety boats from Ocean River Sports' Discovery Shuttle and the Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue Unit 33 (Oak Bay Sea Rescue). The paddle raised over $20,000 and they are still accepting donations at Hope Floats
http://kayakforacure2012.kintera.org/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=1026017

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14 km, YTD 767 km

September 8th - Discovery Island (#64)

Pete and I went for a nice paddle out to the Islands and made a nice paddle around Discovery. we stopped briefly at Boat House Bay and chatted with Jordie and then stopped again briefly to chat with Tom the Discovery Shuttle boatman.Conditions were magnificent and we kept up a good pace.

click to enlarge

15 km, YTD 752

September 6th - Vantreight Island (#63)

Ron and I went for an evening paddle over to Vantreight Island after work. Conditions were magnificent and we had an excellent paddle. Ron got to try my Greenland paddle (I may have another convert!) and we practiced some rolls when we were back in the bay.

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9 km, YTD 737 km

September 3rd - Discovery (#62)

Paulo and I got out for a Labour Day morning paddle around Chatham and Discovery Islands. Beautiful weather and good conditions. We had a nice fast run down from Ten Mile Point to Chatham IslandSaw quite a few other paddlers about! I have not been out for a while since I have been out a few times with my family in my power boat, Natural C-Lection (http://naturalc-lection.blogspot.ca/).

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16 km, YTD 728 km