January 31st - Tour de Cadboro (#10)

I went for a solo late morning paddle around the bay to finish off the month's paddling. I am happy to say that the elbow tendinitis seems to be improving. I saw lots of birds and was able to keep up a good pace (8.1 kph avg) in the surf ski.I am enjoying this very light (28 lb) and fast kayak.

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6 km, YTD 90 km

January 29th - Finnerty Cove (#9)

Alex and I went for an afternoon paddle on the surf skis. Conditions were very nice, sunny and calm, with a reasonable ebb current running. I was happy to see a trip average of 7.4 kph over the 12.4 km trip.  You can see the effect of the current speed on the track speed  for the outside leg.

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12 km, YTD 84 km

January 24th - Flower Islet (#8)

Julia and I went for a short afternoon paddle to Flower Island and back. We had calm conditions with a light drizzle, We saw a good collection of wildlife: river otter, harbour seal, common and hooded merganzers, Canada geese, harlequin duck, bufflehead, american wigeon, great blue heron, and cormorants.

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4 km, YTD 72 km.

January 19th - Discovery Island (#7)

Dan and I went for an afternoon paddle around Discovery. I realize that this is the first time I have been to Discovery since October 16th. My elbow has been persuading me to do shorter paddles. I'll see how it feels after today, though so far so good. I continued to try out the Think Big Eze and a wing paddle.I am impressed by the bite/power of the wing paddle and by the lightness of the Big Eze.

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15 km, YTD 68 km

January 17th - Oak Bay (#6)

I led a SISKA relaxed paddle (14 of us) from Cadboro Bay to Oak Bay marina and back. The weather forecast was not great, but the winds held off and we had a good paddle. Looking at the Ten mile point weather station report, we had about 20 kph steady NNE throughout

click to enlarge - our track

click to enlarge - BWD forecast and reports for Discovery

click to enlarge - Ten mile point weather station

 12 km, YTD 53 km.

January 16th - Cadboro Bay (#5)

I took the Big Eze out for an hour's afternoon paddle after work today as conditions were looking nice and calm. I decided to use my Greenland paddle this time and note that the track average was 7.4 kph (4.0 kt) instead of 7.8 kph. Not sure if it was the paddle, conditions or me! I saw otters, mergansers, geese and something making a big splash in the bay - Cadborosaurus??? But I did not get to see it, so another one for the annals of cryptozoology! Elbow still feeling good! :)

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7 km, YTD 41 km.

January 14th - Cadboro Bay (#4)

I went for a quick sunrise paddle around the bay before going to work, as the forecasts seem pretty windy for the next several days. It was good to try the Big Eze in my home waters. it is a nice fast kayak. The track shows that I had no trouble maintaining an average pace of 7.8 kph (4.2 kt) for the duration of the paddle. From inside the house to back inside was under 70 minutes!

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6 km, YTD 34 km

January 11th - Trial Island (#3)

I went for another test paddle of the surf ski, this time with Alex and Ben, and had a nice afternoon run around Trial and along the shore by the golf course. We did get to surf one wake there which was fun and got the speed up a bit. (in the track plot you can see the boat that made the wake! not!). Nice to chat with Alex a bit more and to catch up with Ben!

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8 km, YTD 28 km

January 10th - Esquimalt (#2)

Alex invited me to try out a surf ski with him, so I joined him at Fleming beach and went for a nice paddle along the Esquimalt waterfront. The Think Big EZE is a nice stable craft and was fun to paddle. I also paddled most of the trip with a wing paddle while Alex gave me some pointers on stroke and style. I definitely felt like I was moving faster than usual and the track shows most sections were dark blue (>7.5 kph). I think I will have to try it again in my home waters!

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10 km, YTD 20 km

January 8th - Chatham Island (#1)

Dan and I went out for an afternoon paddle to Chatham. We did not go too fast as I am still "babying" my elbow and wrist, but things still seem good this evening after a 10 km paddle. Conditions were good and we saw some nice sundogs on our way back. Great to be back on the water!

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10 km, YTD 10 km