My 2016 paddling year

2016 was another good year of paddling with 129 paddles and 1076 km total. This year I played around with Google Sheets and the paddle data...

Year #	Year	# paddles	km total	km per paddle
1	2006	77	1273	16.5
2	2007	66	1098	16.6
3	2008	75	1080	14.4
4	2009	116	1381	11.9
5	2010	124	1214	9.8
6	2011	105	1217	11.6
7	2012	87	1001	11.5
8	2013	92	1063	11.6
9	2014	98	911	9.3
10	2015	120	1025	8.5
11	2016	129	1076	8.3
	Totals	1089	12339

Some summary charts... you can see that the number of paddles has generally increased while the km per paddle has decreased. More short paddles around the bay! You can see that the average trip distance decreased once we started living in Cadboro Bay in 2008. 2014 was the only year in the 11 of the blog that I did not make my 1000 km goal due to tendinitis in my elbow which began in October.

It looks like I made 38 trips out to Discovery Island this year with several good wolf sightings!

December 31st - Tod Rock (#129)

I went for a midday paddle out to Tod Rock to finish the year's paddling off.  There was a bit of a headwind which slowed me down a bit on the outward trip, but the wind seemed to die once I got to the Tod Rock marker - so I did not get much of an assist on the way back. I did a practice capsize and reentry drill near the beach on the way back. It was quick and easy to do to clamber back on board.
There were a few flocks of hooded mergansers mixed with some buffleheads around as well as some cormorants.

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6 km, YTD 1076 km for the year!

December 29th - Discovery island (#128)

I paddled out to Jemmy Jones to meet Olivier and we went for a nice paddle around Chatham and Discovery. It was quite bouncy in Baynes Channel on the way over! No sign of the wolf, but we saw many herons in the trees around "heron cove" on Chatham as well as plent of oystercatchers, mergansers, harlequin and buffleheads. I also spotted some black turnstones, and a yellowlegs (probably greater).

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17 km, YTD 1070 km

Claire's photos from my Christmas day crabbing trip

Here are some photos that Claire  took on my Christmas day crabbing trip. Claire crocheted the hat and I am wearing my new Stohlquist shift drysuit! This was the beginning of a successful crabbing trip!

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Olivier's wolf photos from Dec 23rd

Here are some photos that Olivier took on the 23rd of the wolf (and me!). It was a bit drizzly , but we had a wonderful encounter with the wolf.

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December 25th - Christmas crabbing (#127)

After a nice after lunch walk with the family I decided to head out and check/bring in the trap that IO left out in the bay yesterday afternoon. I was in luck as it had two nice keepers (as well as a red rock crab who did not want to leave!). I took a tour around Flower Islet and then paddled the shore back.
I go to try my new Sohlquist Shift drysuit which was very comfy on this cool day. This suit was a fabulous prize won at the SISKA Christmas party! Photos to follow! There were plenty of birds out on the bay, including several flocks of buffleheads.

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4 km, YTD 1053 km.

December 23rd - Cadboro crabbing (#126)

I took the Hobie i12s out for an afternoon crabbing run, basically checking the traps and refilling the bait jars. The Hobie worked well as it is stable and has plenty of deck space. No keepers... The bay was beautifully calm at sunset and I was the only one out! The hobie is definitely slower than my regular sea kayaks, but I should try taking it over to the islands.

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3 km, YTD 1049 km

December 23rd - Discovery Island (#125)

I paddled out to Jemmy Jones to meet up with Olivier who had paddled over from McNeill Bay. We then went over to the islands. It was a bit drizzly but the wind eased as we paddled. We stopped briefly for a break in Rudlin Bay and then made our way to the west end of the bat where we saw the wolf! I had not seen him since October. We watched him for a while and it was neat to see his breath in the cool air when he barked or howled! The wolf followed us along the shore from Rudlin bay all the way to the first bay west of Commodore point. On our way back we stopped by some of my crab traps and "landed" three nice Dungeness crabs. It would have been tricky to deal with the crab traps from the whisky 16 without support. The trident angler is much more suited to crabbing! In addition to the wolf, we saw bald eagles, great blue herons, scoters, buffleheads, common and hooded mergansers as well as harbor seals and Steller sea lions.

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Here is a link to Olivier's photos from this padle:

http://mhjpaddling.blogspot.ca/2016/12/oliviers-wolf-photos-from-dec-23rd.html
15 km, YTD 1046 km

December 21st - Cadboro crabbing again! (#124)

I went out once again to check the traps. Fairly calm conditions with a bit of an easterly. Plenty of red rock crabs. I kept one RRC and one Dungeness. I am beginning to figure out how to rig and rebait efficiently! A few birds about including curious gulls and a couple of buffleheads.

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2 km, YTD 1031 km

December 20th - Cadboro crabbing (#123)

I paddled out against a stiff wind to check the traps today. Two keepers today, one Dungeness and another decent sized red-rock. I am enjoying the quick paddle out to check the traps, but would like it if it were more productive! :)
You can see that the westerly wind pushed me around a bit!

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2 km, YTD 1029 km