May 26th - Tod Inlet (#37)

Bill and I went for a quick paddle to Tod Inlet and gave each other a chance to try each others' boats. I had my Think Beg Eze surfski and Bill had his OC-1canoe. Boith are light weight and fast and fun! I managed not to flip the OC-1 and Bill did the same with the surf ski. It feels wierd to only paddle on one side at a time! :)

click to enlarge

7 km, YTD 298 km

May 23 - Clinic with Blair Doyle (#36)

I joined Blair from NS to help with a SISKA workshop on "on water scenarios". Blair kept us busy all day with a variety of interesting and testing scenarios and I think we all learned a lot!
Alan sent me a "Relive" version of our paddle which is fun to watch! (my GPS turned off at one point so the track across Baynes in interpolated!)

my track - click to enlarge

11 km, YTD 291 km

May 18-20 - TRAK Surf camp (#s 32-35)

I went to Wya Point Resort for a 4 day TRAK kayak surf and coastal paddling camp. It was really neat to meet a wonderful group of TRAK owners and also to paddle in a "one design" group where everyone was paddling the same kayak!
We did our first day of training paddling in Wya Bay working on skills. Our second day was a coastal journey from Wya Bay to Wickininnish on Long Beach, and the third day was a surf session at Long Beach.

Day 1 - click to enlarge - AM + PM paddles

Day 2 - Wya to Wick journey - click to enlarge

Day 3 - surf at Long Beach- Click to enlarge

Paddle 32 May 18 AM 4 km
Paddle 33 May 18 PM 4 km
Paddle 34 May 19 - 14 km
Paddle 35 May 20 - 2 km

YTD 280 km

May 12th - Oak Bay and Chatham birding paddle (#31)

I paddled over to Turkey Head beach to join a SISKA birding paddle guided by Daniel and led by Jennie. Conditions were excellent and we saw a nice variety of shore and sea-birds. Due to paddling over to the starting point and back it was a nice long paddle for me! I was able to get a better handle on identifying our three species of cormorant (pelagic, Brandt's and double-crested). Plenty of rhinoceros auklets and pigeon guillemots around.

click to enlarge

22 km, YTD 256 km

May 6th - Oak Bay intertidal paddle (#30)

I paddled over to Willows Beach to join a group of SISKA paddlers to help lead an intertidal exploration paddle. My paddle was 7 km and the club paddle was 3 km! You can see a difference in my pace getting to the group and back vs the actual exploration paddle! I saw a few Canada geese and pelagic cormorants on my paddle and we also saw some black oystercatchers. An intertidal highlight for me was seeing some small individuals of the "pretty red sponge nudibranch " (Rostanga pulchra). Conditions were outstanding when we were out looking beneath the water's surface as there was no wind for a while and the water was quite clear. No lumpy water to interfere with viewing!

click to enlarge

10 km, YTD 234 km

May 5th - Cadboro Bay (#29)

I went for a quick morning paddle on the surfski and enjoyed sunny weather and a decent northerly wind. You can see it slowed me back on the return leg of the trip. Saw Jennie and Edgar doing a SISKA PC level 1 class on the beach as I was returning.

click to enlarge

8 km, YTD 224 km

May 2nd - Cadboro Bay (#28)

I joined Jennie at Gyro Park to lead a SISKA clinic on forward stroke for sea kayaking. We had a dozen participants and all showed a much improved stoke by the time the sun went down - the clinic started at 6 PM!

click to enlarge

2 km, YTD 216 km