September 26 - Sidney Spit Beach cleanup (#90)

I led a group of 13 other SISKA paddlers to Sidney Spit to do our annual beach cleanup as part of the Great Canadian shoreline Cleanup. Conditions were excellent and we spent about an hour and a half cleaning the spit. There was less sizeable debris this year, but it seemed like there were more small foam pieces - a depressing amount. We gathered about 20 kg in total.

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9 km, YTD 738 km

September 20/21 - Portland Island (#s 81 and 82)

Don, Susan and I set out from Amherst on Saturday morning to paddle out to Arbutus point to join a group of SISKA paddlers camping there. We had a nice paddle over and a relaxing afternoon and evening socializing with the other paddlers. I had a good sleep in my Hennessey Hammock and we returned to Amherst just after noon on Sunday. We saw lots of Orange sea cucumbers on the east shore of Portland Island. This was SISKA's first official camping paddle and was a great success - thanks Alan for leading and organizing!

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20 km, YTD 785 km

September 14th - Sidney Spit (#80)

I led a group of 12 SISKA paddlers to Sidney spit to do a cleanup as part of the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup. Conditions were magnificent - sunny and clam and we had an uneventful paddle to Sidney spit via the Ker Group and the Dock Islets. We saw porpoises and a nice glacial erratic along the way as well as some honeycomb weathering on the Dock Island sandstone. We had lunch and then spent an hour an a half walking the spit's beaches looking for garbage. Once again, foam pieces were the predominant items. Our total amount of garbage was less this year, which was encouraging. We returned directly to Amherst and had a nice visit to the Rumrunner to celebrate our safe return! I just realized that this is our 6th year of doing this - see the links below.

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Previous years trips:

http://mhjpaddling.blogspot.ca/2013/10/october-6th-sidney-spit-beach-cleanup-73.html

http://mhjpaddling.blogspot.ca/2012/09/september-15th-sidney-spit-66.html

http://mhjpaddling.blogspot.ca/2011/09/september-17th-sidney-spit-cleanup-and.html

http://mhjpaddling.blogspot.ca/2010/09/september-12th-siska-sidney-spit.html

http://mhjpaddling.blogspot.ca/2009/09/september-20th-sidney-spit-cleanup-91.html

9 km, YTD 765 km

October 6th - Sidney Spit Beach cleanup (#73)

I led a group of 14 other SISKA members on a paddle to Sidney Spit to clean up the beach. This is the 5th time/year we have done it as part of the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup! We set out on a beautiful sunny day with great conditions at launch time and in the forecast. The weather was summerlike throughout the day! A nice change form the planned day of Sept 22 when I cancelled it! The beach was cleaner than in previous years. We had a relaxing lunch before we started cleaning and then we took a "siesta" before heading back. We finished up with a short debrief at the Rumrunner.

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10 km, YTD 865 km

October 14th - Piers Island (#73)

I joined Tom and 15 other SISKA paddlers for a paddle to Piers Island from Amherst. Our original plan was to go to Rum, but the forecast was a bit dodgy so we decided to play it safe. We went through the Little group, around Coal and then Pym, Knapp and Piers Island. We stopped for a lunch break at the community park on Piers and took shelter from the light rain that persisted on and off all day. I think this may have been my first rainy paddle in six months! It was good to have had a hot drink handy for lunch. A nice day on the water. Thanks to Olivier for the ride!

our track - click to enlarge

18 km, YTD 870 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

March 10th - Currents Clinic (#20)

I helped Gary lead a currents clinic for SISKA. We were four instructors and 11 students and we had fun learning about eddy lines, ferrying and more. It was great to see smiles on faces when they felt their first good eddy turn!

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10 km, YTD 213 km

September 17th - Sidney Spit Cleanup and 1000 km (#87)

Monica and I joined the SISKA beach clean up paddle to Sidney Spit. Monica was paddling her new Feathercraft XPS and using a Greenland paddle. Conditions were very nice as we made our way out through the Little Group and then to Dock Island, before running with the current to Sidney Spit. We walked the beaches of Sidney Spit and gathered up about 5 small garbage bags full. Quite a bit less than last year which is a good sign. This paddle was a small part of the 26th International Coastal Cleanup day. As a bonus today I went through the 1000 km mark for the year!

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 10 km, YTD 1002

June 25th - Portland Island (#49)

I joined a SISKA energizer paddle from Amherst to Portland. Conditions were good, though forecast to increase in the afternoon - did not happen. Bill and I helped escort a paddler who was not feeling well back to Amherst after making it almost to Coal and then caught up with the rest of the group at shell beach on Portland.
We were 20 in all - 18 for much of the paddle though. Thanks to Tom for leading.

20 km, YTD 527 km.

October 23rd - Coal and Piers Islands (#100)

For my 100th paddle of the year I joined a  SISKA paddle led by Dan. The 15 of us were going to go to Rum Island but, based on the forecast, decided to stay more in the lee and decided to go to Coal and then Piers Islands. As it turned out the wind did not get too strong until we were well off the water, but we had a great paddle in good conditions. I guess only 22 km to go for my unofficial 1000 km goal...
As I write the wind is blowing hard, gust of up to 58 kph at 10 mile point . Winds defintely picked up around 4 PM!

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17 km, 9 NM, YTD 978 km.

April 17 and 18 - Pender (#s 29 and 30)

Dan and I set out from Amherst in Sidney to paddle over to the Westcoast Paddler (http://www.westcoastpaddler.com/) campout on Pender Island. The 18 km paddle over to Bedwell Harbour was blessed by good conditions, a favourable current and several porpoise and auklet sightings.

We had a nice evening visiting with the WCP campout group and then set out at 0830 on Sunday to paddle 38 km back to Victoria. We could not have asked for more favourable conditions! Light winds and an ebb current for the whole trip! You can see that our speed was boosted for virtually the whole trip with a big boost right after D’Arcy Islands. We ran across several porpoises, many rhinoceros auklet pairs, crossed into US waters, avoided freighters and ferries, and passed a few halibut fishermen on the flats south of D’Arcy.

 56 km combined, 30 NM, YTD 423 km

April 5th - Little Group (#24)

Dan, Mike and I set out from Aherst to paddle around the Sidney area. We originally had plans to go to Rum, but winds and currents were not favourable so we worked our way up wind for a while and then surfed our way down wind to the Little Group and had lunch on Shell Island. After lunch we went to Johns passage to look for some current action, but there was not much. Had a nice day!

 13 km, 7 NM, YTD 331 km

January 30 - Rum Island (#10)

Dan, Mike and I set out nice and early from Amherst to paddle out to Rum Island. Conditions were calm with light rain and I was paddling my Shadow. There was a reasonably strong current ebbing between Dock and Forrest, but we made it past the north end of Forrest and then caught the flow to Gooch. It was neat to see all the sandstone and conglomerate formations again. Mike broughht out his large Kelly kettle and we had hot water and some very welcome hot chocolate! It feels good to have 10 paddles and almost 150 km under my belt by the end of January!

19 km, 10 NM, YTD 146 km.

Some more Kelly kettle shots are  posted at: http://picasaweb.google.com/mhjackson123/20100130_rum#

January 3rd - Moresby Island (#2)

Dan, Mike and I set out from Amherst for a paddle out to Moresby Island. Conditions were excellent, though there was a solid ebb current all day. We went to Seymour point and then wended our way down the west shore of Moresby until we found a nice beach and point for lunch. Mike brought out his Kelly Kettle which did a fine job of boiling water using a few twigs.

 Tahe Greenland on the beach  The Kelly kettle in action

 20 km, 11 NM, YTD: 26 km

October 31 - Sidney Island - (#100)

Dan, Heike, Paulo, John and I set out from Amherst to paddle around Sidney Island. There were some reasonably strong winds forecast, but these did not materialise. It was alonger paddle than I have done in the past few weeks, so I was pretty tired at the end. The Tahe Greenland performed well in some chop at the south end of Sidney and was a good choice for the day. Paulo and I did some rolling at the end of the day.

 26 km, 14.5 NM, YTD 1166 km

September 20th - Sidney Spit Cleanup (#91)

Corinne, Roger, Duncan, Dennis and I set out From Amherst to paddle over to Sidney spit to do a SISKA cleanup of Sidney Spit as part of the RD great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup. Conditions were excellent with a reasonable ebb in the morning which turned to a gentle flood after lunch. We paddled over to the Flower Group and then to Dock Island for some scenic variey and encountered a little bit of current in between the islands. From Dock Island we caught the current to Sidney Spit, avoiding the many racing sailboats. We landed at the north tip of the spit and then proceeded to do our cleanup. Much of the debris was miscellaneous plastic bits and pieces and pieces of styrofoam. We had a nice paddle straight over to Sidney on the return and I did some rolling in the Tahe Greenland when we were back at the beach.

10 Km, 5 NM, YTD 1041 km

April 24 - Sidney to Pender Island (#25)

I decided to paddle over to Pender from Sidney to join the West Coast Paddler camp out at Beaumont marine park on Pender. I headed up to Sidney after work and was on the water shortly after 5 PM. I had a fairly uneventful but pleasant paddle. Conditions were decent, though what wind there was was from the SE (as opposed to the predicted SW which would have been a nice sailing wind), so no sailing. I think there was a gentle current in my favour as I made good time arriving at the destination just before 8 PMThe wild life highlight was watching a pair of rhinoceros auklets mate in the middle of the strait between Moresby and Pender Islands.

18 KM, 10 NM, YTD 250 km

Jan 31 - Portland (#6)

I decided to get out of my “home turf” and head out of Amherst, Sidney, with Dan and John. We had a great paddle in good conditions, fighting a bit of a head wind on the return. We met up with Dennis and Sue on Portland and joined them for lunch.

Saw some nice innukshuks on the north side – photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/mhjackson123/20090131_portland

21 km, 11 NM, YTD 77 km.

October 8th, Rum Island, (#69)

Dennis, Paolo, George, John, Heike and I went for a relatively early (9AM OTW) paddle over to Rum Island. It was wet and a bit windy as we set off and the current was ebbing southward as we went by Sidney Spit and Forrest Island. We stopped for a nice “Brunch” on the south side of Rum. By the time we had finished, the weather had improved and the sun was peeking out.

12 nm, 20 km, YTD 1129km.