May 21-23 - Gulf Islands (#s 35-37)

I co led a trip with our grade 11 students from Ladysmith to Portland Island. As I had to get to work on Tuesday, I left them behind at Portland and made my way to Swartz Bay.
We began the trip in drizzle in Evening Cove, near Ladysmith and paddled over to Thetis. Unfortunately the gap was dry and we had to do a short portage. We then went over to Reid Island where we saw a beutiful flower covered island that we decided not to camp on ( a combination of probable habitat damage and dificulty beaching kayaks). We made our way south to Chivers Point on Wallace which remarkably only had one other group there so there was plenty of room for us. An 18 km day. The next day we made our way south to Prevost Island by way of a stop at Walker Hook. The wind picked up a little bit in the afternoon, slowing down our progress. Camping at Prevost was excellent. A 19 km day. On the third day the group made its way to Arbutus point on Portland Island. We made excellent progress, arriving at Arbutus point (15 km) by noon. Peter paddled out to Arbutus point to meet me and we paddled on back to Swartz head (8 km). The rest of the group will make their way to Tulista Park on Tuesday.
Conditions were great, the group was great and I was working with two other wonderful guides Toni and Nick.

The whole route - click to enlarge

Day 1 - click to enlarge

Day 2 - click to enlarge

Day 3 - click to enlarge

The trip photo album
Total trip for me 60 km, YTD 445km

May 14th/15th - Ladysmith (#s 32 and 33)

I went up to the Ladysmith Paddlefest on the Saturday to give a towing clinic and then participate in the grand opening of the BC Marine Trails Network. I joined a flotilla of almost 100 paddlers paddling from the Dunsmuir Islands across back to Transfer Beach. It was an impressive sight as shown by the photos John at Kayak Yak took.
Here is a link to John's album: http://www.flickr.com/photos/spuzzum42/sets/72157626596809711/

(me at the left in the Tahe Greenland)
The weather held all day Saturday and I was able to head out for a nice paddle around Sharpe and Coffin points with Scott and Mark. It was a great day to be a part of - celebrating the Trails Network opening. I saw several old friends and met many new ones.
On Sunday Alan (from Campbell River) and I put on a rolling demo around noon where we did a good collection of Greenland competition rolls. I think it looked pretty good as I had several good comments about those kayak ninjas out there. Alan was paddling Dan's Tahe Greenland T so we were in almost matching boats and otherwise black outfits.Unfortunately for the vendors it was raining steadily most of the time (not a problem for rolling!) but I had a bit of time to wander through exhibits. I saw a Pungo (but did not paddle it - intermediate paddlers only!) but did get a shot of myself (Thanks Nikki!) in a Jackson Kayak! I test drove a couple of new Maelstrom/Boreal boats the Vaag 174 and the Vital 166. These wer both very comfortable and easy to maneuver and were a blast to roll - dare I say almost as easy as my Tahe!
All in all a great weekend - and thanks to Mark and Christine for theior hospitality on Saturday night!

My routes for the weekend. (click to enlarge)

not my Kayak! Even though it has my name on it!

18 km, YTD 383 km

My 15th - Ladysmith (#38)

I went up to Ladysmith for the paddlefest and gave a towing clinic first thing and then did a rolling demonstration with Alan. The towing clininc and rolling demo went well and it was a great day to play around and in boats!

2 km, 1 NM, YTD 459 km.

May 10th - Ladysmith (#32)

I went up to Ladysmith for the Paddlefest. Once again I did some clinics. This year I did one on Charts and Navigation in the morning and then a towing clinic in the afternoon. I managed to get around all the stalls during the time in between and ran into many friends! Managed to escape without buying anything except a couple of John Kimantas’ maps! I must give the Lightspeed boats a test drive again – I am intrigued by thier skeg/rudder system. While doing the towing clinic I was able to field test the highwayman hitch system of giving the towee a quick release – worked well. The weather held nicely – the wind was just picking up as I left around 3:15.

1.5 km, 1 NM, YTD 323 km.