October 25th - Chemainus River (#88)

I joined a SMUS river paddling day and paddled the Chemainus river down to the highway bridge. It has been a while since I have paddled rivers, so it was good to get back in the river boat (Necky Jive). Once capsize and roll and no swims! I need to reseal the fin slots as I was taking on some water...

click to enlarge

6 km, YTD 854

October 26th - Cowichan River (#76)

I went with Pete and George (and 4 students) to the Cowichan River where we met up with Tieran of Kindred Spirit Kayak. We played on the river around the Mayo Road bridge while we got the kids ready for running a section of rapid by letting them practice eddy turns. Eventually we got to the point where we were able to take them down the section from Skutz falls to the bridge. All the kids managed it without capsizing! For me, it was the first time on the river in a couple of years - good to get back!
The GPS track is a bit shaky - I think it had problems getting a clear signal in the canyon. I ran the section 4 times and had fun playing in the eddies and even got to surf a little bit!

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2 km, YTD 881 km

December 29th - Jordan River (#123)

I went to Jordan River with John and Heather. It was Heather's first time in surf and though she swam a couple of times she got some good rides. The forecast was for calm winds but they picked up to 10-15 knots soon after we arrived. I paddled the Wold Surf Kayak with my Terry A Greenland paddle. I also wore my Bughead 2mm tuilik over my drysuit and was very comfortable. I was wearing Hot Mitts from MEC which worked great - my hands were warm and toast throughout the sesion in spite of air temperatures around 2-4 C! I have only had these for a week or so but am now a fan of them. Bill was on shore and hopefully got some good stills and video. I also ran into Randy who was setting out as we were finishing.

The JR track - click to enlarge

5 km, 2 NM, YTD 1207 km