May 16th - Cadboro Bay (#32)

Pete and I took a group of 7 grade 10 students to Cadboro Bay to do an intro session on sea kayaking, wet exits and rescues. We are taking this group for a 6 day trip to the Broughtons in June. They look like they should be fine!

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3 km, YTD 296 km

October 28th - Turkey head (#103)

Pete and I led another session with students. This time we launched from turkey head and paddled around the head and through the marina over to GNS. We saw the Wednesday group coming back. We managed to have great conditions again! Celebrated the end of the series of afternoons with a delicious hot chocolate with whipped cream!

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3 km, YTD 853 km

October 26th - Flower Islet (#102)

Pete and I led a group of 6 students on a short paddle out to Flower Islet and back. Conditions were very fine - no wind/waves and overcast. As you can see the pace was quite relaxed - I should have brought a coffee to drink!

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4 km, YTD 850 km

October 22 - Cadboro Bay (#99)

Pete and I ran a class for 6 grade 10 students learning the basics of paddling. We covered forward and reverse strokes as well as sweeps and draws. Conditions were perfect for beginners - sunny and calm. The students made good progress and seemed much more comfortable in their boats at the end.

I forgot the GPS, but estimate 1 km of paddling! :)

1 km, YTD 821 km

June 15th - Cadboro Bay (#48)

Monica and I went out for an afternoon paddle to practice strokes and edging in a bit of wind. Conditions were good with enough wind to me it interesting but not so much as to make it hard!

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5 km, YTD: 421 km

January 18/19 - Surge Narrows (#6&7)

George and I went up to Campbell River for the weekend to visit Alan and paddle Surge Narrows again. On Saturday we were joined by Jonathan and Brent and on Sunday by Brad. Weather conditions were excellent for paddling at this time of year with no precipitation. The wave was good on both days, though on Sunday it never developed as well as on Saturday and was hard to get on to at times. As always I learned more about Linux from Alan as well as some great weather sites. The Delphin and Werner Shuna combination worked well for me this time.

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11 km, YTD 67 km

November 16 and 17 - Surge Narrows (#80&81)

Olivier, George and I went up to Campbell River for the weekend to paddle Surge Narrows with Alan. We stayed with Alan and went over to Quadra each day. Brent was there on both days and on Sunday we also saw Jonathan, Ken and Peter. The wave was very nice each day (best on Sunday) with the current maxing at just over 7 knots. For me the sweet spot was between 4 and 6 knots, I think, as I found it hard to get on and stay on when it was  around 7. It was George's first exposure to the narrows, and he got a few good rides. George also got some good video I think, and I got some good rolling and rescue practice.
On Sunday I got to paddle Brent's Gemini SP which performed very nicely in the wave. Despite being mid November, we had sunshine for much of both days!

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15 km (probably more since I did not record my time in the Gemini), YTD 945 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

August 13-15 Kyuquot Sound (#s 59-61)

Monica and I took the C-dory (Natural C-lection) up to Fair Harbour and met with JF. Our plan was to go out to Spring Island and try our hands at kayak fishing based out of the West Coast expeditions base camp. We took the Delphin and the Trident Angler. Spring Island and the WCE camp were magnificent and we had a great few days there in spite of some windy and rainy weather. It was great to see Dave and Caroline again and meet Morgan as well as guides Serina and Ben. We also ran into Mike P and his son Rowan! While at the camp, we got to meet Dave's Kyuquot "family" which was a real treat. There are some protected waters on the NW side of the island which allowed fishing to happen even when it was a bit nasty off shore. There are plenty of nice springs around! Monica and I fished out of the C-dory a few times and had some good results!

August 13 - Round Spring island with Monica

Monica and I went for a paddle around Spring Island together. Conditions were great with minimal swell, sunshine and spectacular scenery. Lots of sea otters up here.

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8 km, YTD 743 km

August 14 - playing in waves with Ben

The 14th was pretty stormy, and the swell had built up so when Ben paddled by saying he was going to play in the waves, I jumped at the opportunity to join! It was my first time surfing in kelp!

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10 km, YTD 753 km

August 15 - fishing

I took the trident out and tried trolling and handlining. I had no luck, but JF hit springs with his bucktail and a trolled hootchie.

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7 km, YTD 760 km

To and fro from the boat

We also used the kayaks to go to and from our boat which was moored at the SE corner of the bay to the WCE camp at the NW corner. About 400 m each way, so we added an extra 2 km to the route!

2 km, YTD 762 km

April 6&7 - Surge Narrows (#25&26)

I joined drove up to Quadra with Olivier to stay at Discovery Islands Lodge with Dorothea, Scott, Mike, Paulo, Dan and Walter for a weekend at Surge. Alan and Brent joined us on Saturday, and we had good paddling on both days. I managed to get some great rides on both days. The wave was pretty tricky during max flood, but became very nice as the tide rose and the current dropped a bit. We had a great pot luck at the lodge on Saturday evening. On Sunday we met John, Mike, and Paul as well as Brent.

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17 km, YTD 264 km

Feb 23 and 24 - Surge Narrows (#9 &10)

I went up island with Olivier to stay with Alan and Chris for the weekend and to paddle Surge Narrows. We had a good trip up Island (I managed to sneak a quick peek at the Boat and Outdoor show on the way!) and had a nice sunny day on the wave on Saturday. Sunday was a bit windier and cooler but the rain did not start until we were on our way back. Unfortunately for us, the wind was much stronger in Discovery passage and the ferry back to Campbell River was cancelled 4 sailings in a row, resulting in us not getting across until 8:30 PM. We decided that it made sense to stay another night at Alan's and leave early on Monday! Sunday's wave was "interesting" in that it was very hard to stay on until our last hour when it became good fun!
A couple of photos of yours truly on the wave: https://plus.google.com/photos/107085608707498595852/albums/5849146691822213745

the whole track - click to enlarge

Just the narrows... click to enlarge

13 km, YTD 106 km

December 9th - Baynes Channel (#82)

I paddled out to Cadboro Point to meet Ben and Olivier for an afternoon play in Baynes Channel. The current was running nicely in the channel creating 3-5 foot waves. It was tough to surf them, but it was great fun riding the "Baynes bronco"! I got tired pretty quickly and had to head back home after an hour or so.

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8 km, YTD 954 km

November 24 & 25 - Surge Narrows (#s 79 &80)

James and I drove up to Campbell River on Friday evening and stayed with Alan at his place. On Saturday we went over to the narrows  and had a great few hours on the wave together with Brent and James (#2) and Jaime. We came back to CR and had a nice dinner at the Coachman pub! We went back again on Sunday, this time accompanied by Jaime, Phil and Sam and had a second great day on the wave. Al did a great job of predicting fun yet friendly wave heights! Hopefully Jaime has some nice shots of us playing!

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13 km, YTD 928 km

November 11th - surge Narrows (#76)

I went up to Campbell River on Saturday evening and spent the night at Alan and Chris' so that Alan and I could go over to Quadra Island and spend some time at Surge Narrows. We met Brent up there and had a good time on the wave in spite of a nasty weather forecast. I had trouble staying on the wave when it was at max, but had some good rides before and after the current got too strong with me. i need to work on strengthening my maneuvering strokes! I am planning to head back up there again on the weekend of Nov 24/25...

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6 km, YTD 895 km

Surfing the Surge

This is a nice clip of me surfing the wave at Surge Narrows on March 18th. The clip was made by Alan, using a shore based camera on a tripod.

March 24th - Octopus Islands and Surge Narrows (#26)

I went up to the wonderful Discovery Islands  lodge again, this time with Pautik and Coast&Kayak magazine. I was joined by Walter, Reale and Gloria again as well as John, Gerhardt, Shannon, Sheila, Dorothea, Taver, Richard and Carey. Paulo camped nearby and joined us for the paddles. We had a great day paddle up to the Octopus Islands and then made our way back to the narrows to wait for the flood current to subside enough to paddle the wave. We had gorgeous sunny weather and it was neat to sit over the rapids and watch as the 9 or 10 knot current powered through making waves, whirlpools and overfalls. While at Surge Narrows we ran into regulars Brent and Jonathan who gave me more tips on how to make my Delphin behave on the wave. An all around great day with great people. It was impressive to see the narrows with such tidal current activity.

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26 km, YTD 323 km

March 18th - Surge Narrows (#23)

I went up to Surge Narrows again with the group and had a wonderful morning on the "wave". It was fun watching it gradually build from 9AM until almost noon when I left. I really felt that I had got the hang of the Delphin on that wave by the time I finished the morning. We met up with Jonathan, Alan and Brent who gave me some good tips. By the time I finished I was staying on the wave and moving around on it as well - great fun!

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5 km, YTD 234 km.

zoom into surge narrows

It was a great St. Patrick's weekend spent with Monica, Reale, Gloria, Dave and Alison, Kevin, John, Walter and Huw!

March 17th- Surge Narrows (#21)

Monica and I went up to Discovery Islands Lodge with a wonderful bunch from Duncan and Nanaimo for the weekend. I managed to get up to the narrows for some tide race fun on the first morning. I had fun getting to know how my Delphin and the Shuna paddle worked together. We also ran into Brent there.

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6 km, YTD 219 km

March 4th - Jordan River (#19)

I joined Zyoji, Dom, Justin, Ryan and Ted to go surfing at JR. Zyoji and Justin were on SUPs and Dom, Ryan and Ted were on regular boards while I was in the Delphin. The Delpin performed well though the waves were not quite pushy enough to be perfect! I got some nice rides and had to do a couple of combat rolls. I was wearing my new Comfort Paddling Tuilik which is sized to fit a larger cockpit. It was nice to wear a bib and tuilik instead of a dry suit!

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9 km, YTD 203 km

March 3rd - Oak Bay Marina (#18

Tom, Dan and I went for a morning paddle to Oak Bay Marina. There was a strong south-westerly blowing so we decided to keep in the lee and follow the shore to Oak Bay. Tom was trying out my Tahe Greenland and I was paddling the Delphin. As you can see from the track back, we had a nice tailwind push across Oak bay!

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9 km, YTD 195 km