September 15th - Gorge waterway (#55)

I went for an afternoon paddle in the Gorge to participate in the Victoria Canoe and Kayak Club's 50th anniversary celebrations. I launched at Kinsmen Park and paddled up to the Craigflower bridge. On the way back, we paddled as a mixed flotilla of paddle craft to the VCKC clubhouse.

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5 km, YTD 428 km

September 23rd - Gorge (#69)

I went for a morning SUP paddle in the Gorge. Nice conditions. Lots of snail(?) eggs on the eelgrass. Plenty of Canada geese around. Lots of airplanes in the harbour. GPS battery did not work so track is manually created!

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12 km, YTD 596 km.

November 12th - Victoria Harbour (#108)

I joined 4 of the "Thursday Paddlers" (Alan, Alex, John and Debbie) for a paddle in the gorge and Victoria Harbour. Winds were forecast to be substantial today, so it seemed sensible to paddle in protected waters. We launched from Esquimalt-Gorge Park a few minutes late since I got half way there and realized that I had forgotten my spray-deck! We made it down the gorge and into the inner harbour passing by several derelict live-aboard boats. We made our way under the Blue Bridge past the new bridge construction and over to take a look at MV Swell (the boat I was guiding on during the summer). We then made our way along the Songhees shoreline to West bay and then out to Ogden point where we stopped for lunch. The predicted winds did pick up around noon, but did not affect us much. We stopped for a coffee at the Spiral cafe on Craigflower and had a good chat. By the time we had finished the paddle, it had started to rain quite heavily.

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16 km, YTD 895 km

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You can see a wind record for the day for Trial Island and another one for Ogden point:

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By the time I made it home, Cadboro Bay was looking pretty wild and at least three boats had come aground!

December 10th - The Gorge (#102)

Monica and I joined a SISKA relaxed paddle in the Gorge led by Gary. It was a cold morning but 11 of us set off up the Gorge towards Portage Inlet where we were met by sheets of ice! It was kind of fun paddling through the ice (neat sound!) but we decided it was not that safe for a group paddle and made our way back down through Tillicum Narrows to the Banfield Park area where we checked out a bunch of semi derelict boats that are moored there. After the group paddle, I went for a short paddle with Alex and introduced him to my Northern Lights Greenland paddle.

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11 km, YTD 1174 km.

December 10 - The Gorge (#75)

George and I went for a "lazy" Sunday afternoon paddle in the Gorge. We left the beach near Craigflower and went as far as Ogden Point. The weather was calmer than expected and there was hardly any rain.

not a "live" map

8.3 NM, 15.4 km, YTD 1237 km

October 7th (#68)

 I ran a PaddleCanada(CRCA) flatwater course today for the VCKC. We were in the Gorge and operated out of the club house. All 4 partcipants paddled well and passed (Jen, Will, heather and Emily).

3 km, YTD 1109