April 11&12 - Port Renfrew (#10, 11 &12)

I went to the Ocean river Port Renfrew Paddling Symposium as an assistant instructor. I helped Finn and Beth-Anne with Rock Gardening on the first morning, Justine for intermediate surfing on the first afternoon and then Mike and Justine for rock gardening on the second morning. We had great participants and fun in spite of low swells.

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22 km, YTD 51 km

February 23 - Port Renfrew Surfing (#8)

I went solo surfing off the river in PR - the break was in a different location due to a lower tide. Got a couple of nice rides!

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2 km, YTD 87 km

February 22 - San Juan River (#7)

I went for a solo paddle up the San Juan as there seemed to be little surf this morning. You can definitely see the difference in speed up and down river due to the current. Lots of buffleheads, a couple of great blue herons and a belted kingfisher. I see lots of channels to explore in future trips!

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8 km, YTD 85 km

February 21 - Port Renfrew Surfing (#6)

I went for a solo paddle off the San Juan river in Port Renfrew. There were some nice waves and I got a couple of good rides! Saw a common loon!

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4 km, YTD 77 km

February 21 - Port Renfrew (#6)

I went for a solo paddle in Port Renfrew on the San Juan river mouth looking for some small surf to play in with the Hammer. There was very little surf but I did find a small break at the end of the beach and got a few runs. I saw a nice selection of birds. It was nice to be out on the water in Renfrew!

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2 km, YTD 56 km

January 24th - Port Renfrew (#3)

I was up at the cottages in Renfrew doing some maintenance and managed to get out for a nice play in the surf by the San Juan rivermouth. The waves were not too big but still gave me some great rides! The Hammer is fun in surf! :)
There were some nice birds around as well including surf scoter, pacific loon, common merganser, bald eagle and more.

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5 km, YTD 15 km

October 30th - Port Renfrew (#104)

I joined Reale, Jo, Jeff, Tony, Heather and Beverly for a paddle in Port San Juan. We paddled over to the north side of the bay and then poked our way along the shoreline up to Thrasher Cove (One of the starting/ending spots for the West Coast trail). There were magnificent caves, arches and stacks as well as pour-overs and slots to paddle through/over/around and I had a blast. I ended up high and dry a couple of times... It has been a while since I paddled this stretch of coast and it was well worth the drive! My only compaint is that the Hammer is slow! It seemed especially so when I was paddling against the river flow and tide near the end.

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13 km, YTD 882 km

Feb 8 & 9 - Port Renfrew (#s 12 & 13)

While up in Port Renfrew for the weekend with Monica, Bill and Sharon, I was able to get out for a couple of short paddles. The first was a short paddle from our cabin at the Port Renfrew Hotel down to the mouth of the San Juan River. There was a tiny bit of surf near the point and I managed a couple of baby rides. It was nice paddling the shoreline and I managed to sneak through some slots and a cave.

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The second paddle was over by the mouth of the Gordon River where Bill and I tried to play in the virtually nonexistent surf. It was fun, though decent waves were few and far between!

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6km, YTD 111 km

Feb 5th - Port Renfrew (#11)

I went for a short surfing session at the north end of Port Renfrew's beach. There were a bunch of surfers there in the best spot, so I had to accept occasional good waves! However, I did get some great rides and had fun! Another beautiful sunny, calm winter's day! On the way home we stopped for a nice walk at Sandcut Creek.

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5 km, YTD 108 km

Feb 4th - Port Renfrew (#10)

Monica and I went for a paddle up the San Juan River. The tide was on its way out so it was quite an effort to paddle up stream! It was a beautiful afternoon! After we got back to the beach by the lodge, I went for another short surf and again had a few nice rides!

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8 km, YTD 103 km

August 25-27 - Port Renfrew to Victoria (#s 77-79)

Monica kindly drove George, Pete, Dennis and me to Port Renfrew where the four of us began our 3 day trip back to Victoria. This was the last part of our West coast "expedition" from Port Hardy to Victoria over several trips. The weather and conditions were very much in our favour and we made great progress each day - average speed was well over 7 kph for the trip. Crossing from Cape Calver to Trial island we rarely were travelling at less than 10 kph! The mornings were typically calm and foggy, especially the first two with tail winds picking up in the afternoon. We found great little camping spots near Sandcut creek on the first night and in a small pocket beach near Aldridge Point on the second night. This was the first trip that I had used the Northern Light "Aleut inspired" paddle and it performed very well. I also was able to make good use of my pacific action sail. This was a great trip!

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109 km, YTD 924 km