Heike, John, Tony, Dennis and I set out from McNeill Bay (we were joined by Paolo who set out from Smuggler’s cove!) and paddled along the Victoria and Esquimalt waterfronts to Fisgard Light by Esquimalt lagoon. Conditions were good. I had a little bit of wind and used the spirit sail until Clover point. I was paddling the sirocco again. The currents were supposed to be with us both ways, but did not significantly hinder or help us either way.
25km, 13.4 NM, YTD 161 km
Dennis, Paolo and I set off from Smuggler’s cove and met Mike and Craig off ten mile point where we played for a few minutes in the waves. We then made our way over to Strongtide Islet and then made our way down to Discovery. Had lunch on a North facing beach which was out of the wind. The wind was blowing at around 15–20 knots, gusting 25 or so for most of the trip. There were some very big waves off the SE end of Discovery which we managed to avoid. I managed to get the spiritsail up for a short while on the way back up past Chatham. There was a very strong current flowing through Baynes. Paolo and I played in the lower set for a while and then went to the set off 10 mile point to finish the day. Went for a sleeve of Beacon IPA at the smuggler’s cove to warm up and meet Tony and Gordin. An exhilarating day! I was paddling the Sirocco for a change – nice to paddle a very manoueverable boat. I was able to practice a few rolls and static braces.
14.5 km, 8 NM, YTD 136 km
A group of 18 of us left Amherst under Susan’s leadership with assistance from Dan, Neil and Roscoe. We kept up a good pace and managed to cover a comfortable 15 km. The conditions we were expecting were delayed (it is windy and rainy now as I write!) and we had nice calm conditions with no significant current or wind. A very nice paddle which finished with a short visit to the Waddling Dog!
8 NM, 15 km, YTD 121 km
Some photos from the day:
I just found this video on youtube – Darren M took it on Jan 2nd 2006!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnygH8AkMXY
I went up early to Amherst to try out the SOF kayak. It seemed to perform just fine and I was able to roll it with no problems the first time. After trying it out for a few minutes, I decided to give it a go for the day paddle. Bill, Craig, Doug, John, Heike, Paolo and I headed out to Portland. We were fighting a bit of wind and current on the way out, but was in our favour for the way back!
The SOF kayak worked fine. It tracked well and was easy to control, though it was a bit slower than the other boats.
11 NM, 20.3 km, YTD 106 km
Don, George and I left Amherst at around 9:30 and paddled our way out to Rum Island by way of Dock, Sheep, Brethour and Comet Islands. Weather was superb - felt like summer! Had a lunch on the south beach and made our way bay via Rubbly, Domville and Forrest Islands.
21 km, 11 NM, YTD 86 km
Bill, Doug, Gordin, Gary and I set out at 9:30 from Island View Beach to paddle out to visit the campers on d’Arcy. Craig paddled up from Agate beach to join us for the paddle out. Dennis and a group were camped on d’Arcy for the night which was a tad chilly since there was frost all about in the morning. The morning started off breezy with 5–10 knots of wind which gradually died. By the time we began the paddle back via little d’Arcy and James, the sea was calm and the sun was out – a beautiful afternoon. We all had a snack/lunch on the beach on the south side of James – some recent mud slides since our last visit. I saw a pair of Dall porpoises on the way back. There was a good ebb running between James and the peninsula…
18.3 km, 10 NM, YTD: 65 km
I joined a VCKC "Energizer" paddle today and we (all 27 of us) went to Becher Bay. The weather was great, though a bit windy at the start, and we made a very pleasant paddle over to Aylard farm. I had a quick go at sailing at the end and the Pacific Action sail worked well. We finished off by going to MyChosen Cafe to celebrate Duncan's "62nd" birthday!
http://www.islandnet.com/~mjackson/google/2007_01_20_becher.htm is an interactive Google maps link to our track.
Some shots from the day:
Mike and I went for a fairly early paddle out of Roberts Bay. The forecast was indicating that the wind would be out of the south and then build out of the west, so we decided to stay close to shore and follow it down to Bazan Bay - I hoped for a good tail wind back from Bazan... The sail rig worked well and Mike took some pics. However the wind was already turning to the west, making it harder to track.
Pete and I snuck out for a couple of hours from McNeill Bay. My main goal was to try out the new Pacific Action sail that arrived on Friday and I installed this morning. It worked great in that it was easy to deploy and to furl. It also moved me along at a good clip - a fast paddling pace at least. It also seems to work quite well off directly downwind. I will need to tinker with the location of a couple of things and practice sail trimming a bit more, but it looks like it will be fun! I was sailing in all the purple/blue sections of the tack below and also in the second run north east from Trial Island. The wind was probably about 10 knots most of the time and gusting occasionally to 15 knots.
8.8 km, 4.8 NM, YTD 25 km.
Mike and I decided to start the year off with a good paddle and set out from Robert's bay at 0930. We had calm dry conditions for launching and the wind gradually built while we made our way to Ker. By the time we got to Forrest, it was blowing nicely from the SE, so we paddled to the south end of Forrest and then let the wind take us to Coal Island. Great ride. I had my small (0.75 sq m) Sprit Sail up and was making great progress without paddling (max speed 15 kph or just over 8 knots!). Mike paddled and got some great rides on the surf. We rounded coal and entered calm quiet waters where we stopped for lunch. Mike found a bottle with a message in it and is e-mailing the writers... The wind was blowing strongly when we were making our way from Curteis Point to Roberts Bay, making it quite hard work, but conditions were pleasantly exhilarating. We made it back to the beach by about 1330.
Kelp Reef recorded fairly steady SSE winds between 23 and 28 knots for the period from 0900 to 1300.
17.8 km, 8.2 NM, YTD 18 km!
North of Coal Now you see him... Now you don't!
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