April 26th - Goldstream (#15)

Dan, George, John, Kent and I set out from Brentwood Bay to paddle down to Goldstream. We went by Spectacle falls on the outward trip and had magnificent weather. There was a bit of a tail wind for the last part, so I put up the spirit sail which gave a nice speed boost (see the blue part of the track). We went back to Misery Bay for lunch where we had a very relaxed and pleasant break on a sunny warm beach. As we were leaving we ran into Chris and his sit on top. he was paddling with his family and was doing some fishing/crabbing. We were paddling into a headwind for most of the way back which slowed us down a bit.

26 km, 14 NM, YTD: 265 km

April 20th - Oak Bay (#14)

Dan, George and I set out from Cadboro Bay Beach and made our way out to 10 mile point to play in some waves. We had a couple of runs through the race and then allowed the current to take us towards Trial Island. Our speed maxed out at about 15 kph which made good progress! We had a nice run around Trial and lunched on the west side. We had a nice chat with the lightkeeper and then made our way back to Cadboro Bay via the shore, finishing with a nice coffee at Olive Olio’s. (george and I abandoned our plan to paddle to pender today due to the unsettled and windy forecast – conditions probably would have been fine, but we had a great day!)

19.3 km, 10.5 NM, YTD: 239 km

April 13th - Discovery (#13)

Dan, George and I set out from Cadboro Bay at 9 AM for a paddle around the islands. We had a great paddle with pleasant conditions, including a nice bit of standing wave on the way back to Jemmy Jones.

17.5 km, 9.5 NM, YTD 220 km

Sunday April 6th - Rum island (#12)

George, Dennis and I set out from Amherst on a reasonably strong ebb which almost carried us by Sidney Spit. We had a nice paddle along the south side of Gooch (saw lots of snail eggs) and then stopped for lunch on the north beach of Rum. After a while we wer joined by four paddlers who we did not know and then by Heike, John, Paolo and Hans who had set off from Roberts Bay a bit later. We had some good chats on the beach and then the 3 of us set off back, taking a detour out to Cooper reef. Apparently Doug and Tom qarrived at Rum just after we left. I was still not feeling 100% as a result of the stomach bug, so had to go slower than usual. By the time we got back I was tired! The current was flooding stongly betweem Forrest and Dock Islands, and we were almost taken sideways!

22 km, 11.7 NM, YTD: 202

April 5th - Discovery Island (#11) - Back in the cockpit again!

After a wonderful 3 week trip to Ecuador and the Jungle was back in a boat today with george and Dan as we set out from Smuggler’s cove for the islands. We had a strong ebb to start with which gave us some nice waves of 10 mile point as well as a quick ride south. On the south side of Discovery we had some rougher water, but the current was slackening and even helped us on the return trip. Looking forward to another paddle tomorrow.

12 km, 6.5 NM, YTD: 180 km

Sunday March 9th - 10 mile point (#10)

George, Dan and I set out at 9:30 - an early start with the time change -from Cadboro Bay. We paddled out to 10 mile point and then made our way along the coast to Glencoe cove on Gordon Head. Along the way we ran into Malcolm, David and Melissa paddling the shores of Cadboro Bay. We also saw Mark and Craig about to set out from Smuggler’s Cove. We were fighting a bit of an ebb and a 5–10 knot head wind on the way out and had the wind at our backs and virtually no current on the way back. Another nice day on the water! (Unfortuantely this is my last day on local waters until April – off to Ecuador and Galapagos for 3 weeks!)

16 km, 8.6 NM, YTD 168 km

March 2nd 2008 - Discovery Island (#9)

Dan, John, Heike, Gary and I set out from cadboro Bay around 0930 in beautifully calm conditions. We paddled out across Baynes Channel in slack waters and there was just enough water to allow us to visit “cactus” island. We continued on clockwise around Discovery Island and had lunch near the SW tip. We met Ken and Alfons there and had a very relaxed “summer in February” break there. After lucnh we paddled over to the Chain Islets, through Oak Bay Marina and then along the shore past Willows Beach and Cattle Point. After Oak Bay we experimented with in line towing and switching positions in the line. By the third time we seemed to have a workable system based on the recent Sea Kayaker article. The paddle was finished with some “Race Rocks” at the Smugglers Cove – where we met Gordin!

a mess of kayakers… a mess of kayaks!

19.4 km, 10,5 NM, YTD 152

February 24th - Sooke Basin - (#8)

Gordin and I drove out too Cooper’s cove and joined Gerhardt and some other “SKUNCS” (Rob, Muriel, Felicity) for a nice paddle in the inlet. There was a nice easterly wind to begin with so I put up my small Spiritsail and Gerhardt put up his Windpaddle (photo below). I really like the idea of the windpaddle as it can be easily ported from one boat to another with no deck rigging. Probably not wuite as effective as the spirit sail or the pacific action sail, but good all the same. We stopped by the “Florence Folberg” which was aground and rather wrecked on a sandbar in the basin. After the wreck, Gordin and I paddled on over to his in-law’s for a lunch stop. We had a nice flood to assist us on the way back which more than made up for the wind in our faces.

Gerhard and his Windpaddle

the wreck of the Florence Folberg

a nice boat with a nice view!

I was also testing out my new SPOT satellite tracker. This also worked well. I received a few sample messages such as the one below:

SPOT Check OK. MJ is Fine!

Unit Number: 0-7349589

Latitude: 48.3939

Longitude: -123.6547

Nearest Town from unit Location: Unknown

Distance to the nearest town: Unknown

Time in GMT the message was sent: 02/24/2008 18:02:34

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=48.3939,-123.6547&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1



I also have a google earth file of the record made by the SPOT tracker. http://www.islandnet.com/~mjackson/spot_messages_sooke.kmz



One test message took 1.5 mins from me pressing the button to receiving the text message on my cell phone.

You can see the device “in hand” at http://flickr.com/photos/chaffneue/2287365121/in/set-72157603971935680/ on Rich’s web site

15.5 km, 8 NM, YTD 133 km.

Feb 17th - Portland Island (#7)

Gordin and I set out from Swartz Head (Barnacle Road) to paddle over to Portland were a group were camped. We spent a few minutes visiting with the group and then paddled around the island. After we paddled around the island stopped back at shell beach for lunch. Made our way back with a slight push from a northerly wind.

15 KM, 8 NM, YTD: 117 km.  

February 11, Telegraph Cove (#6)

Gordin and I went out for an early paddle fromTelegraph Cove. We left the beach around 8:30 and were back by 10:30. We went south to 10 Ile Point and Smuggler’s cove and then north to the rock pile. Weather was a bit misty/moisty and the wind was building as the morning progressed. Gordin and I played along the rocks… I made contact a few times.

8 KM, 4 MN, YTD 102 km

Feb 8th, Chatham Island (#5)

George, Dennis and I set out from Cadboro Bay on a fairly windy day (stiff south wester) and paddled out around the overfalls in Baynes Channel (fairly strong ebb against a SW wind) and then went around Chatham. I put the Pacific action sail up a few times. At one point, we had all 3 boats rafted together moving at 3 knots! The sail mount needs adjusting before putting back on the Shadow again and I need to remember to bring a paddle leash! It was hard work on the way back paddling against the weak ebb and a head wind…

 14.5 km, 8 NM, YTD 94 km

 

Jan 27th - Portland Island (#4)

George, Dan, Alan and I set out from Amherst to paddle to Portland. It was a cool but calm morning with the air temp hovering above zero. We had a pleasant paddle around Portland and met Dennis and Sue camped on Arbutus point, where we had lunch.

20.6 km, 11 NM, YTD 79 km

Jan 19th - Imrie (#3)

Dennis, Dan, George, Roy and I met at Islandview with the intention of heading over to D’Arcy to camp for the night. The surf and tide was quite high and the forecast was not good so we decided against going. Instead, we went to Amherst and paddled out to Reay, Imrie and Portland Islands. We had a great day’s paddle and finished off with a pint at the Rumrunner!

 George & Dan and Coal Island  19.6 km, 10.5 NM, YTD 58 km

Jan 6th - Rum Island (#2)

Dennis, Dan, Tony, Roscoe, John and I set out from Amherst to paddle to Rum. The weather was sunny and clam to begin with, but by the time we got past Forrest island the wind had picked up and it was chilly by the time we stopped for lunch. We had a nice paddle back and finished with a glass at the Rumrunner! I also got in my first roll of the year!

19 km, 10 NM, YTD 38 km

Jan 5th - Ogden Point (#1) - first paddle of the year!

George and I took the Passat to the Gorge and launched near Craigflower for an urban paddle as the wind was forecasted to be strong. We paddled to the harbour mouth and then out to Ogen Point and Brotchie Light. By the time we reached the harbour mouth, the winds and the waves were getting to be exciting. It was fun to test out the Passat in exciting conditions and with with two strong paddlers. We made good progress throughout. On the way back we put up two spirit sails and sailed/paddled back to Ogden Point at up to 12 kph! From ogden point back to the habour we were sailing only at around 8 kph. The sails worked well!

The winds at ogden point were around 15 knots, gusting 20…

 paddling back under sail  ogden winds  our track

18.5 km, 10 NM, YTD: 18.5 km