MJ's paddling blog is famous?

I just found out that my blog is listed in Guide to Online Schools' list of the Top Kayaking Blogs - they liked the seal pup posting!:
Though I realize this is a bit of a scam, ...

December 9th- Cadboro Bay (#115)

Dan and I went for an afternoon paddle and roll session. Conditions were good - no current to speak of and just a light breeze. We did a good number of rolls but the water was definitely cold on the face!

7 km, 4 NM, YTD 1122 km

Dec 5th - Portage Inlet (#114)

I joined a SISKA relaxed paddle, led by Shelia, from The Gorge at Tillicum up into Colquitz creek. It was a nice change to paddle up a river until it got too small to turn around in - we basically made it to the back of Tillicum mall. It was also a chance to paddle with Randy of VI paddles who is a Nanaimo based Greenland paddle maker. I once again was wearing my "Paulik", a tuilik made with waterproof breathable fabric made by Paulo of Comfort Paddling. Paulo can do a great job of custom work with waterproof breathable fabric.

click to enlarge track

paddlers "up the creek"

9 km,  5 NM, YTD: 1115 km

Dec 4th - Baynes (#113)

Dan and I went out for an afternoon paddle in Cadboro Bay. Nice sunny, though cold, afternoon. Winds were mostly 15 knots, gusting 20 while we were out in Baynes/Haro Strait. Slowed us down a bit and then gave us a bit of surfing on the way back! Ran into Yves and Patti of Go Kayak on the way back as they were running a course and got to chat a bit with Robin who was with them.

9 km, 5 NM, YTD 1106 KM

November 28th - Jordan River Surfing (#112)

Pete and I went out to Jordan River and brought both surf boats and sea boats. The waves were pretty small but were just right to be fun with long sea boats. I had a blast surfing the Tahe Greenland! Pete and I had a great time with the waves to ourselves and great conditions - sunshine and no wind waves! It was a great way to get back in the hang of surfing again. After the afternoon of surfing we went back to town to run a pool session for kids at the school.

Postscript: Pete and I had a minor on wave collision which resulted in some lost gelcoat on my Tahe. Nick at Activeseakayaking did a great jobh of fixing things up!

before1

before2

after... and nice shine too!

7 KM, 4 NM, YTD 1097 km

Nov 27th - Discovery (#111)

Paulo, Dan, Mark and I set out from Killarney and met Gordin out at Cadboro Point. Conditions were magnificent! Calm, a bit of current and no rain (or snow!) I was wearing my new waterproof breathable tuilik made by Paulo and it was GREAT! Just the right temperature and a lot more comfortable than a neoprene tuilik - I can see wearing this for most of my paddles. Gordin split off from us on the south side of Chatham (had to get to work)  and we did a figure of eight around the islands. The tide was high so we were able to check out "cactus islet" in the inlet by Puget Cove on Chatham as well as the lagoon on west Chatham. Though we kept up a good pace throughout, we also stopped a few times for some rolling practice.

the new tuilik

body brace

body brace

19 km, 10 NM, YTD 1090 km

November 21st - Trial Island (#110)

Gordin, Dan, Mark, Dorothea and I went for a morning paddle around Trial Island. Conditions were nice, and we tried playing in a couple of spots, but the wind and current were not quite strong enough to build good waves. My Level 6 Mitts kept my hands nice and warm throughout the paddle but my bare hands got cold quickly as soon as we were back on land! One of these came in handy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heating_pad.

click to enlarge

8 km, 4NM, YTD: 1071km

November 19th - Discovery Island (#109)

Dan, Paulo and I went out for an afternoon run around Discovery. There was a brisk north wind and a nice bit of chop in Baynes and around the outside of discovery. The water and air were definitely a bit cooler today!
We stopped in by Ten mile point to do some rolling - the water was cool enough that I got an ice cream headache after a few rolls! Paddling and rolling felt good to do after a week of work!

15.5 km, 8 NM, YTD 1063 km.

Nov 14th - D'Arcy Island (#108)

I joined 11 others on a SISKA energizer paddle led by Michael E. to D'Arcy Island. It was a foggy day but nice and calm and the GPS was handy for navigation! 22 kms was a good work out after many shorter paddles!

 Click to enlarge

23 km, 12 NM, YTD 1048 km

November 12th - Chatham Island again! (#107)

Gordin, Paulo and I went for a morning paddle out to Chatham again. We wanted to give Gordin a chance to get out and back before having to go to work! Almost the same route as yesterday, though we took a shortcut through the gap by Vantreight that is only doable at high tide. Gordin and Paulo were both wearing Goretex Tuiliks that Paulo had made - mine is in the works! The Goretex Tuilik will be very comfortable for paddling most of the year.

9 km, 5 NM, YTD 1025 km

November 12th - Chatham Island (#106)

George and I went for an afternoon paddle. We went over to look at some moorings and then made our way to Cadboro Point and then over to the Chatham group. The air was definitely cooler and we made it back just before dark! I was test paddling the Kayak Kaboose (unladen)with just a tow rope behind the F1 and it seemed to handle quite well. I think this could be very handy for camping with a low volume boat such as the Tahe Greenland or Feathercraft Wisper and also for comfortable base camping with a group.

11 KM, 6 NM, YTD 1016 km

Nov 9th - Jemmy Jones - wind, waves and 1000 km! (#105)

Dan and I went for an afternoon paddle in Cadboro Bay. The wind was strong, mostly 50 kph gusting 60 at 10 mile point. We went over to loon bay for a short rolling session and then made our way slowly (see track plot) to Jemmy Jones Island - it was a slog! Landing and launching were interesting given the SE winds and waves...

While we were out there someone thought we were in trouble and called the coast guard. Fortunately we got in and spoke to them quickly and they called off the "rescue"! Between Jemmy Jones and Flower the waves were quite big - at least six feet at times.

I made my 1000 km of paddling today which was nice - averaging around 10 km per paddle...

click to enlarge

6 km, 3 NM, YTD 1005 km

Nov 6&7 - Lake Samamish (#104)

Monica and I drove down to Issaquah for the weekend so that I could participate in the 2010 Greenland Week event put on by Kayak Academy on Lake Samamish. It was a great weekend meeting fellow Greenland paddlers. I watched the start and the finish of the 10 km race and practiced harpoon throwing on Saturday (going round and round a practice throwing route - see track!). On Sunday I competed in the rolling competition and came fourth with 120 points which made me very happy! All in all it was a great weekend. Duane Strosaker was the well-deserved champion of the event.
photos and video to come...

2 km, 1 NM, YTD 999 km...

November 3rd - Cadboro bay (#103)

Dan and I went out for an afternoon paddle in the bay. I wanted to practice my rolls again and they went well. I had one failure on a second try of a cross arm roll but other than that everything went smoothly. I did two sets of the sequence I should do on Sunday in Seattle. We ran into Steve while we were out there and paddled with him for a while. After that we went out round 10 mile point to play in some waves. Nice sunny afternoon!

8 km, 4 NM, YTD 997 km - 3 km to go!

Oct 28 - Cadboro Bay (#102)

I went for a quick run out to the mooring to check on it and the boat that is on it. All seemed well.

1 km, 0.5 NM YTD 989 km