May 28th - Chatham (#36)

Dan, Paulo and I went out for a short afternoon paddle around Chatham Island. I was keen to test the new hood that Paulo had put on my Comfort Paddling Tuilik. At the end of the paddle we did a bunch of rolls and the new neck seal is much better - barely a drop after multiple rolls. Caddy Bay was bright green with algae again - just like last year.

11 km, YTD 398 km

May 27th - Cadboro Bay (#35)

I joined several other SISKA instructors for the afternoon portion of a clinic with Wayne Horodowitch of the University of Sea Kayaking. We had a very productive afternoon learning about vearious stroke progressions. I also got to do my first test of a Northern Light 3 piece Greenland paddle (I have one on order...). Wayne is a great instructor and I also enjoyed his evening presentation on leadership. BTW, Caddy Bay was green with algae again, not quite as much as last year but visibly green!

2 km, YTD: 387 km

May 21-23 - Gulf Islands (#s 35-37)

I co led a trip with our grade 11 students from Ladysmith to Portland Island. As I had to get to work on Tuesday, I left them behind at Portland and made my way to Swartz Bay.
We began the trip in drizzle in Evening Cove, near Ladysmith and paddled over to Thetis. Unfortunately the gap was dry and we had to do a short portage. We then went over to Reid Island where we saw a beutiful flower covered island that we decided not to camp on ( a combination of probable habitat damage and dificulty beaching kayaks). We made our way south to Chivers Point on Wallace which remarkably only had one other group there so there was plenty of room for us. An 18 km day. The next day we made our way south to Prevost Island by way of a stop at Walker Hook. The wind picked up a little bit in the afternoon, slowing down our progress. Camping at Prevost was excellent. A 19 km day. On the third day the group made its way to Arbutus point on Portland Island. We made excellent progress, arriving at Arbutus point (15 km) by noon. Peter paddled out to Arbutus point to meet me and we paddled on back to Swartz head (8 km). The rest of the group will make their way to Tulista Park on Tuesday.
Conditions were great, the group was great and I was working with two other wonderful guides Toni and Nick.

The whole route - click to enlarge

Day 1 - click to enlarge

Day 2 - click to enlarge

Day 3 - click to enlarge

The trip photo album
Total trip for me 60 km, YTD 445km

May 17th - Loon Bay Rolling (#34)

James, Dan and I went for a rolling session in Loon Bay. A nice calm sunny afternoon. All three of us were in Tahes. We stopped by the yacht club on the way back to visit with the SMUS sailing group and show them some rolls. James did great and was able to go all the way to reverse sweep rolls and even an elbow roll! Made me jealous!

3 tahes!

2 km, YTD 385 km

May 14th/15th - Ladysmith (#s 32 and 33)

I went up to the Ladysmith Paddlefest on the Saturday to give a towing clinic and then participate in the grand opening of the BC Marine Trails Network. I joined a flotilla of almost 100 paddlers paddling from the Dunsmuir Islands across back to Transfer Beach. It was an impressive sight as shown by the photos John at Kayak Yak took.
Here is a link to John's album: http://www.flickr.com/photos/spuzzum42/sets/72157626596809711/

(me at the left in the Tahe Greenland)
The weather held all day Saturday and I was able to head out for a nice paddle around Sharpe and Coffin points with Scott and Mark. It was a great day to be a part of - celebrating the Trails Network opening. I saw several old friends and met many new ones.
On Sunday Alan (from Campbell River) and I put on a rolling demo around noon where we did a good collection of Greenland competition rolls. I think it looked pretty good as I had several good comments about those kayak ninjas out there. Alan was paddling Dan's Tahe Greenland T so we were in almost matching boats and otherwise black outfits.Unfortunately for the vendors it was raining steadily most of the time (not a problem for rolling!) but I had a bit of time to wander through exhibits. I saw a Pungo (but did not paddle it - intermediate paddlers only!) but did get a shot of myself (Thanks Nikki!) in a Jackson Kayak! I test drove a couple of new Maelstrom/Boreal boats the Vaag 174 and the Vital 166. These wer both very comfortable and easy to maneuver and were a blast to roll - dare I say almost as easy as my Tahe!
All in all a great weekend - and thanks to Mark and Christine for theior hospitality on Saturday night!

My routes for the weekend. (click to enlarge)

not my Kayak! Even though it has my name on it!

18 km, YTD 383 km

May 13 - Cadboro Bay (#31)

Paulo and I went out for an evening paddle in the Bay. I was trying Dan's Tahe Greenland T and Paulo was trying mine. I was also testing out a new tuilik hood design of Paulo's - worked very well. Off to Ladysmith for the paddlefest weekend.

6 km, YTD 365 km

May 8th - Sooke (#30)

Monica and I joined the SISKA relaxed paddle from Sooke River Campground (where we had held our second annual club campout). Conditions were nice and we were 17 paddlers. There was a bit of wind, but not enough to cause trouble.

11 km, YTD 359
I probably put a km or two in addition to the above while hunting ducks and running some paddling clinics at the campout...

photo by Liz Lilly (click to enlarge)

May 3rd - Rolling (#29)

Dan and I went for a rolling session in the bay - first real rolling session of the year. Most rolls worked out OK, though a few need some finesse! It was good to practice again!
Standard and chest sculls, standard and reverse sweep rolls, butterfly roll, armpit, crook of arm, behind the neck, storm and cross arm rolls, norsaq roll, hand and pebble rolls. Tried an elbow roll but just ended up in a body brace. All of them worked fine on both sides.

4 km. YTD 348 km

May 1st - Cattle Point (#28)

Monica, Jack, Mary and I went out for a lazy Sunday afternoon paddle to Cattle Point. It was sunny and calm and a delightful paddle. Nice view of Mt Baker and even Mt Rainier was visible in the distance!

6 km, YTD 344 km

April 30 - Cadboro Bay (#27)

I went out for a quick paddle around the bay in the F1 as the rest of the weekend may be busy! The F1 is so light to carry and paddles very nicely. averaged 6 kph including a few stops.
RVYC folks are getting ready for the sail past tomorrow...

6 km, YTD 338 km

April 23rd - Cadboro Bay (#26)

I headed out of Killarney with Ed and Rick - both from Westcoast Paddler - for an afternoon paddle in the bay. Conditions were nice and sunny with a bit of a breeze. Ed is visiting from the Prairies so borrowed an F1, I paddled the other F1 and Rick paddled his Trident Angler.We saw otters in three different locations on the way to and from Cadboro Point. The tide was very low - as you can see from a couple of detours on the track! The route through the yacht club was too narrow to pass at this tide. We decided to adjourn to Smugglers Cove for a beverage to finish of a nice afternoon of paddling!

click to enlarge

6 km, YTD 332 km

April 17th - Harbour Celebration (#25)

I launched at James Bay Anglers Ramp to paddle over to the Songhees and participate in the first (hopefully annual) Harbour Celebration. I did a bunch of demonstration Greenland Rolls and also the sea kayak race. Surprising myself, I came in as the first sea kayak in spite of using a Greenland paddle! I averaged 8.5 kph (4.6 kt) over the 2.34 km race route. The day was a bit cool and showery, so the turnout was not as good as hoped for but it was great to see many familiar faces. David Anderson spoke well.

click to enlarge

the race route detail

5 km, YTD 326 km

April 16th - Discovery (#24)

Michael E, Dan and I set out to go around Discovery Island. It was Michael's first proper paddle with a Greenland paddle and he took to it pretty quickly. We encountered calm and favourable conditions to begin with and decided to go around the top side of Chatham to take advantage of the lee. We decided to make a figure eight so as not to have to fight the tide across Rudlin Bay and were rewarded by speeds of up to 7 kt going across the south end! We stopped in boathouse bay for  a snack lunch and then continued on up between the Chathams. On our crossing back to Cadboro point, Michael experienced trouble turning his CD Solstice in beam winds and we ended up getting swept a fair ways down stream. Dan put a line on his bow which made a huge difference and we were able to slog our way back home against wind and current. Winds were gusting in the 20-25 kt range. It was 30-40 kt around Trial Island! We were all a tad tired when we made it back to the beach!

click to enlarge

18 km, YTD 321 km

April 9th - Discovery (#23)

Dennis, Dan and I set out relatively early from Killarney and went around Discovery. There was a fairly strong ebb building as well as a decent south-westerly wind so there were a few waves. We had to work hard along the south side of Discovery. We stopped briefly for a snack on Vantreight Island and made it back shortly after noon. Another nice day on the water!

click to enlarge

15 km, YTD 303 km.

April 7th - Jemmy Jones (#22)

I managed to sneak out after work for a quick paddle around the bay. It was a beautiful afternoon and I was in a short sleeve top... it was great to be back on the water after a few weeks' break. On my way back I met up with a couple of paddlers and also stopped off to chat with the folks on Freya and Heliomare.

6 km, YTD: 288 km