April 19th - Discovery Island (#7)

I paddled out to Cadboro Point to join Dan and Paulo for a morning paddle around the Islands. This was the longest paddle I have done in a while! :)

Conditions were good with a strong ebb throughout the morning and around 10 knots of SE wind. Great to get out around the islands again. There was a bit of lumpy water in the middle of Baynes channel. You can see how the current swept me to the SW for a bit in the middle of the channel and then I was able to paddle in a straight line! I also found it interesting that the back eddy near the "gap" between the islands gave me a significant push. I also tracked my route using my usual trusty Etrex HCx and my Columbus P1 gps logger and both gave very similar results! The P1 recorded a bit more often...

Bird list is here: https://ebird.org/canada/checklist/S107494468

click to enlarge

15 km, YTD 91 km

April 13 - Chatham Island (#6)

After returning from the Utah road trip I managed to get out for an afternoon paddle with Dan. The wind was quite strong (10-15 kt) in our face for the outward journey, but it calmed down for the return so we did not have its help on the return. It was great to get out on home waters again, though I was out of practice and out of shape!

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10 km, YTD 76 km

April 2nd - Colorado River (#5)

 I took the inflatable Blackfoot with us on our Utah road trip and managed to get it out once! I did a paddle down a stretch for the Colorado River from just below Moab to our campsite at Gold Bar (by the Corona Arch Trail). It was nice to have around a knot of current in my favour and it was great to get out on the water for a couple of hours. The river was not deep and I even ran aground at one point! Not a lot of birds seen, though I did see one great blue heron. I did get to see some of the petroglyphs we had seen from the road again from the river which was nice and it was cool to paddle down a part of this famous river (though I guess when I paddled on Lake Mead and Lake Powell I was on the same river!)

my track down the Colorado - click to enlarge

12 km, YTD 66 km

February 2nd - Discovery Island (4)

I paddled out to Cadboro Point to join Paulo and Dan. It was as cold as I have been paddling in a while! There was snow on Cadboro Point as well as on Strongtide, Vantreight and West Chatham Islands! Conditions were not bad with 10-15 kt of wind and a bit of an ebb current. This made for some lumpy water in Baynes Channel and around Seabird Point.

Birding was good with 21 species seen: https://ebird.org/canada/checklist/S101914475

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16 km, YTD 54 km

February 1st - Cadboro bay (#3)

I went for a solo paddle around the bay to enjoy the nice winter weather. Had a chat with Curran and kids on shore and saw a few different birds. https://ebird.org/canada/checklist/S101859406

The tide was fairly high allowing me to sneak through several gaps.

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7 km, YTD 38 km

January 25th - Discovery Island (#2)

I paddled out to Cadboro Point to join Paulo and Lesley for a paddle around the islands. Conditions were good with light winds and a solid ebb current. On the way back we did a few turns in the current between Vantreight and West Chatham. Heard the Growler jets taking off from Whidbey Island a few times!

23 species seen today. Birding highlight was seeing ancient murrelets again. https://ebird.org/canada/checklist/S101443791

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16 km, YTD 31 km

2021 Paddling stats

My 2021 year did not get as many km or number of paddles as some years, but considering that I was away for almost half the year, not too bad.

2021 concluded with 77 paddles and 707 km

Previous year totals

Year #	Year	# paddles	km total	km per paddle
1	2006	77	1273	16.50
2	2007	66	1098	16.60
3	2008	75	1080	14.40
4	2009	116	1381	11.90
5	2010	124	1214	9.80
6	2011	105	1217	11.60
7	2012	87	1001	11.50
8	2013	92	1063	11.60
9	2014	98	911	9.30
10	2015	120	1025	8.50
11	2016	129	1076	8.30
12	2017	86	728	8.47
13	2018	69	548	7.94
14	2019	57	427	7.49
15	2020	101	905	8.96
16	2021	77	707	9.18
	Totals	1479	15654	10.58

It is kind of neat to see that I have blogged almost 1500 paddles and over 15000 kms!

January 22, 2022 - Discovery Island (#1)

I paddled out to Cadboro Point to meet Dan and Paulo for my first paddle in over two months. Conditions were pretty good with a solid ebb at the start and little current at the finish. It was nice to see the usual birds again (https://ebird.org/canada/checklist/S101250088) though I did not try counting today - 18 species. I encountered some lumpy water crossing Baynes Channel and also had great views of Mt. Baker. Great to be back on the water! :)

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15 km, YTD 15 km

November 6th - Cadboro Point (#77)

Polly and I went out for a morning paddle to Cadboro Point. Conditions were a bit lumpy but not too bad. In spit of there not being much tide change the current was ebbing strongly at Cadboro Point. I was paddling the F! while Polly paddled the Tahe. This might be one of the last paddles of the year for me since I am heading south soon...

click to enlarge

6 km, YTD 707 km.

November 5th - Cattle Point (#76)

I went for a solo paddle out to Cattle point. As I went through the RVYC, I stopped by Andante and had a good chat with Dennis. The birding was good and I saw nearly 50 black oystercatchers! https://ebird.org/canada/checklist/S97178260 I was also pleasantly surprised to see a pair of rhinoceros auklets.

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6 km YDT 701 km

November 3rd - Cadboro Bay (#75)

I went for a nice paddle around the bay with my neighbour, Ally. We more or less managed to squeeze a paddle in within a weather window as it started raining a bit when we returned. Out at Cadboro Point the waves were quite lumpy so we decided not to cross Baynes Channel and instead paddle to Jemmy Jones and Cattle Point. We saw a good selection of birds: https://ebird.org/canada/checklist/S97087942 - 18 species.

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8 km, YTD 695 km

October 29th - Discovery Island (#74)

Dan and I went for a late morning paddle around the islands.  We had great conditions and I spent some time checking out Griffin Island as I am becoming an assistant warden for the ecological reserve. I saw plenty of birds, but not enough to count them all! So the bird list uses present for many of the species. 18 total which is not bad - the highlight was seeing a long-tailed duck for the first time this season. 

https://ebird.org/canada/checklist/S96859324

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16 km, YTD 687 km

October 22nd - Loon Bay Rolling (#73)

Dan and I paddled over to Loon Bay to do some rolling. I am happy to say that I can still do forward and reverse finishing standard rolls, butterfly rolls, storm rolls, norsaq rolls and hand rolls! I am definitely a tad rusty and not as limber as I would like to be!

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2km, YTD 671 km

October 20th - Discovery Island (#72)

I paddled out to Cadboro Point to join dan and Paulo for a paddle around Chatham and Discovery Islands. It has been a while since I have done a longer paddle so this was quite hard work, but it felt good!  Fortunately the forecast winds did not appear, though there was quite a bit of "Salish swell". I saw lots of the usual winter birds: https://ebird.org/canada/checklist/S96493798 It was nice to see Heerman's gull on its way through the area!

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16 km, YTD 659 km

September/October GBR (#68-71)

I managed to get out for a few paddles while I was up in the Great Bear Rainforest on Cascadia.

Once in Kitlope anchorage, Once in McMicking Inlet on Campania and twice in Chief Matthews Bay. Given the season and the rains I was happy to get out even this much.

Kitlope anchorange Sept 20 - 2 km

Chief Matthews Bay 30 Sept - 6 km

MckMicking Inlet 9 Oct - 2 km

Chief Matthews Bay  Oct 11 - 6 km

click to enlarge - Kitlope 29 Sept

click to enlarge - Campania 09 Oct

click to enlarge - Chief Matthews Bay - 30 Sept

click to enlarge -  Chief Matthews Bay 11 Oct

16 km, YTD 643 km