Monica and I went to Cadboro bay to try out a CD slipstream. There was a little bit of wind chop and we did a quick run around the bay to see if Monica liked the feel of it. The jury is still out…
3 km, 1.5 NM, YTD: 458 km
George, Dan, Gordin, John, Hans and I set out from Amherst to paddle around Sidney Island. Conditions were gentle and we made good time going down the east side of Sidney. We stopped for a very relaxed lunch by Hamley Point and then wended our way back up the west side of Sidney. All in all a beautiful day’s paddle!
27 Km, 14.5 NM, YTD: 455 km. 
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=48.6015,-123.2698&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1
On Friday Morning, Hans, John and I set out from Roberts Bay to paddle our way up to Blackberry Point to join some others camping there. We had a stiff breeze in our faces until lunch time, but made a good day of it overall, finishing at Chivers Point on Wallace Island. Other than the morning wind, the weather was superb. Wallace is a beautiful spot!
On Saturday morning we set out at around 9 and made our way to Blackberry Point (another 14 km), where we met Paolo, George, Gerry, Tony, Lynn, Peter and Debbie, and set up camp. Several of us paddled up to Gabriola Passage for the afternoon, admiring magnificent cliffs, peregrine falcons and much more. We came back to Blackberry for a wonderful evening. George left after dinner to head home.
On Sunday, Paolo and I set off towards the De Courcy Group where we joined up with Lynn and Peter for a paddle along the shores of Pylades, Ruxton and De Courcy Islands. In spite of what is indicated on the charts, there is no passage between Link and De Courcy at low tide! A short portage was in order! After returning to camp, I loaded my boat and set off for Cufra inlet on Thetis Island. On my way I had to be a rascal and do a short detour around the ragged rocks! I also celebrated making 100 km on the trip. In Cufra Inlet I stayed with Bob and Joan where I had a magnificent dinner and a very pleasant night in a bed! I ended up leaving my kayak “moored” to the dock for the night – it felt strange not to beach my boat but it was very handy the next morning.
On Monday I set out on my own from Bob and Joan’s at 8 AM after a hearty breakfast and went around the west side of Thetis and Kuper Islands. I made a short stop on Tent Island where I made arrangements with Monica for a pick up at Maple Bay at 1:30. I ended up being 1 minute late – which I can blame on the stiff breeze I encountered in Stuart Channel on my way to Grave Point. There are a couple of possible camp sites along this stretch, though a plastic boat would help!
All in all it was a wonderful weekend, kayaking, friends, great weather, good food, wildlife and more. I have an interactive google maps link to the trip route at: http://www.islandnet.com/~mjackson/google/gulf_islands2.htm
I thought I would estimate how much stuff I brought along by weighing it all when I got back. Excluding water and the food I brought, I had 125 lbs of gear in my boat! The food and water would have added at least another 30 lbs..
Some photos posted at: http://picasaweb.google.ca/mhjackson123/GulfIslandsMay2008
133 km, 72 NM, YTD: 428 km
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=49.0053,-123.6787&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=49.0553,-123.6567&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=48.9553,-123.5732&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1
Dan, John, George and I set out from Amherst to paddle to Portland where Alan and Greg were camping. Conditions were beautiful and calm and there was only a small current against us. Dorothea and Mike also arrived for lunch at Arbutus point. We paddled back to Amherst with Mike and Dorothea. (BTW the GPS was working again today – not sure what the problem was…)
20.5 km, 11 NM, YTD: 295 km. 
Dan, George, Gordin and I all set out from Tudor Avenue beach for a fairly early morning paddle around Chatham. Conditions were very nice and gentle, little wind and little current and some light rain. My GPS stopped working at the start of the trip, so I have no recorded track, though I have a rough track from memory. Another nice day on the water!
10 Km, 6NM, YTD 275
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
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
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
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
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