June 21 - rolling in Caddy bay (#52)

Dan and I went for a morning of rolling practice in Caddy bay. Some in Loon Bay, some by Staines Islet, some in Sheep cove and some back at Killarney. Wonderfully calm! I worked on getting my head back and could really tell the difference.
4 km, 2 NM, YTD 596 km.

June 20th - Chatham Islands (#51)

click to enlarge

I took Mary, Tim, Fraser and Charlotte for a paddle out to the Chatham Islands. Conditions were cool but calm and pleasant and we had a very nice paddle as well as a picnic in "no name"/"swing" bay. We saw guillemots, auklets, plent of geese, seals and herons.
11 km, 6 NM, YTD 592 km

June 17th - Caddy Bay (#50)

I went for a morning paddle with Holly, Rachel, Emily and Kelsey (from SMUS) around Caddy Bay. Conditions were decent and we had fun puttering along the north and south shores of Caddy Bay. We saw Black Oystercatchers, Great Blue Herons, River Otters, Rhinoceros Auklets and plenty of Canada Geese!
Happy to have the 50th paddle in before the year is half done!
8 KM, 4 NM, YTD 581 km.

June 12th - snowbirds (#49)

Dan, Dennis, Scott, Mark, Christine and I set out from McNeill Bay to paddle towards Royal Roads to view the navy ships and the snowbird show. The paddling was good and the show was spectacular. We had favourable currents both ways.

2010-06-12_snowbirds

17 km, 9 NM, YTD 575 km.

June 10 - Cadboro Bay and Elk Lake (#47 and 48)

I went for a short paddle over to Loon Bay with Steve who wanted to try out my Cape Falcon F1 and Disko Bay. He seemed to enjoy them both and had no problem paddling the Disko bay.
In the evening Dan and I went to Elk lake to do some rolling practice and coaching with SISKA.
2 km, 1 NM, YTD 558 km

June 1 to 8 - Broughton Archipelago (#s 42-46)

(click to enlarge)

I co led a school trip to the Broughton archipelago again with two other leaders and eight students. We had excellent conditions overall - favourable currents, little wind and a bit of rain on the first day.
We took a water taxi to Echo Bay (great visit to Billy Proctor's museum) and then made our way back to Telegrtaph Cove. We stopped in the Fox group and on Owl Island (I took an extra 10 km paddle around Owl by myself late one afternoon) as well as Mound and Hanson Islands. We also visited Village and Berry Islands.
74 km, 40 NM, YTD: 556 km

May 30th - caddy bay (#41)

I went out for a short afternoon paddle and roll to clear out some cobwebs. Conditions were decent with a good flood setting up and a nice easterly. A couple of the racers were returning from Swiftsure.
6 km, 3 NM, YTD: 482 km

May 24th - Chatham Island (#40)

I went for a solo paddle in the Tahe out to Chatham Island. I did a runaround Alpha and Griffin Islands and then a tour of the inlet with "cactus islet". Lots of roses and stonecrops in bloom. I enjoyed listening to some tunes on my ipod safely encased in a pelican ipod case.
16 km, 8 NM, YTD 476 km

May 22/23 - Sailing to Rum (not a paddle!)

Monica and I took the Hunter 19 for an overnighter to D'Arcy Island - it was the first time taking it out for a "real trip" and it performed well. We were able to sail up to DArcy on Saturday, do a loop around DArcy in the afternoon as well as a couple of shore excursions. On Sunday we headed up to Rum using the outboard and the jib, did a short walk out to Tom Point and then made our way back against a reasonably bumpy sea. We took another break at DArcy when the wind started to abate and the return trip to cadboro Bay was calmer. The 4 hp outboard seems to be able to keep the Hunter at a reasonable 4 to 5 knot speed.

May 20th - Caddy Bay (#39)

Christine, Kelly and I went out into Caddy Bay to go over kayak rescues. They were able to demonstrate their wet exits as well as several T rescues,

1 km, 0.5 NM, YTD 460 km

My 15th - Ladysmith (#38)

I went up to Ladysmith for the paddlefest and gave a towing clinic first thing and then did a rolling demonstration with Alan. The towing clininc and rolling demo went well and it was a great day to play around and in boats!

2 km, 1 NM, YTD 459 km.

May 14th - Cadboro Bay (#37)

Dan and I went out for a morning rolling session. We went to the bay between Flower Islet and Cadboro Point and worked on a number of rolls.  On our way out we passed the Pacific Swift –  a beautiful ship! I was able to pull off a couple of swan rolls as well as feeling better about my forward finishing sweep roll. I also felt I could do brick rolls reliably on both sides. I also checked up on my sailboat which is now out on its mooring.

 5km, 3 NM, YTD 457 km

May 9 - SISKA Campout (#35 and 36)

Monica and I went to Sooke River Campground for the first annual (hopefully) SISKA campout. We camped at the edge of the river and spent Saturday and Sunday doing clinics and paddles and socializing. The weather was excellent and we had a great time. I also got to try stand up paddling! I also got to prcatice quite a few rolls!

 12 km, 6 NM, YTD 452

May 1st - Caddy bay (#34)

I went out for a quick solo paddle around the bay in the F1. It was quite a low tide and many of my usual routes were blocked! I saw geese with goslings, river otters, auklets and murrelets. looking at the track plot, I did not realize that Caddy Bay was Juan de Fuca Strait and that the bay was also Esquimalt bird sanctuary…



7 km, 4 NM, YTD 440 km

April 24 and 25 - Dubside (#s31-33)

Over the weekend we(SISKA)  ran 3 on water rolling and Greenland paddling clinics with Dubside. The first one was an introduction to Greenland paddling and the other two were intermediate and advanced rolling. The rolling was done in Loon bay for its wind protection and convenience. We also ran a beginner rolling clinic in the Crystal pool on Sunday evening. A very productive weekend thanks to Dubsides expertise and teaching.

I improved all of my existing rolls and got closer to a storm roll and forward rolling stick roll. I figured out the swan roll (two rolling sticks) as well as a “brick roll” (a hand roll holding a rock).



10 km, 5 NM, YTD 433 km