MJ's 2011 year of paddling in review

Another great year of paddling and the sixth one since I started blogging them on Jan 1 2006. I did not get quite as many paddles in as last year (105 vs 124 but managed to clock up almost the same number of kilometres (1217 vs 1214). "Killarney Kayak Base" continues to be the launch site of choice and I still paddle my Tahe Greenland most of all. Some of the year's highlights included: paddling on the Medway River in the UK with my Feathercraft Wisper and Northern Light 3 Piece paddle, doing the Port Renfrew to Victoria leg of our Island "circumnavigation", placing third in the rolling and overall at the Kayak Academy Greenland Week, Hosting Helen Wilson and Mark Tozer for a Greenland paddling and rolling workshop, figuring out a few more rolls (thanks Alan!). This sixth year brings my blogged total to 563 paddles and 7263 km. My favourite paddling wear has been my Kokatat Whirlpool bib combined with my Comfort Paddling Tuilik, which Paulo modified to roll together with the bib for a good seal. I still use my Superior Paddles Carbon Paddle but am now using my Northern Light paddles (Greenland and Aleut inspired) a lot as well (I am now distributing for Northern Light paddles too). I replaced my NRS rodeo socks, but am still getting a bit of life out of the old ones! I find I wear a Mustang inflatable PFD most of the time for comfort and convenience.
GPS Visualizer continues to be the site I use for all my track plots from my trusty Garmin Etrex Legend HCx.


Year/paddles/km
2011/105/1217
2010/124/1214
2009/116/1381
2008/75/1080
2007/66/1098
2006/77/1273


Many thanks to all of you who paddled with me this year, especially Dan and Paulo who paddled/put up with me the most! I hope to paddle at least 1000 km again next year and to try to average twice a week again!


Now, I must get things ready to start the New Year off with a paddle!

December 31st - Chatham (#105)

Dan, Paulo and I set out for Cadboro Point where we met Olivier. We had a short play in the waves and then made our way over to the "sluice" by Vantreight Island. We then went around Chatham, stopping for a snack on a beach where we tested out my new "Outdoor Designs Group Shelter" which I bought while I was in the UK over Christmas. It works well and will be a piece of kit I bring on most paddling trips.
We made our way back across Baynes Channel and played for a bit more in the waves which were much larger now. I got tired pretty quickly but had some fun rides. Some of the waves towered considerably higher than me! I am hoping Paulo got some good video! At the end we ran into Scott and Michael who also came out to play in the waves. A great paddle to finish of the year!

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14 km, YTD 1217 km

December 30th - Ten Mile Point (#104)

I joined up with Michael and Olivier for a paddle in the current and waves at Cadboro Point. The waves were not that big, but lots of fun and I had some good rides. The wind was quite strong, gusting up to 25 knots, so my trip back from Cadboro point was a slog. I could barely make 1 knot at times! I managed to make both of my revised goals for this year - 104 paddles (2x per week avg) and 1200 km (100 km per month), so I am definitely happy with the year's stats!

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13 km, YTD 1203 km

December 11th - Discovery (#103)

Dan and I went for a nice morning paddle around Discovery, OTW at 0930 and back by 1230 including a short break on Vantreight. Conditions were nice and I was using my Northern Light Aleut-inspired paddle which worked well. Which reminds me - I am now distributing paddles for Northern Light Paddlesports and have both Greenland and Aleut-inspired paddles in stock.

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16 km, YTD 1190 km

December 10th - The Gorge (#102)

Monica and I joined a SISKA relaxed paddle in the Gorge led by Gary. It was a cold morning but 11 of us set off up the Gorge towards Portage Inlet where we were met by sheets of ice! It was kind of fun paddling through the ice (neat sound!) but we decided it was not that safe for a group paddle and made our way back down through Tillicum Narrows to the Banfield Park area where we checked out a bunch of semi derelict boats that are moored there. After the group paddle, I went for a short paddle with Alex and introduced him to my Northern Lights Greenland paddle.

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11 km, YTD 1174 km.

December 3rd - Discovery Island (#101)

Dan, Dennis and I set out for a morning paddle around the islands. After checking out some boats and moorings in the bay, we made our way through the yacht club and then out to the islands. It was a beautiful sunny calm day with little current. We stopped for a snack near Commodore Point and then made our way back via the Chain Islets.

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17 km, YTD 1163 km

November 27th - Discovery (#100)

I led a SISKA adventurous paddle today to Chatham and Discovery Islands. 11 of us set out from the beach together and then we met up with 3 more out at Cadboro Point. It was raining when we started at 10 , but that let off by 11 and it was even sunny in the afternoon.  The winds were pretty much as predicted by BWD, with winds gusting to near 20 knots around 1:30 or 2 PM (you can see the weather record from Ten Mile Point here). The stretch from the top end of Chatham to Strongtide seemed like hard work, but was over quickly - you can see we made slower progress. We celebrated Gary's birthday afterwards at the Smuggler's Cove Inn. Thanks to everyone who joined me on my 100th paddle of the year!

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18 km, YTD 1146 km.

November 19th - Chatham (#99)

Dan, Gordin, and I set out from Killarney and met Paulo and Olivier out between Flower and Jemmy Jones Island. We paddled out into Baynes which was showing some nice waves with a flood current and a northerly wind. We turned south for a while to get some nice rides and then made our way around Chatham, with a visit to the inlet. As you can see from the track speed, it was a bit of a slog making our way back across Baynes but the waves were a nice size and fun. We stopped for a tea break in Maynard (Smugglers') Cove and then back to Killarney. Temperatures were barely above freezing and felt like several degrees below with the wind chill but we were well-dressed and pretty comfortable.  A nice 99th paddle of the year!

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Paulo made some video of this trip: http://youtu.be/kn0z-UhZphg it was fun!

13 km, YTD 1128 Km

November 12th - Discovery (98)

Dennis and I went for a morning paddle out to the islands. The forecast was for some rain and some wind later, but not too much. We did a quick check on a sail boat that seemed to drifting ashore to see if we could find a contact number, but no luck. We checked out my mooring which now no longer has someone sitting on it and then made our way out to the islands. We paid a visit to "Cactus Islet" in the inlet in East Chatham as the tide was nice and high. There were some small swells off the south side of Discovery which made for some fun around the rocks and then the rain began. I was able to make good use of my Kokatat Storm Cag!

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17 km, YTD 1115 km.

November 11th - Jordan River (#97)

Scott and I drove out to Jordan River where we met Yves, Patti, Gerhardt, James, Joanne, Sheila, Jas, Roy and Chris to try a bit of surfing. The waves were a bit small and the wind built up after lunch but we had a good time anyway all getting a few decent rides. The Delphin performed well as did the Northern Lights Greenland Paddle. We had a great lunch of chili made by James!

4 km, YTD 1098 km

November 5/6 - Surge Narrows (#95&96)

I joined a group of SISKA instructors on a trip to Discovery Islands Lodge and Surge Narrows for the weekend. We drove up on Friday and returned Sunday afternoon after two wonderful days on the water and two nights at the lodge. The Lodge was wonderful and we had great conditions including a current that maxed out at around 6 knots. While we were there on Saturday we ran into Alan, Brent, Jonathan and Paul who gave us some great tips on surfing the wave. At maximum the wave was hard for me to get onto and stay but we had a of of fun trying and some great rides before and after max. A great weekend! :)

16 km, YTD 1094 km

our track around the wave site...

October 29/30 - Greenland Week (#94)

The 6 mile race

Alan D and I drove down to Issaquah for Kayak Academy's Greenland Week Competition. We arrived Friday night and camped in the State Park. On Saturday I took part in the 6 mile race and came 5th place in the Greenland Division with 1:05:52 which I was pretty happy with since it was almost 5 minutes better than the only other time I tried paddling this distance at a pace. Roy S came second, just over a minute behind the winner Wayne H.
On Saturday afternoon, we practice Harpoon throwing with Henry, Alan showed me how to do a vertical sculling roll, and finished the day off with a great salmon dinner and talk by Chris Avery about his trip to the Aleutians.
Sunday's activities began with harpoon throwing. I came third in distance (I should have done much better but fluffed my second throw!) and then came first in accuracy (Henry had made a really cool floating target) which was a demonstration event this year. The last event was the rolling. I was really happy with a third place  finish with 129 points - a couple of new rolls for me made up for a couple of other rusty ones! 16 year old Chris S from Victoria came second with 183 points and Alan from Campbell River came first with 189 points and a nail biting elbow roll to finish a close competition. Great job Chris and Alan! Team Canada took all three places in the rolling.
My 5th, 3rd, and 3rd place finishes earned me 3rd place overall in the competition  which was a great way for me to finish the event.
11 km, YTD 1078 km

Off to Seattle for "Greenland Week"

I'll be heading down to Seattle on Friday for the weekend to participate in the Greenland Weekend competitions again this year. looking forward to meeting like minded Greenland Paddlers! There will be a few of us heading down from the Island! I will need to demo either the Great Canadian beer Roll or a Hockey Stick Roll!

October 23rd - Discovery (#93)

Jennie, Michael and I took Tim (visiting from the UK) for a trip out to Chatham and Discovery Islands. Conditions were superb - sunny and no wind to speak of and a reasonable flood current. I was surprised that there was no current in the "sluice". Tim got to try my Greenland Paddle and may be a convert! We stopped off in Loon Bay on the way back and did some rolling.
A great day on the water!

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16 km, YTD 1067 km

October 9th - Cadboro Ppoint (#91)

I went out with Kirby to do some filming of a traditional style kayak for a video project of his. Conditions were nice and calm and it was great to be pout in the Disko bay again. Hopefully the footage turned out well!

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7 km, YTD 1040 km