Decemeber 19th - Cadboro Bay Crabbing (#121&122)

I took the trident out to drop off some traps in the middle of the day and then went back out again just before dark to check the two traps and drop two more. Neither of the two that had been soaking for 3 and a bit hours had any legal Dungeness crabs. Quite a few legal red rock crabs, but I put them back... Maybe better luck checking tomorrow? :) Nice to get out though and use the Trident angler 13, which is well-suited to crabbing.

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4 km, YTD 1027 km

December 17th - Discovery Island (#120)

Dan, Paulo, Dennis, Rob and I went for a nice winter's morning paddle. It was around 0ºC and with flurries and 5-10 knots of wind. With good clothing, such as a Kokatat fleece "onesey", my Kokatat whirlpool bib pants and my comfort paddling Tuilik I was warm enough! I had to change my neoprene gloves to mitts halfway, but my hands were also fine. The currents were pretty strong and it was hard work getting through the "sluice". We did not see many seals but there were some surf scoters, bald eagles, great blue herons, buffleheads, hooded and common mergansers to be seen. No sign of the wolf today...

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16 km, YTD 1023 km

December 13th - Cadboro Bay Crabbing (#119)

I did a quick run out to check on some crab pots that Marc and I had dropped off on Monday. There was one legal crab in the two traps and my hands got a tad cold! Otherwise the Trident worked well for this. i will give it another go in the next week or two! There was a pretty cold north wind that drifted me south at a reasonable pace after picking up the first trap. My hands were too cold to rebait the traps! :)

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2 km. YTD 1007

December 10th - Discovery Island (#118) Made my 1000 km goal!

I paddled out to Cadboro Point to meet up with Paulo and Dan. It was pretty windy (20-25 kt most of the time), but we decided to paddle over to the islands. It was hard work paddling into a head wind and a decent sized sea (1-2m) but we made it over to the lee of Chatham. I was too tired to keep paddling on the windy side, so we decided to paddle in the lee of Chatham. The head winds started again as we neared Commodore Point, so we turned round and used the wind and current at our backs to our advantage. I saw seals, a sea lion, buffleheads, harlequins, cormorants and more.
You can see how slow we were going against the wind on the way out (track all yellow-green) and how fast I came back (track all blue/purple/grey)!
It feels great to have made both my 100 paddle and my 1000 km goals by mid-December!

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today's winds at Discovery - click to enlarge

13 km. YTD 1005 km

December 7th - Cadboro Bay (#117)

The temperature was hovering around zero at the RVYC weather station this morning, but I decided to go out for a solo paddle around the bay. Conditions were wonderful - sunny and calm (but not warm!). Lots of the usual birds about, buffleheads, mergansers, cormorants, geese and more!

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8 km, YTD 992 km

December 4th - Cadboro Bay (#116)

I took the surfski out for a late morning paddle around the bay. There were lots of birds about: buffleheads, hooded and common mergansers, western grebe, pacific loon, pelagic and double-crested cormorants, black turnstone, black oystercatchers, harlequin, great blue heron and more.
I ran into John H out at Cadboro Point and chatted for a while. He has a nice-looking sterling progression! I managed to visit Cadboro, ten mile and cattle points on this run.

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9 km, YTD 984 km
(maybe one more paddle to reach my 2016 distance goal of 1000 km?)

December 3rd - Cadboro Bay (#115)

I led a group of ten SISKA paddlers for a morning paddle around the bay before our annual lunch party. There was a little wind in the forecast, but it was pretty calm in the bay. Lots of buffleheads and hooded mergansers around.

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7 km, YTD 975 km

November 26&27 - Surge Narrows (#s 113&114)

I went up to Campbell River to stay with Alan and spend two days paddling the wave at Surge Narrows. On Saturday we with Walter and on Sunday Walter and Craig. The 3 or 4 of us had he wave to ourselves, and the wave was pretty friendly throughout our time there. I learned a few more things about staying on the wave and had some wonderful rides. I figured out that a 5 minute ride at 6 knots is like riding a surfing wave for 1 km! Conditions were pretty good with very little wind and some light rain. A Steller sea lion checked us out at one point and gave us a look that made me think we were hogging his wave! You can see the current was still fast as we returned from the wave both days, but the tide had risen to the point where the wave had flattened out. Hope to head back up again soon!

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8 km, YTD 968 km

November 24th - Jemmy Jones Island (#112)

Dan and I went for a morning paddle in the windy bay. We had to work hard to paddle out against the 20 kt wind and also had to go to Loon Bay to empty our cockpits after launching!  You can see the slow progress we made out and then the wonderfully fast, almost straight, return. We were able to catch and surf a good number of waves on the way back. An hour after our return, the bay was calm! A short but fun paddle!

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6 km, YTD 960 km

Novemebr 22nd - Cadboro Point (#111)

I went out to Cadboro Point in the afternoon to play in the waves which were predicted to be big in Baynes. I had to paddle fairly hard against a headwind to get there, and when I got there, the waves were bigger than I wanted! I chatted for a while with Ben and then paddled home with the wind at my back - catching a few small waves! Buffleheads, hooded merganzers and a pacific loon were on the bird list.

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6 km, YTD 954 km

November 20th - Cadboro Bay (#110

I went for a nice solo afternoon paddle out to Cadboro Point and around the bay. It was pretty bumpy out in Baynes, but I did not try to play init as I had no helmet and no spotter. It is nice to daydream on a solo paddle, enjoying the peace of the outdoors. There were lots of buffleheads in the bay.

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7 km, YTD 948 km

November 16th - Discovery Island (#109)

Dan and I went for a morning paddle around our favourite islands. Winds were calm and there was a strong ebb. The air is getting colder - I needed gloves for part of the trip! We did a bit of a figure of eight for a change of route.

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15 km, YTD 941 km

November 14th - Cadboro Bay (#108)

I went for a quick afternoon paddle around the bay in between stints of marking! Conditions were overcast with a 5-10 kt SE wind. I saw sea lions, seals as well as surf scoters, oystercatchers, cormorants and more. It is easy to keep up a good pace in the surf ski!

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6 km, YTD 928 km

November 12th - Cadboro Bay (#107)

Monica, Steve, Melissa and I went for a nice morning paddle around the bay. Despite the forecast, conditions were nice and calm and the rain was minimal. We saw many kinds of birds as well as seals and otters. We had a relatively strong flood near Cadboro Point, so decided not to go any further. We had the Whisky 16, the Hammer, the F1 and my Tahe Greenland out! Almost emptied the grage for a moment!

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8 km, YTD 920 km

November 10th - Discovery island (#106)

Dan and I paddled out of Killarney and met Paulo at Cadboro Point after which we headed over to the islands. Conditions were calm and overcast. The Growlers of Whidny island were busy taking off or landing and making quite a noise. We saw the wolf near Heritage Point near the SW corner of west Chatham Island. He gets around quite a bit!

15 km, YTD 912 km