October 26th - Discovery island (#80)

 I went for a nice paddle with my friend and also retired colleague Pete around the Islands. Conditions were pretty much ideal! Virtually no wind or current and you can see from the track we kept up a good pace. It was great to catch up with each other and share our joy in retirement! Freedom to fish and paddle! 😀 We saw lots of birds today: marbled murrelet, surf scoter, pelagic cormorant, bald eagles, black turnstone, surfbird?/rock sandpiper?, harlequin duck, black oystercatcher, pigeon guillemot, great blue heron and more. We also may have seen either long-tailed ducks or northern pintails, but I did not get a good enough look.

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15 km, YTD 671 km

October 25th - Cadboro and Oak Bays (#79)

I spent a nice day instructing a group of five SISKA paddlers in the rest of a Paddle Canada level 1 course. Conditions were good. calm in the morning, a little afternoon head wind to test peoples' forward stroke! Everyone seemed to pick up extra skills and we had a great day on the water. There were some nice birds seen: a bald eagle eating while being pestered by crows, a grebe, a black oystercatcher, some killdeer, some black turnstones, pelagic and double-crested cormorants, harlequin duck, mew and glaucous-winged gulls.

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10 km, YTD 656 km

October 24th - Cadboro Bay (#78)

I taught part of the Paddle Canada Level 1 class this afternoon in the corner of the bay. It was a tad windy today and we were lucky to find a bit of a lee in the corner! We did some strokes (sweep and draw) as well  as stopping and assisted and self rescues. Everyone did well! It was pretty chilly! Winter is coming! :)

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3 km, YTD 646 km

October 21st - Cadboro Bay (#77)

 I took the surfski out for an afternoon paddle around the bay. Conditions were nice and there was a decent ebb building in Baynes combined with a northerly wind. I saw a few nice birds: pelagic cormorant, mew gull, glaucous-winged gull, great blue heron, harlequin duck and bald eagle to name the ones I noticed!

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8 km, YTD 643 km

October 19th - Oak bay (#76)

I led a SISKA relaxed paddle to Oak Bay. There were 13 of us including two assistants (Tony and Dorothea). Winds were gentle as we wended our way over to Oak Bay, around the marina and then to Willows Park for a lunch break. Some of us made use of the tea house for hot drinks! The visibility was not great in the drizzle but good enough to see Chatham and Discovery Islands and the Oak bay Beach Hotel. We saw a nice selection of birds including black oystercatcher. mew and glaucous-winged gull, harlequin duck, and black turnstone.

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10 km, YTD 635 km

October 17th - Cadboro bay (#75)

 Jennie and I led two two-hour clinics, organized by Debbie, on edging and bracing for SISKA. We had good conditions though not so warm as it used to be! All participants made great progress in both edging and bracing. I saw some killdeer on the beach as well as flying over. It was nice to have been out paddling four times in seven days!

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4 km, YTD 625 km

October 15th -Discovery Island (#74)

I paddled out to Chatham by my self to join the "Thursday Group" for a paddle around the islands. They set out from Oak Bay Marina. It was great to catch up with several friends and share updates. On my way out, I could just make out Mt. Rainier in the distant SE. It looks as if there is still a bit of smoky haze in the air down there. Later in the day, after lunch, it was barely visible. I saw Cheryl on one of the Islets between Chatham and Discovery and we had a nice lunch break at Rudlin Bay. This was my third trip around the islands in a week! So different from yesterday due to the lack of wind. You can see from the track that I got a good boost from the flood current on my way back into the bay. I parted ways with the group at the western tip of Discovery as they were headed back to OBM. There were a good number of birds around today: marbled murrelet, pigeon guillemot (both in winter plumage), black oystercatcher, harlequin duck, great blue heron, bald eagle Canada goose and I heard a common loon as I was paddling over, lost in my thoughts! Another great day on the water!

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17 km, YTD 621 km

October 14th - Discovery Island (#73)

 Dan and I went for a morning paddle around the islands. It seemed as if there was going to be a bit of an ebb to start followed by a flood to finish, but it seemed like it was flooding all the time! also the wind was supposed to lessen over the morning but it built. all in all hard work heading around the south and west sides! You can see my speed was low on the south side!

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15 km, YTD 604 km

October 11th - Discovery island (#72)

 I paddled out to Cadboro Point where I met Dan and Paulo (with his new to him, Greenlander Pro!). The flood had started and was going to max around 0930 and the winds were predicted to rise by noon or so. We fortunately avoided having to paddle into much wind and current and got a pretty good assist on the way back. The track plot shows this pretty nicely. There was a nice big Steller sea lion on the rock by Seabird point. Definitely fall conditions and no longer summer! :(

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15 km, YTD 589 km

October 5th - Cadboro bay (#71)

 I went for a quick afternoon paddle to drop off some freezer burnt crab bait into the ocean! It was nice to see how quick it was to decide to go for a paddle on the board, go and come back! 

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1 km, YTD 574 km

September 30th - Discovery Island (#70)

 I joined the "Wednesday group" for their paddle out and around the islands. Conditions were great, we saw a nice number of local shore and sea birds. Thanks Lynn for organizing! A bit longer than my usual due to some nice meanderings! The chain Islets were a tad smelly due to the guano! It was great to get out for a longer paddle after several weeks away on debris cleanup.

19 km, YTD 573 km

September 18th - Kitasu Bay (#68&69)

 I was able to get out for a couple of paddles in Kitasu bay as we were waiting for the helicopter to start our lifting operations as part of the #BCCoastalCleanup. The first paddle was a series of errands, checking in with other boats in the fleet and sharing data. I also went out to the tugboat to share data with them. The second one was a pleasure paddle, which started off well since I saw a Mola Mola almost as soon as I started paddling!

My second, pleasure paddle (3 km)

The first "work" paddle (5 km)

8 km, YTD 554 KM

August 14th - Discovery island (#67)

Dan and I went for an early morning paddle around the islands. Conditions were superb with no wind and glassy seas. The currents were basically with us the whole time so we were able to maintian a good pace throughout the paddle. 2hrs 15mins only, beach to beach. We saw murrlets, oystercatchers, guillemots and auklets to name a few.

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15 km, YTD 546 km

August 11th - Oak Bay (#66)

 I led a SISKA "light" paddle from Caddy Bay to Oak bay and back. There were four of us which made for a nice tight group and we noodled our way along the shore. fog came down around Cattle Point and stayed with us until after lunch. We saw black oystercatchers, greater yelowlegs, black turnstones, glaucous gulls, mew gulls, rhinoceros auklets as well as several harbour seals and a river otter. After the group paddle I did a quick run over to RVYC to check on my dinghy. There is a Hallmark movie being filmed at the club today!

13 km, YTD 544 km

August 8th - SISKA paddle around Discovery (#65)

 Today I led a SISKA paddle out and around the Islands. There were 22 of us in four separate groups each with their own leader (thanks to Tony, Edgar and Roger). Conditions were fabulous for this paddle as there was virtually no wind. There was a bit of an ebb running but not so much as to make it difficult. We saw lots of seals (many making funny noises!) as well as quite a few bald eagles. We had a nice lunch in Rudlin Bay on Discovery Island and were all back by 2:15.

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16 km, YTD 531 km