Adventures on the Blue

Lazy Saturday

2011-01-23T00:15:00.000-08:00

I woke up a bit later than normal and was really not sure if I wanted to paddle, but I had a look at the forecast and decided skipping today was right out of the question. The most promising paddle was Sooke Basin, so I packed up the car and headed out to Cooper's Cove. Since I've never gone East. I thought today would be a great chance to see what was up there. It was a grey day, but I had amazingly mirror calm water and a warm air temp.

I got to cooper's cove and spoke to a fellow who was parked there about boats, veggie diesel and Nestle/Chiquita! I love this place sometimes. I put in and headed out of the cove. The entire coastline east of Coopers Cove is lined with expensive housing and bed and breakfasts. Each house outdid the last, but thankfully they at least blended in a bit and didn't tear out the entire forest. Everywhere along the basin's coast I could hear rushing water either from culverts or streams from neighbouring lakes.

The first turnoff was into Roche Cove, demarcated by a short spanning, single lane car bridge. The cove is like a small lake with a completely overgrown stream at the east end. There are houses lining a lot of the cove, but the boats and docks are sparse as the road bridge is difficult for any wide boat to navigate. I left Roche cove and worked my way to the south coast to see Anderson cove.

The most mind-blowing house I saw (and envied) was a large A frame style house perfectly set against a narrow whitewater stream. I paddled along the south coast until I hit the entrance to Anderson Cove. The water really narrows and just my luck a motorboat was trying to leave at that moment. Someone has sunk a boat in the middle of the channel making it hard for two boats to navigate comfortably. Inside the cove is pretty amazing. A bunch of expensive houses line a 90degree solid rock hillside covered in mosses. There are a number of fishing boats and small sailboats in the cove and it looks like there's a good canoe launch on the southwestern shore along East Sooke Road.

I left the cove and visited the little islands in the middle of Sooke Basin. There were lots of Canada Geese lining the rocks there and I kept hearing a bald eagle chirping, but it was too camouflaged to see clearly. The islands, cheerfully named Deadman's Island ) are quite rocky and covered in hardy plants and mosses. They remind me a bit of the Chain islands in Oak Bay with trees. I was getting a bit tired, so I headed back to the launch point concluding another fine winter's day on the sea.

Trip Distance: 14km

YTD: 63km

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The Wet Coast

2011-01-15T00:13:00.000-08:00

Drip drip drip. The sound of today was the pitter patter of rain. I visited a serene Brentwood Bay where the only people out and about were those doing the dog walking chores. Unloading the car, I learned an important lesson... don't put your paddles on the ground while unloading. I destroyed my backup paddles by stepping on the ferrule :/ (it's still good - it's still good). I headed down to the beach at a very high tide and put in to the rumbling of the mill bay ferry and gushing of the road drainage culvert.

I meditatively paddled from Brentwood bay to Todd Inlet and noticed a very large population of moon jellyfish had occupied southern Brentwood Bay and Todd Inlet. The silence deepened and the rain let up as I got around the limits of Butchart Gardens. I took a few photos of the marten nesting sites at the end of the Todd Inlet pathway and headed up to the creek-bed. Thousands of jellyfish were crowding around the babbling creek mouth and some had noticeably changed to dull white/yellow color.

I met some other paddlers on the way out of todd inlet and they looked about as chill as I felt. I took the west shore out of the inlet and through a postcard scene of a solitary flannel draped liveaboard lounging in the cockpit of his cabin trawler while the furnace smoke gently drifted along just feet from the water. I paddled out past all the little inhabited boats and out to 15 minute (Senanus) Island to the North.

The crossing was sleepy and free of anything but glassy millpond beauty. the Only waves coming from boats engaged in fishing. I was met at the island by seals which darted off as soon as they saw me coming. I paddled around the island and watched a kingfisher nab about 3 fish in a row by diving on them from a tree directly above the water. He left one of them on the rocks for later. Neat to see how they hunt up close and personal. From the island, I slipped back to Brentwood Bay in behind the mill bay ferry and utterly drenched by rain. Even saw an otter playing around on the docks on the way to the beach.

Trip Distance: 11km

YTD: 49km

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C-Cold P-Paddle

2011-01-09T00:12:00.000-08:00

John and I met up today for a short but sweet paddle in portage inlet. The cold snap had officially arrived and even paddling in the protected confines of the Gorge, it was f*** cold! We started off the morning with beautiful clear skies with about 10-15 knots of wind from the Northwest. We were just gonna play the route by ear.

John and I were pretty busy taking photos today - and nothing caught our eye more than swans! Our route had taken us to the West side of Portage Inlet and we were going to try to go under the car tunnel and see the falls. We found the bird hideout along the coast and found 4 adult swans. The swan at the front was swimming suspiciously with its head down and plumage puffing out. Apparently, there were swan babies in the group as well.

We started our trek up the river to the falls, and found there's been a lot of water flowing this year and it wasn't frozen over! bonus. The winding river has a notorious fallen tree laying across that can make navigating upstream a bit annoying. But our hearts sank a bit when we got there, because now there are two fallen trees across the river that has cut off the upper waterway completely. We turned around and headed back.

Old man winter was still blowing across the water and making every molecule of me cold. It's neat to look at the speed tracking maps, when we were paddling upwind, we were doing about 2-3km less than average. We both had enough of the cold so we headed back down the Gorge to the Kayak Club and packed up.

Trip Distance: 10km

YTD: 38km

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Hail

2011-01-08T00:08:00.000-08:00

Today I decided to launch from Oak Bay and do a loop around Cadboro Point. A light wind was coming from the South and bringing some unpredictable weather with it, so I was planning to be off the water before the change. It didn't work out that way, but it sure was fun anyway.

With the sun out and blue skies everywhere, I took a route along Willows beach and up around cattle point. The tide was pretty high so I took the shore route into Cadboro bay and noticed the big clouds stacking up. The wind picked up a little in Caddy Bay. I paddled up to flower island and out to the Cadboro Point light.

The current was barely present, but it was still ebbing, so I tried to ride the wave back to the put in, but it was pretty short lived. Just as I got to Jemmy, the big cloud decided to pelt me with hail, which is always great. The hail gradually turned to rain as I got close to Oak Bay and the sun kept shining the whole time.. it's karma or something. I got back to the beach and headed to a place where I could buy the biggest warm up coffee possible.

Trip Distance:12km

YTD: 28km

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Winter

2011-01-07T21:42:00.000-08:00

So this year I'm pledging to spend more time on the water and less on the more nerdy pursuits of mine, but we'll have to see how that pans out. Today I met John, Louise and Paula on the beach and got ready. I took the kayak down from the car and it was just full of ice! Hefted it onto my shoulder and unloaded the unwanted ice shards from the cockpit and rear compartment. looks like the rear hold is not water tight, so a trip to the kayak store is imminent.

An unmoving sea lit by morning light breaking through the clouds welcomed us as we paddled out into old familiar Cadboro Bay. With a high tide, limited currents and crisp, motionless air, Today was definitely the day to visit Chatham and Discovery. I paddled out to Flower Island, Jemmy and then out to Chatham with the group. Louise was feeling a bit too cold, so she and the rest of the group turned around at Chatham while I continued on around the islands.

I paddled around the north tip of chatham and was gingerly paddled into the small inlet that leads to Cactus Islet. Every time I go here, I'm amazed by how quiet it is. It's like someone handed me earplugs. I put the paddle down and drifted around the islet and that's when the birds caught a glimpse of me. A few dozen birds - ducks, geese, and water birds all took flight letting me get super close to shoot some photos of the little plants that cover Cactus Islet.

The kelp really disappears in winter. The trip around the discovery lighthouse, usually a fairly large kelp bed was down to just a few plants floating on the surface. The abandoned lighthouse is getting pretty worse for wear. there's a bunch of siding sloughing off in the weather and some of the fencing around it is geting pretty bent up. The Discovery campsite was completely empty and only a lone sailboat stood against the incoming weather system.

Heading back, I noticed I was feeling the burn in my arms. And this was at Chatham. I was getting pretty sore by the time I finally hit the beach. Hoping that goes away with the next few outings. Feels great to be on the water again!

Trip Distance: 16km

YTD: 16km

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Nights like these...

2010-08-12T22:13:00.000-07:00

Tonight was one of those few after work paddles that happens to be on a perfectly still, warm summer's night. It always feels like a dream to be paddling at sunset and tonight nearly put me to sleep in my cockpit :). I put in at VCKC and had it in mind to head down to jutland if the currents were well behaved. The parking lot was jammed with dragonboaters doing last mnute training for the Victoria Dragonboat festival..

The current under the Tillicum bridge was about a 2kt flood, so it was a bit dicey looking. Some kids were up on the cliff beside the bridge yelling, "you're gonna fall in." Not tonight though.. the water was all going in one direction and wasn't much of a challenge to overcome.. I paddled out the other side and waved back to the kids as I paddled toward the inner harbour.

It was such a lazy and calm night, I just lily-dipped my way down to Jutland to find it even more crammed with even more of the large dragonboats. Instead of heading further down to the inner harbour, fearing I'd be a bit in the way, I turned around and got a nice push on the flood past the bridge and up toward portage inlet.

There are a few mute swans swimming around the Gorge right now and they're HUGE. They started swimming over to me, but didn't like the looks of my paddle, so they spooked a bit and headed on the opposite course. I got up to Portage inlet and was overcome with bliss. The skyline had turned fiery orange and the stars were brilliant even before sunset. I took the kayak up along the Colquitz side and noticed a good algae bloom going. The high tide was making it float around in clumps.

I couldn't travel too far up the river because of the goo, but when I turned around I saw the photo above and let out a year-long-pent-up sigh and leaned back just to take in how awesome summer in Victoria is. With the sounds of the road muted and the air so still, it was hard not to be hypnotized by the evening. I left Portage Inlet as the hush of blue-dusk swept across the water. The light was fading, leaving behind an intense orange sky (probably thanks to forest fires in northern BC. I pulled out at VCKC and retained the giant grin on my face until I finally slept. How awesome is that?!

Trip Distance: 11km

YTD: 195km

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Mill Bay Group Paddle

2010-08-08T23:46:00.000-07:00

Today I met up with my paddling buddies for a group paddle from Mill Bay marina. The group was John, Louise, Paula and Tracy - a big group for us :) . Because today was a long shoreline paddle, I expected to be talking a lot and annoying everyone to stave off boredom, but this actually turned out to be pretty good.

What tempered my contempt for paddling along gentrified shorelines with houses no one actually deserves was the crazy amount of wildlife and the company, including their interactions. We launched from the Mill Bay Marina and right off the bat we meet about 15 seals lounging on the damaged and deserted Mill Bay Marina. They all looked up wide eyed of course and realized we weren't a threat and went back to sleeping in the sunshine.

We make our way down the coast and get to see some more crazy damaged remnants from the gale storm that sieged Mill Bay last winter. There are boats up on the shore and stuck terminally in the shallows along the shoreline just gushing water from the last high tide filling their derelict cabins. With some great conversation here and there, the group began to find a new flow and Louise and Tracy got out front of the pack just as we get to the Mill Bay ferry. I realized suddenly that BC ferries' newest ferry bumper has eyes and ears. I call out to the two in front that they're about 10 feet from a pretty huge sea lion on the docks.

Like the seals, he looked up, grunted and let out the signature ORT ORT noise they're so famous for before curling up and sleeping again. Well, not before John and I filled our memory cards with his terrifying visage, though :). The two out front laughed to themselves wondering why us in the back were making a fuss and then connecting eyes with the giant furry thing they just awoke.

We landed on the beach at Bamberton Park. This place is an awesome stop offering full amenities and a great place to watch all types of sea birds. As we pulled ahore, the sea floor was alive with little crabs all either coming or going from shore. The tide comes in fast in the lagoon here, most of our boats were free floating after our short break. Paula brought a box of awesome little muffins to share - it was just what I needed - carbo loading - heh.

The cement factory was just a little ways down the shoreline, so I gave it a visit while most of the crew held back a ways due to tiredness. There's not much to report here, though. It seems they're repairing or removing the deep sea dock and piles that I saw last time I was here. The grounds have barely changed, just more growth of the grass and trees.

One of the neat attractions on the way back home were these little birdhouses on the old pilings of some huge, ruined dock. Sitting in the middle of the little houses, you can hear the calls of these little purple martins (swallows) and it's a nice place just to bob in the boat and listen to them chirp to each other. The wind came up a little as forecast and made the water a little bumpier than the group is used to. It was bit of a slow grind, but we all got back in one piece and no one needed a tow or anything. Swinging back into the bay, the seals were all in the water looking for food and that's what we were headed for too. We went to a little pizza place in Mill Bay for a quick debrief.

Trip Distance: 18km

YTD: 184km

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Cadborosaurus

2010-07-12T23:22:00.000-07:00

Today was a great day to be on the water, Sun, surf and whales! I put in at cadboro bay for a quick bit of exercise, The conditions were not great for crossing - too much flood current, so I thought I'd do the good ol oak bay circuit.

The water was very calm in the morning and the lucky kayaking class was also putting in on the Beach beside me. The group went over to Flower Island, so I followed them out that way. There were jellyfish of all shapes and sizes all over the place. Apparently they bloom like this periodically. Probably not the funnest place to practice wet exits....... I got up to flower and could feel the current running pretty fierce already. I got sucked through the narrow channel between Flower and the point. Zooming along, I saw two whale boats and a number of fishing vessels giving audience to a gray whale feeding along the east side of Flower Island.

I got reasonably close to the whale and managed to get some photos before I had to correct for the current that constantly pushed my boat north. The whale gave a deep and loud puff on my flypast. This is the first time I've seen whales anywhere near the entrance to Haro Strait, so I ws pretty happy to see nature's just as busy as ever. Following the whale encounter I kept seeing little needlefish jumping clear out of the water and likely into the seal's mouth following directly behind my stern.

I thought I might slingshot around Mary Tod and into the flood for a nice ride home. The sea delivered, The middle of Baynes was running like crazy, adding about 2 knots to my speed! I love it when a plan comes together. The wind began to stiffen a bit on the return trip making for a nice challenging paddle on the way into caddy bay. I got out of the boat on the beach and just sat on the beach for a while watching the dogs go by. So relaxing, I couldn't blog about it until 3 weeks later :)

Trip Distance: 10km

YTD: 168km

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Kayaking North Idaho

2010-06-18T21:37:00.000-07:00

I went to Idaho in June as part of a scooter rally held in Farragut State Park and wentfor a relaxing paddle in Lake Pend Oreille in Idaho. Conditions were superb and hot - just a little cloudy as I put in. Unfortunately people don't really watch their dogs on this beach so it's covered in doggie road apples. The launch was fairly quiet in the morning, so I parked my truck and pushed off on the beach area beside the docks.

Today's adventure was to cross over to Lakeview to see a building that had tweaked my curiosity from shore. I started down the bay with my back to the mild wind and paddled to the closest end of the lake to get running along the mountainside opposite to the launch. There were all kinds of neat things laying in the mossy rocks of the fjord including a skeleton of some unknown critter.

What looked pretty close by eye was definitely further than expected. I paddled for about 5km watching speed boats arrive at the shore after over a minute of high speed motoring past from me. The sun began to appear through the clouds and the structure on the bottom shores of Lakeview came into focus. It was an old mining building that fronted on the water, obscuring numerous ruined work barracks behind it. Apparently all of the mining the apparatus along the waterfront came from a number of now defunct limestone mines from as early as the 1800s.

The sun was getting a touch on the oppressive side, so I started heading back to the the boat launch. I totally forgot sunscreen and ended up getting the world's most hilarious farmer's tan. :)

Trip Distance: 18km

YTD: 156km

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Discovery Island

2010-05-08T22:39:00.000-07:00

Man it's been a while.. April was just a month of inopportune wind storms in Victoria interrupted only by a bit of vacation near Palm Springs for Coachella. Today was a spectacular morning. Prefect for paddling with friends.. well.. wait... where were my friends? I don't know how I missed the good people from kayakyak, but they were no where to be found. I'm guessing I left a bit too early, though I think I caught a glimpse of the crew later in the paddle, so maybe I was late. Anyway, it was a solo run today and I thought I'd go for a little challenge and do a trip out round Discovery.

I put in at Gyro park among fresh logs washed up on the beach from all the recent wave action. The water had a fun new type of algae bloom that made the water look just like lime jello. I beached about 2 times to run back to the truck after I realized I was missing some key piece of gear from my deck. Eventually I was on my way out of the bay - tons of kayakers out on the water today and the conditions were flat as Die Antwoord's lead singer's flat top.

Out in Baynes channel, the story was the same, very little current and only some stray waves from Haro Strait coming in from the northeast. Chatham was covered in birds and seals. My friends would have remarked, "the seals are doing it, dude." And I would have replied, "and how," but now I'm talking to myself. I briefly caught a glimpse of some other kayaks out around the middle of the Chatham Islands, but they turned the corner and were gone. I continued up the side of Chatham and around to Discovery Island The lighthouse on Seabird Point had a huge bald eagle on top of it and you could see all sorts of birds diving on fish just off the coast. Nearby were the sports fisherman grabbing all the stuff the birds and seals hadn't caught.

Discovery only has a little bit of kelp around it right now, not the huge swaths that usually pop up in summer time. The wind and chop from April blew significant amounts of wood up onto the entire shoreline and rocks. Discovery and the Chain islands had a bit more current running between them, but overall it was so calm and fairly non-challenging, though I was starting to feel the burn at about the 10km mark.. need to get back into the swing of paddling for sure. The Chain Islands were being scouted by a number of eagles looking for lunch and almost every bird was up in the air and making noise. There was a huge rock full of seals. All of them just stared at me as I passed. It was a perfect, reflective day on the perfect, relective water.

I was fighting a light ebb and a headwind on the way back that was slowing the boat to a crawl. I was watching a number of sailboats in full spinnaker trying to gain some way in the light airs. I then heard a huge splash and saw a big seal with ears and a mouthful of sharp teeth about 10 feet away.. then I saw another two of them.. something has drawn the sealions to the entrance to Cadboro Bay ("probably fish," my paddling buddies would say if they were here). I decided not to wait for the sealions to surface again and headed back toward the beach. Cadboro Bay itself was just full of small racing sailboats trying some maneuvering tactics - letting the sails turn the boat on a dime. I got back to the beach and didn't see anyone's car around, so I walked into the village and finally saw John and Louise's SUV, but they were nowhere to be found. Ah well... A good day on the water.

Trip Distance: 18km

YTD: 138km

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So much for Easter plans..

2010-04-04T10:30:00.000-07:00

As is usually characteristic for April, one or two big blows come through as the weather begins to creep up into the double digits. This year it sort of struck at the most inopportune time: Easter break. I was in Vancouver for the Friday windstorm that damaged a bunch of property on Vancouver island. It was howling through the streets on downtown Vancouver bringing with it large amounts of rain. I spent the day looking over the top of my book only to find the coffee on my table. Saturday was a bit more calm, so I travelled home, just to find another massive downpour waiting out in the north part of Haro strait. Today, Sunday, I woke up again to the sounds of windows rattling and webcam images from Big Wave Dave that got me wondering if renting a windsurfing rig for april might be a good plan next year. With kayaking, there's just days it's better not to find out what mother nature is made of. At least it's bright out - I think I'll take the bike out for a spin instead.

Esquimalt Harbour

2010-03-28T21:48:00.000-07:00

They really need to repair the bridge down to Esquimalt lagoon. It's really annoying to drive all the way up to Metchosin road just to backtrack down to the peninsula, but who knows where they are in construction of that. Looks like there's a pretty huge hole in the road unser the bridge, too. I've finally got back to Esquimalt Harbour after almost 2 years (it was actually one of my first paddling trips in my current kayak). Today was forecast to be proteced from east winds out in Haro Strait and it was bright, but extremely hazy with fog. There's no access to the side beach by car right now, so I put in on the juan de fuca side of the peninsula to moderate swell.

Wow.. something goofed with blogger and I lost the rest of this post forever.. sorry folks. Have a look at the photos - I can't be bothered to write it all again. yeesh - friggin computers I tell ya. Long story short - awesome day, cool ruins on Cole island and wind turned SSE later on and made for some challenging swell conditions. Popped my spray skirt too soon and the surf landing on the way back in filled my cockpit with water about 6 feet from the beach.

Trip Distance: 10km

YTD: 120km

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Winter's Cameo

2010-03-13T23:08:00.000-08:00

I woke up to bad news on our planned Caddy Bay to Discovery trip we had planned for this week. Instead of summer doldrums conditions, I see a wind model with 15-20knot winds coming directly into the bay. It was generally pretty sunny and current conditions were favorable for the crossing, but the constant unknown in Kayaking is wind. I decided I would show up at Willows to see if I could sway opinions for a safer launch, but I found everyone already unloaded and on the beach and getting ready to put into the maelstrom:

As usual, I'm more interested in getting out on the water for 3 or 4 hours, and this kind of conditions would have had me off the water in about 45 minutes. I said goodbye to John and the gang and headed out to somewhere a little less insane to enjoy paddling instead of being wet. The former happened; the latter, not as much. I was intending to go to the calmest place, which was Brentwood Bay, but decided just to see if Dallas road was calm. Lucky for me, the wind was blowing ESE at 5-10knots with moderate swell.

I put in at the usual Ogden Point spot right down next to the breakwater on the exposed side. I watched a couple of divers heading in for a day under the sea and kind of laughed at how calm this side of the island was as I paddled around the breakwater into Victoria. The construction at the Ogden Point docks seems to be going will with one significant structure constructed and some new material being placed. The wind was coming much stronger suddenly and had slipped more South. but inside the breakwater, I was pretty protected.

Paddling toward Victoria's downtown, I noticed a bunch of sailboats heading out to enjoy the winds out in the strait. There were also kayaks, surfskis and fishing boats milling around. With a healthy tailwind, I headed up the Gorge spotting a number of seals lazing around on anything warm. I also got in everyone's way in a big canoe competition up at Go Rowing on Jutland. There was a surprisingly large crowd standing on shore. as the winners passed their finishing line and circled back to the dock.

I got up to the Tillicum Narrows bridge and found almost no current. I passed through and paddled out to the VCKC clubhouse and turned around to head back home. It seemed the further up the Gorge I went, the calmer the winds and water. What signaled me to head back was the flags on the buildings had moved even more South. I took the opposite shore back through the Gorge and went back under the blue bridge into the Inner Harbour. The flags on the empress were now SSE and I was getting a bit worried about my chances of getting back around the breakwater in one piece if the voracity of the wind was anything like this morning.

I waited patiently for a float plane to finish motoring into dock and crossed the harbour at Laurel Point. Coming around the coast guard breakwater, I began to see absolutely huge standing waves on the horizon. The sailboat in the photo above was completely visible on minute and a mast the next. I had real concerns of whether I should try this at all or just pull out at the angler's association, but I thought what the heck, I'll try it. I was not prepared for the troughs on the south side, they were shoulder high waves and I was giving poor people on the break water a heart attack. I kept looking over and saw people pointing out at me :/. Big reflecting waves from the breakwater were making for pretty challenging paddling - luckily I only had about 500m to paddle to shore, so I was just careful to keep the paddle ready to brace. I had one close call, but bracing hard helped push me right out of it and the rest was smooth sailing, though I was completely soaking wet from all the wave action across my bow and stern. I was happy to be off the water, but I had a fantastic paddle in the harbour. I packed up and just headed home for a shower to get all the salt chuck off me.

Trip Distance: 15km

YTD: 110km

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Visiting the Gulls

2010-03-06T22:17:00.000-08:00

Today I joined John and Louise at good old Cadboro Bay. Today was intensely sunny! I'm with everyone else and I'm going to call it summer-esque conditions in humble Victoria. The winds were supposed to be light, but ended up being 5-10knots from the Northeast - a consistent swell was coming into the bay and the current was due to be a little over a 2 knot ebb. I was going to give a free ride on Baynes channel to Chain Islands a try, and without mysterious smoke on the horizon, I was resolved to do it this time.

We put in on a sandy beach I haven't seen for a while at Cadboro Bay. The tide had already gone out some. Still getting used to the unloading dance on the new car and what goes where, but I got down to the water and we were off to Cadboro Point. We meandered through the rocks along the shore and saw lots and lots of birds on the way out. Just past Flower Island, we caught a glimpse of a glorious Mount Baker in the morning sunlight. The current was definitely on the ebb, but it really wasn't too crazy. I started my run toward the Chains and John and Louise paddled back along the mouth of cadboro bay to meet me at Oak Bay Marina.

There was some current, but nothing incredibly life changing. The water smoothed out on my way into Baynes Channel thanks to the land blocking the wind. The tailwind and current got me up to about 12km/h sustained on my way down and then dropped off as I approached Great Chain Island, the larger island in the Chains just off Oak Bay Marina. It's pretty fun taking a ride on the current when the chance arises, it's a lot less of a pain than crossing it or fighting it.

Chain Island was full of gulls, Canada geese and crows with a bunch of seals looking on. It was full until a bald eagle decided to stop by sending every last bird on the rock up into the air. The eagle was flying so low that I originally thought the reason the birds took off was me getting too close. Once the eagle passed the birds began to land, filling every square inch of the rock. With the current still dragging me around a bit, I pulled around the back part of the island where I got to see a whole bunch more harbour seals. There's also a lot of weird wreckage all over the island, but it's like 10 feet up. Must have been some big seas through here recently.

I made it back to Oak Bay Marina after being pushed around in the crossing a little. There were lots of boats scrambling through the Turkey Head traffic path from the marina to take advantage of fair winds in the strait. I paddled around Mary Tod island a little and all the birds from last week were somewhere else today. I met up with Louise and John on the other side of Mary Tod Island and we headed back alongside a group of 6 other paddlers out enjoying the beautiful weather. We went back along the south shore of Cadboro Bay and saw a numbe of Herons along the shoreline. We got bach to the beach via the Royal Victoria Yach Club Marina which is a very tight squeeze at low tide. When we got back to the beach, it was much longer than we left. We all celebrated today's outing at the coffee house afterward.

Trip Distance: 13km

YTD: 95km

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A big development!

2010-03-04T20:25:00.000-08:00

It looks like the CRD and other conservancy partners have officially purchased many of the hot zones in Western Forest Products' lot sale for a cool 18 million. About 20% of the land up for grabs sold today in trust including many of the foremost properties in the portfolio such as Jordan River, Sooke Potholes and parcels around the Victoria watershed. By all accounts, this seems like a fairly good first step though I have this small niggle about the haste of the sale and the "secret deal" verbiage. I hope Juan de Fuca gets what it pays for and that their constituents were consulted before making a purchase that was a small bit out of their direct means. Altogether though, I.. I think.. just maybe.. the democratic process and activism actually worked here. I'm keeping my ear to the track for more developments in the next few days, especially with the elusive UBC agreement still sailing the horizon.

More details here

Another Fine Mess...

2010-03-03T22:41:00.000-08:00

A packed SJ Willis auditorium that had the same morbid tone of the Mega Yacht Marina hearings last year met tonight to discuss the hilarious and staggering ramifications of what the BC Liberals have completely mismanaged. I'm naming the political party, because the fault of this really rests completely on so many of their agents' shoulders - if you don't believe me, there's a much better written review of this stinky public policy disaster by John Doyle, BC's own Auditor General located here and here. What happened in this situation gives us no legal recourse, a very delicate finance and resource management situation between all of the stakeholders and a possible fallout that could put treaty negotiations with the First Nations people in the Sooke and Jordan River back many years. Oh and we have just under 5 days to do anything about it.

What the auditor saw coming in 2008 is now upon us, and please read that stuff it's incredibly written. Western Forest Products is in the process of selling underutilized land assets to recapture the capital it needs to stay profitable. Fair enough, business is rough right now, we're emerging from a pretty heavy recession and some ongoing softwood levies from the USA. On the outside, this isn't a big problem, all of that rural land is packaged for 300 acre lots with only single dwellings and guest houses per plot to encourage industry. The panel tonight, however, showed that this is prime real estate land and looking at the community plans of incorporated Sooke and the plans of the CRD for the unincoporated areas of Jordan River and Shirley, the land may have been strategically selected to smooth rezoning opportunities.

A good example of what's putting people on edge and one of the reasons this meeting was held with such urgency is big real estate merchants' language Exhibit A and Exhibit B

Undoubtedly the jewel of the South Island Portfolio, the Jordan River Group includes sixteen titles ranging in size from approximately 4 to 722 acres. Encompassing over 2,400 acres in total, the Jordan River Group is situated around the Jordan River town site, and provides an incredible opportunity for a wide variety of uses in a region where there has historically been an extremely limited supply of real estate ... The Jordan River Group is situated in the Juan de Fuca Electoral Area and is mostly within the Shirley/Jordan River OCP area.

Large estate lots;
Considerable merchantable timber; and
Rare Juan De Fuca beach front.

Some of the points made tonight were pretty straightforward. The coastal communities are not ready to grow at any kind of speed, the tax burden and quality of life challenges stemming from the watersheds emergency services and governance is a major roadblock to development. The community also relies on the forest industry to help buoy up their other expenses, so there's a real incentive not to poke the bear. The First Nations are trying to tie up a fairly lengthy treaty negotiation in the region and really want a solid, long term environmental strategy and cleanup in their traditional territories. If that means they need to own land instead of trusting good-faith relationships with surrounding governments, they seem driven to do it. People from the Island and eco-tourists want a reason to visit the area and not just have a sprawl like what happened in the ukee-tofino corridor.

With no compensation gained from the government and WFP interactions, the onus has been put on the public to solve this one and either buy out the land or get out of the way. One promising avenue may be a model forest plan, which the University of British Columbia proposes in conjunction with other strategic partners, including the CRD. This would give the land to a publicly steered organization, but the plan needs to be hydrated. Some of the other actions resembled the resolution sought for Clayoquot sound, which involved a transition to a UN biosphere or historical site, but with so much second growth forest, and WFP recently logging the areas, it may be a difficult sell. If the idea of excessive fallout isn't cool with you, I'd say at least do the democratic process and let everyone responsible for the blunder hear your voice and where your future vote is headed.

Lots More Information at the Dogwood Intiative site

From Sooke to Jordan River: Business as Usual

2010-03-02T20:11:00.000-08:00

Looks like I have another public meeting to look forward to in the near future. This is yet another serious environmental and incredibly large-scoped project has quietly slipped into the local news with some tragic timing - not even a week earlier and this would have fallen onto the press room floor for an Olympics story. A paltry sum of money has been printed on the wilderness surrounding Sooke and Jordan river following a land parcel sale by Western Forest Products, and, like the marina and other hustled-in land sales, not even one person in the organizations involved in the sale know what's happening. Now some figures in government are trying to slow the freight train down and see if this land can be put in trust. I have to agree with Anderson on his stance about "increasing irrationality" in public policy on the Island. I'm hoping that if we keep packing the rooms on stuff like this, someone might get a hint.

The public meeting, organized by the Jordan River Steering Committee and Dogwood Initiative, will be held from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday [March 3, 2010] at SJ Willis auditorium, 923 Topaz Avenue.

Speakers include Husband, Chief Gordon Planes of T’Sou-ke First Nation, Calvin Sandborn of University of Victoria Environmental Law Centre and Arnie Campbell of the Otter Point and Shirley Ratepayers Association.

Read the Article Here

Something so Weird...

2010-02-28T21:14:00.000-08:00

So today was my weirdest paddling day on the books by far. This will be less about kayaking and more storytelling. I went down and saw the good folks at Ocean River first thing and got my new whip set up with saddles. The poor Aerostar (aka.Vengabus) finally wore out and now I have a 01 Nissan Pathfinder. It wasn't even worth looking at until the kayak was on top though :). I brought the saddles home, clipped em on and loaded my kayak onto the roof without issue - it's good being a giant sometimes. So far - so good.

I drove down to the bay without incident - the saddles did their job just fine and unloading was just as easy. I was greeted with beautiful, glassy conditions at gyro park. The tide was moderately high and wood was everywhere on the beach still. The sun just wouldn't come out today - just broken grey clouds with little periods of rain. I paddled up the north coast and I met Mike Jackson in his slick looking Greenland 'yak coming back in from a paddle around Discovery Island. He told me he was being sure to get off the water before 3 hit. On my way down I head about a possible tsunami coming, but it was going to be there imminently.

Minutes after speaking to Mike, the VHF pipes up (video above) announcing a formal emergency situation on the water. Ughh. The details of the broadcast are some manner of waves will be arriving from the earthquake in Chile around 3 o'clock. I cut my paddle out to the chains short and hang a right for oak bay just to stay close to shore.

Mary Tod island was packed with birds of all makes and models and they all made noise as I went by. A number of seals were also swimming around me. It was a very calm and serene place to be until the VHF turned on again and announced another terrifying tsunami warning, but here's the twist: The science came through on what to expect. Waves approaching Washington were expected to be around 0.2m. whew. I decided to immediately go out to the chains and enjoy a little quality time with the gulls.

"Not so fast," says fate. some manner of fireball was spilling noxious black smoke up into the clouds, and it looked peculiarly like it was coming from where I live. I was even counting buildings on the skyline and I pretty much assumed I'd have no home when I got off the water. :( What a terrible feeling to have. The smoke disappeared from the horizon about 5 or 6 minutes later and my mind was racing with all the terrors that may have become some part of the city.

Facing an ebbing tide and a fresh headwind, I paddled to flower island and back into caddy bay to head back home. I took a bee line home and found the entire place covered with police tape. ughhh.. a car in one of the back parking lots near my building had caught fire and destroyed a whole lot of the condo's carport. My scooter lives back there and the officer said something to the effect of, "you may not want to look back there." My heart totally sank, but at least my apartment was still in one piece.

A fiery image of what happened in the paper was the first thing I found online about it and my scooter seems to have a front row seat, but I was allowed downstairs to see as much as I could of the scooter from the police line. Luckily the wall was enough to stop the flames from getting up to the scooter, and from a 30 yard glance it seemed fine. JOY. I was able to finally get back to it this morning and it still rides and is just dirty from the flame retardent, wish I could say the same for the cars next to the event :(. If I hadn't gotten off my ass this morning, the kayak would have still been sitting on the ground right next to that BMW. I'm really glad no one was hurt and I hope the police find this guy and soon! And that - was my weird day of paddling.

Trip Distance: 10km

YTD: 82km

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Something so Wonderful...

2010-02-27T09:16:00.000-08:00

BIRTHRIGHT from Sean Mullens on Vimeo.

Found this on Victoria Kayaker Blog. It needs to be seen.

Sunday Spinnakers

2010-02-21T23:23:00.000-08:00

Today was just a quick little paddle for some exercise. The winds had died down substantially from Saturday and had become more northerly. The sun was very bright and again I found myself realizing why I still live in Victoria. Caddy Bay beach is still covered in driftwood making for a fun climb down to the sand. I put in and was off on a little tour of the bay.

I did my usual tour out along the north shore and around flower island. The water was smooth and undisturbed. The tide being fairly low, I kept my distance from the rocks along the short to avoid a repeat of the last barnacle scraping I gave my kayak last time. It was a little windier at the edge of Baynes channel and the current was already going pretty swiftly - you could see the standing waves out near the cardinal buoy off Chatham.

I was greeted by little river otters on the way to Cadboro point. Cute little critters. I saw the current gently pushing around the rocks at cadboro point and got a little ride back to Jemmy Jones at a pretty good clip. Jemmy jones also had a nice strong current around it propelling me into a spinnaker regatta. This took all my attention and I tried to snap a bunch of photos of all of them as they wizzed past me. A nice fresh breeze was coming down from the north and was pushing all the boats along with big full sails. ahhhhhhhhh.

I completed this trip by crossing to Cattle Point after the sailboats passed, and had a gander at the boats in the RVYC marina. This was just the start of a fantastic day outdoors. I guess this is as good a time as ever to first mourn the fact I need to wait a year or two before a sailboat because my poor vengabus, gear hauler extraordinare, is dead. On the bright side, I closed a deal on a new truck in fantastic condition, a 2001 Nissan Pathfinder. I should have worthwhile photos of that soon - here's a cell photo - just looking around for a good roof rack solution.

Trip Distance: 8km

YTD: 72km

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Somewhere I Haven't Been

2010-02-20T21:58:00.000-08:00

I woke up this morning and hear the wind on my windows. That wasn't supposed to happen - but turns out the washington wind model was actually correct for once. Paula Louise and John were busy putting in at telegraph cove in the van. I took one look at the conditions and just wasn't feeling like paddling in a 10-15kt headwind and an opposing current. I parted way s with the crew and went on a hunt for a longer bit of paddling. I took the scenic route around beach drive and found the Victoria side was dead calm.

The tide was out a good ways and I had a nice little strip of sand beach to put in. It had been a series of glorious, springlike days leading up to this weekend. I paddled out to somewhere I hadn't had the right conditions to goin the kayak before: Clover Point. Ogden Point to Clover Point is a very scenic bit of shoreline with some big bluffs to look at. The wind was barely touching the water.

The ebb was running pretty well from Enterprise Channel and all the way along the coast, I found a tideline and got a free ride back to Ogden Point and the breakwater. Just beyond the nav aid at the end of the breakwater was a large work barge working on the newly laid pilings at the ogden point facility. They're in the process of lengthening the berths, so longer cruise ships can dock in Victoria without worries of violent weather moving the boats while at their moorings.

The wind really picked up in the harbour and about 3 or 4 fishing boats buzzed around picking up traps from the mouth of the inlet. Near fisherman's wharf a fairly larget pilot boat was just finishing fuelling and heading out of the harbour.. makes a kayak feel really small. I ducked into the inner harbour and decided to head back to the put in.

The water had gotten quite a bit choppier and all the sailboats raced by me on the way out. The breakwater was lined with fisherman and a few of them were catching some pretty big cod and rockfish, many of the fish had already been hooked a few times. I pulled out of the water and headed off to the boat show to look at some really fancy fishing boats with my friends.

Trip Distance: 12km

YTD: 64km

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Thetis Primer

2010-02-14T21:41:00.000-08:00

This week I went out with John and Louise, now that they're mobile again. Today was just going to be a short in and out and just a quick shakedown for their new roof racks. Unfortunately, my Van had started acting up a week or 2 before resulting in a pretty severe coolant leak, so I was taking it easy with driving. We agreed on a lap around Thetis lake.

Today started off cloudy and spitting rain. The rain got harder and harder as time went on, but our spirits were good. The conversation was lively and Thetis was flat as a mirror. Not a lot going on at the lake save for a nice high water level and some newly fallen trees. The weather got considerably nicer near the end of the paddle and the beach was just covered in dogs. I parted way with John and Louise and took the Van to the shop later on - hint: the fix didn't take :((

Trip Distance: 6km

YTD: 52km

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Fiddle Reef

2010-01-23T21:47:00.000-08:00

Today was a pretty beautiful day for January, The sun was out, I had sunglasses on, the air was mild and dry and the wind was pleasant from the East/EastNorthEast. I met up with Paula at the beach and just breathed out all the hussle of the week. I got a few great shot as we paddled out of the bay toward Cadboro point (and accidentally ran up a covered rock - whoooops ). The current was fairly light in Baynes channel, but was increasing near the point.

I managed to find a nice, stable eddy near the rocks at the point and rode it for a couple minutes as we turned around for Jemmy Jones Island. Today felt absolutely exotic for January and paula and I both paddled quietly to the island. There were some pretty gnarly kelp beds off the west corner of Jemmy and I just drifted along in the really light current. Paula was finished paddling for the day, so we split up here and I continued into oak bay.

Fiddle reef was without its resident eagles today, and a very light current was flowing around the installation. I got a nice little push around the light and toward Mary Tod Island. There were a couple of seals milling about in the gap between Emily Islet and Mary Tod. Still stinks like seal crap out there. Off in the distance you could here the unholy choir of gulls on Great Chain Island.

On the return trip, the sailboats were starting to leave the marinas. The wind had freshened a little and the conditions were great for a number of single handers. I crossed paths with sailing photographer, Andrew Madden, out in his boat, Tigger, a yellow hulled sailboat the ofter frequents Oak Bay. We had a chat as he attempted to beat out of the bay. The closer we got to Cattle Point, themore and more driftwood there was floating around. Some recent storms and high tide had brought a whole new crop of driftwood to the southeast side of the Vancouver Island.

The trip back in was nice and smooth, I weaved my way down through the rocks and then cruised around the RVYC marina with just enough water to spare to get underneath the walkways. I saw Bernie out for a walk on the beach near the far end of the bay, near a beached sailboat. Lots and lots of driftwood around the boat too. Bernie reminded me that Paula had left her cart in my Van - oops again. You can read Paula's unhappy review of me on kayakyak if you'd like. I headed back to the beach and had a great sandwich in the sunshine at Olive Olio's.

Trip Distance: 12km

YTD: 46km

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Brentwood Bay

2010-01-16T19:46:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I've visted Brentwood bay, so today I got out to the launch beside the ferry and was greeted with very pleasant and calm touring conditions. I took the kayak down the steep hill to the launch and found the beach nearly completely submerged at high tide. There was another group coming down the hill to put in, so I rushed a bit and pushed off.. I looked down and something was missing. The camera was not in my lifejacket. I returned to the beach and ran up to the van: no camera anywhere. Thinking I left it at home, I walked back down to the beach and put in again.

So in the true Canadian literature fashion, this blog post will be told from the camera's point of view as it sat under the rear differential of the cube van beside my van. Okay, no I won't.

First, I went out to arguably the most beautiful place in the entire freaking world, Tod inlet. I can't even begin to describe this area it's a mix of old and forgotten manmade stuff and nature in the process of reclaiming it. What used to be a giant concrete quarry/factory is now just a ragged brick smokestack and disintegrating pier. The water was noiseless and one person walking the shore quieter than the gushing waterfall at the eastern end of the inlet.

Despite the beauty, Tod inlet wasn't a very long paddle, so I decided to head out to 15 Minute (Seananus) Island which couldn't be more than 15 minutes away from the reach of Gowland/Tod park. It was a nice challenging paddle against a small headwind and current. The Island was where all the birds live for the winter, with large swaths of birds taking flight as I approached.

I headed directly across to the Saanich Peninsula and had a quiet and enjoyable paddle back to shore as the sun came out. Lots of wood had blown into the bay during the recent wind storms and I caught a few seagulls using the floating wood for uneasy perches until a boat came by and ruined it all. As I went to put the gear back in the van, I caught a glimpse of my camera, luckily still intact! I picked it up and ran back down to the kayak to get a couple parting photos. Sorry there aren't more photos this week and it pains me.

Trip Distance: 12km

YTD: 34km

Bird Disturber

2010-01-10T22:23:00.001-08:00

Today I had planned to go to Brentwood Bay, but got distracted by a mirror flat Elk Lake on the highway out. Since all of my normal paddling buddies are without vehicles right now, I have a feeling it'll be a bunch of solo paddles for the first part of 2010. I pulled up to an absolutely empty beach with only the hardiest of trail joggers and their pets walking by. The water however was full of rowers and fishermen. It was a cloudy and mild day with little wind.

The water was clean and quite cold along the shore, and the distant shore had a large fog bank hovering over it. The rowing teams and the few independent rowers were busy doing laps of beaver and elk lake at a good clip. I stayed mostly along the shoreline to stay out of everyone's way. I fished a bit of plastic garbage off of the shoreline on my way to the rowing center. The docks were lines with colorful water bottles and shoes and there weren't too many people on land. I kept on going around the corner into beaver lake.

So about the birds.. man there were a lot of birds out. Eagles, ducks, herons cormorants, kingfishers and all kinds of songbirds. It felt like every few minutes I was accidentally startling the birds into flight. I got a photo of a Heron on the shore and he immediately took flight with a loud croaking noise.. scared the crap out of me. He flew around for about 30 seconds and then decided to land on top of a kingfisher's head. The kingfisher got the hell out of there and landed on a tree so close to me I thought I could reach up and pet it. He was a lot more intent on finding food and a place where I wasn't though.

The weather was on the change all day today.. large rolling fog banks would get low down to the trees and thin out long enough for the sun to shine through. As I left Beaver lake, the rain began to fall. At first it was just spitting rain and moments later a full on torrent was upon the lake. Glad I brought my waterproof gear today. The downpour lasted nearly half of the trip and by the time I returned to the beach, everything had cleared up. They had closed the change room for the winter. Oh well.. I did my best to get changed discreetly. A really neat day on the water overall and a good place to get some paddling in with uncertain weather conditions.

Trip Distance: 10km

YTD: 22km

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Tidacise it!

2010-01-05T21:27:00.000-08:00

Already 3 days into the new year and I'm putting in at good old Cadboro Bay again. Looking back over last year, only a few of my 2009 goals were actually met due to a bunch of other circumstances. Most notably, attempting to kayak 1000km. Got lots of kayak camping done last year, but it's time for adventures in some new waters over this year. Today gave fairly light east winds and a manageable ebb current through Baynes channel, so Chatham was the goal.

Grey is the color today as the water melts into a similar colored ceiling. The ferocity of the storms this winter has been way lower than last year. I had a hard time even thinking about hitting the water last December. The tide was moderately high and on its way out when I put my boat on the beach. I settled in for a short but fun trip up the east side of the bay, watching all the yacht club boats heading out to race. Lots of teeny tiny brown ducks on the water this year.

The sun peeked out as I headed out into the first of a series of eddies in Baynes Channel. The current was moving quite swiftly at the 3/4 mark and gave me a bit of a wild ride into some of the standing waves. I ferried out of the waves and ended up at the western tip of the chatham islands and did a counterclockwise path around the islands. What a great treadmill that was!

On my way around the north part of the island the wind began to pick up quite a bit, going from 2-3 knots to about 10 in just a few minutes. The winds were forecasted to get a little stonger in the afternoon anyway, so I was going to return a little further into the channel than I expected - not quite as much fun rides on the current as I wanted, but there was plenty of fun in between Strongtide and Vantreight Island with currents around 3 knots in the squeeze, sounded like being in a waterfall.

The current was still fairly strong near chatham, but abated closer to Jemmy Jones and the wind had shifted Northeast making for another fun treadmill back home. All the boats I'd seen scrambling out in the morning were coming back to the bay to round the windward mark in their race. Good spectacle watching the high tech boats expertly rounding the mark, while the others would end up wrapping their spinnakers with the fresh NE puffs just minutes later. I pulled back ashore on Cadboro bay and had a look at my GPS... it said I managed to hit a max speed of 14.5km/h in Baynes. Average speeds got up to about 11.3km/h - that was a nice surprise!

Trip Distance: 12 km

YTD: 12km

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Last Paddle of 2009

2009-12-30T21:34:00.000-08:00

2009 flew by and here I am in Oak bay again bobbing around with Paula in upset seas. Following some fantastic, clear weather over the holidays, the Grey is back with Southeasterlies to boot. I met Paula at the beach in good spirits and ready to paddle her Eliza.

We launched at Cadboro Bay into a light SE wind and paddled along the southern shore of the bay to Cattle Point. A small bit of swell was coming into oak bay and a light rain started up. A couple of seals watched us from the rocks and we kept close to Willows beach to keep out of unnecessary swell. We met a bigger group of kayakers near the Oak Bay Marina breakwater who were heading out to the chains. I didn't have too much time this morning, so Paula and I rounded Mary Todd Island and headed back home along the same path. Greeting us on the way in was a huge group of oystercatchers all huddled together. We pulled up the beach, packed up and got a quick coffee to conclude 2009's paddling activity.

Trip Distance: 8km

YTD: 308km

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December Calm

2009-12-20T22:11:00.000-08:00

A beautiful winter day out on the water. Winds from the North were solid and the rain clouds had run out of precipitation. I resisted the urge to put in at Dallas road, continuing along beach drive to Caddy Bay. The waters on the south and west parts of the island were mirror finish. I got the boat off the car and emptied all the recent rainwater from the cockpit.

Into the calm water at the bay, I paddled right out to cadboro point and got to see a bunch of sailboats enjoying the swift winds including one fast little 2 man racing dinghy speeding out of the bay. Haro strait was wiiiiild.. The winds had been running northerly all night and the waves and swell was fun to play in just a mere 20 feet from the caddy bay lighthouse. I'm guessing 2 foot waves or so, so a pretty fun time to play.

I paddled back to Jemmy and crossed Cadboro bay to Cattle point. The waves were a little higher with the fetch from the bay and the wind began to gust a little. The little racing dinghy I saw fly past earlier was still up on a plane and immediately capsized right off cattle point. The two crew went for a little swim and righted the boat, jumped back in and immediately flew off toward Flower Island.

Oak bay was a little choppy and there were a number of new shipwrecks laying on shore. One of the weirdest sunken ships out in Oak Bay was the "Dizzy Squid" laying bow up on its mooring buoy. I turned around at Oak Bay Marina and headed back to Caddy Bay against a pretty hefty headwind. I paddled around the Royal Vic marina and back to the beach. The days are super short now, but the weekends are great time to get out and explore.

Trip Distance: 12km

YTD: 300km

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Iced

2009-12-10T19:51:00.000-08:00

Good 'ol Portage Inlet had my full attention today. With the wind beginning to howl across a lot of my usual waters, I found peace and quiet here. Talk about a fantastic day too. Bright blue skies all around, sun low on the horizon and fairly cold temps from the outflow winds. I put in at about 10am at the kayak club and gently paddled up the gorge.

There were number of groups training in both outrigger canoes and dragon boats. The brreze was light on the Gorge and amped up a little bit as I passed under admirals bringe. A whole tonne of seals in the inlet too, probably more than I remember being there in the summer. Herons and eagles were also out. I'm guessing maybe the last of the fish?

As I got out into portage inlet, I was puzzled by a hissing noise that seemed to be coming from the shoreline seaweed. The wind had picked up quite a bit and what was happening was the wave action was breaking up a thin layer of ice floating on the surface of the water. I had only been slightly cold the week previous, but it was enough to freeze the top layer of freshwater from the confluence of colquitz creek and the inlet.

Today was also the first time that I can recall seeing swans flying around. there were a bunch of juvenile swans both with and without adults swimming around and eating the eelgrass. Even as young birds, they're still HUGE. I kept a good distance from them and watched them get trapped in the maze of ice while feeding.

A nice relaxed pace brought be back around into the gorge and from there, a pretty gusty wind pushed me all the way back to shore. I was followed by a bunch of seals all clearly feeding on something in the water. When I pulled the boat out of the water, I noticed she's getting a bit on the oxidized side.. I think she's gonna need a bit of elbow grease in the spring or before.

Here's a Little Video of the Day:

Trip Distance: 8km

YTD: 288km

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A Trip to the Bonzai Forest

2009-11-11T23:11:00.000-08:00

Today was a classic last minute kayaking decision. My day's appointments cleared up pretty quickly and I found myself moments later bobbing on the water near Oak Bay marina, taking the first stroke into a beautiful November paddle. Usually Rememberance Day in Victoria is celebrated by an annual soaking of the crowd. This year it was t-shirt weather, just a bit of wind out offshore. Birds were out today as well as seals. Chatham was my goal - the high tide and beneficial currents would make for a pretty laid back paddle.

I made nice, even progress through Baynes and Plumper and ended up perfectly on course to the south point of Chatham. The currents and wind had made the ocean all wily and uneven. The North part of Chatham was really wild and would have probably been fun for standing wave seekers. About 500m off the north shore was a strange feature creating 2-3 foot standing waves with a big white cap - it looked like there was a continuous 15knot wind in Haro Strait from the southeast. With all the mayhem off tip of the island, the waters close to the rocks only suffered a tiny swell and I was followed and watched by a number of seals.

The tide was nice and high, so I was able to access the inner part of Chatham Island and have a look at cactus islet. An absolutely huge bald eagle soared out of his perch as I entered and the little channel filled with little black and white ducks behind me. The wind was just touching the water and I ended up leaning back on the deck and just chilling out for a moment. Kayaking can be so relaxing in small, protected areas like this.

I made my way back out of the inlet and the ocean was being chopped up just 200m away. I paddled carefully around all the kelp beds that have moved in for the winter and then headed back into the protection of the island. I ended up leaving through the channel that separates the Chatham islands. I got lined up with Jemmy Jones Island and launched out into a building current in Baynes Channel. With a pretty good speed, I paddled on a tight ferry angle and still got push off course pretty heavily. I did a nice slow and relaxed pace home, taking in the fall colors and sunshine.

Following the paddle, I made my way over to John and Louise's house and we had a little finger food while we watched the video Crossing the Ditch. Gotta say, they got some pretty formidable footage from that boat - it watched a lot like a journal, but some of the conditions they faced (including their own parents) was a really nice touch.

Trip Distance: 16km

YTD: 280km

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Body Boat Haida Gwaii

2009-10-24T14:16:00.001-07:00

Man I've been waiting for this talk with massive amounts of anticipation. A few weeks back, tickets went on sale by the good folks at Siska for a talk by Shawna and Leon, two of the three members involved in a filmed expedition around (and through) The Queen Charlotte Islands. Held at the University of Victoria, the 280 person capacity hall was filled almost completely by so many familiar faces in the Kayaking community. To start off the night's lecture, we were first treated to an overview from a former Haida Gwaii Visitor center manager, Maureen Weddell.

In a way, I'm really glad that her lecture went first, as it was a great primer to those not completely familiar with the geography of the archipelago. Maureen Weddell was in charge of the center during Shawna and Leon's paddle and was one of the many contacts they made on their trip. Her presentation was simple and clear: A large map sat projected behind her as she spoke mostly about what to know about the economy, people and places in the area. Her portion of the talk was fairly brief and really informative, especially concerning Skidegate, Masset and Queen Charlotte.

Following a brief door prize raffle, Shawna and Leon took to the stage and worked quickly to get their presentation started. It turns out that they took a month to do a figure 8 of Haida Gwaii and every bit of it except maybe the west coast swells has been added to my kayaking checklist at some point. They're super entertaining speakers, keeping the whole place laughing and ohhing and awing with their photographic fireworks. It sounds like they definitely did the trip properly, though - save for a few malfunctioning movie cameras.

Some of the highlights of the talk were the bit on Langara island's little fishing commerce ecosystem. The flashed a few photos of this mobile marine operation that would tow a floating hotel from Vancouver out to the northwest shore of Graham Island and quickly dispatch fishing charters and helicopters in all directions in the hunt for wild salmon shoals to fish. The nature of this operation was transient and kind of disturbing for the surrounding environment. On a cultural note, in addition to meeting famous contemporary Haida carvers and jewellers in Masset and beyond, there's another story of previous explorers of Haida Gwaii. On the south shore of Moresby island, there are a number of emergency pull outs with cabins to evade bad weather. They showed a number of photos of this area as well as some of the beaches, that just look out of this world! This talk was a perfect follow up for those who have watched the Haida Gwaii part of This is the Sea 4. I can't thank the Siska members enough enough for putting it on and letting this interesting bunch tell us a little about the area and how to plan.

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Autumnal

2009-10-19T22:11:00.000-07:00

Today's excursion reminds me why every time I visit portage inlet I just keep coming back for more with an even bigger grin on my face. With it's tributaries snaking all over Victoria and Esquimalt, there's so much to see, and all added together, it can make for a rather lengthy paddle. It's been nearly two months since my boat's hull was wet in local waters and nearly that long since I've met with my friends from kayakyak. I've been out and about doing all the things I love: scootering down to California, hiking the mountains in Banff, riding the MS bike tour, experiencing that odd smell in Manhattan, flyfishing in gold river as well as rewriting one of my side project sites. It's been an insane summer!

The whole gang was at the beach promptly at 9 and we all gazed out over a serene sea in the morning light - all of the colors of autumn mirrored on the surface. The tide was just finishing it's ebb to low tide and John and I launched to have a go at the Tillicum bridge while Paula and Louise got ready for paddling. We regrouped back at the kayak club beach and headed up to portage inlet caching a brief deer sighting in one of the vacant lots along the Gorge.

Portage inlet was shining with sunlight muted and yellowed slightly by a light fog. People were just waking up and milling about their yards along the waterfront. The eelgrass that was there earlier in the year is nearly all gone save for a few pieces that stuck to my paddle here and there. Over the last two days, there had been a fairly good rainfall which had left a lot of water for us to explore in the watershed that feeds into portage inlet. We started by paddling Colquitz creek.

We were able to get much further up the river than I had been last time I came out this way. these little creeks are amazing fun to explore by kayak! all the little hidden bridges and meandering waterways take you to unexpected places. Colquitz River was not navigable around Tillicum Mall - too many branches sticking out across the creek. We turned around and headed back to the inlet passing all the sunken docks and lower rent waterfront housing along the shore.

Back in Portage inlet, the group paddled straight down the center to the far shore to the west. We met a group of adult swans and their juvenile swanlings (no longer chicks and showing the beginnings of adult plumage). Craigflower creek was our next stop, another place that's very difficult to pass at low water. I kept noticing fish thrashing around while we were paddling in the creek, but it wasn't until we got under the highway's drainage tunnel that we realized that the salmon were migrating up the creek for spawning.

The others held back a bit but I decided to paddle a little closer to the falls and watch the fish. They were interesting looking salmon and the CRD website confirms this is a coho habitat, "Coho salmon regularly spawn in Craigflower Creek, sometimes as far upstream as Prior Lake." In these shallows, the fish's dorsal fins and back would clear the waterline. a few swam around the boat and then back upriver - I dared not move while they were around.

The paddle ended with a beautifully scenic and technical navigation back out to the inlet. The wind had picked up a little from the south and the current was coming in fast as expected. With little to say, the group paddled quietly back to the Kayak club clubhouse to take out. We headed up to John's place for some of Paula's handmade cinnamon rolls and coffee :) What a great way to kick off a Sunday!

Trip Distance: 16km

YTD: 264km

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How's it Rate?

2009-10-15T00:42:00.000-07:00

Heh.. so when is a sailboat a ship? Earlier in the day, we were pondering this very question. This boat has masts so large they dwarf most of the buildings on the Victoria skyline. I was more than dazzled, so I ran home from work and put in at the VCKC beach. The light was already beautiful and only a light wind rustled the trees.

I thought I'd try to beat the current today even though there was a fairly swift flood under Tillicum bridge. With some nice whirlpools and whitewater, I was ready to try to push through it. fortunately It appears a lot worse than it is and though I lost a little speed, I was on the other side in no time. I paddled down the gorge and ran into a whole fleet of students flocking the upper harbour.

I pulled through all crowd of people and a few rowboats and swiftly got down to the blue bridge, the giant boats' masts already clearly visible. There was a whole lot of traffic arriving when I decided to cross. Mini ferries, sports fishing boats and sea planes all just doing their thing. I pulled up alongside the huge sailboat and the name struck me pretty quick: Perini Navi - maker of one of the most ridiculous luxury sailing vessels I've seen - the Maltese Falcon (yours for a measly $100 million euros BTW).

This boat was named the Tamsen, a 170ft ketch (with a 160ft mast). It's got quite the sailplan - I don't even want to know the square footage. The lucky owners were out on deck with a can of polish cleaning up all the brightwork. this is a pretty unusual sight in the Inner Harbour. After picking up the slack in my jaw, I paddled back up to VCKC hut for take out. A fantastic sunset awaited me as I put the kayak on the roof.

Trip Distance: 8km

YTD: 248km

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Cadboro Point

2009-10-14T20:36:00.000-07:00

Suddenly it's fall.. time to catch up my logs. I'll keep these guys brief as my memory of them is fleeting at best. :) On a balmy Day in July, I set out with Paula for a short paddle out to Cadboro point, one of our common spins. With no weather is sight for miles, we had a great day on glassy water and headed out to Baynes.

Baynes Channel was flowing a little bit, but nothign to fierce. We padled out to the point and really only saw a few birds.. I'll chalk this one up as exercise more than anything transcendent. Take away point: short paddle, beautiful day.

Trip Distance: 5km

YTD: 240km

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Ganges Harbour

2009-07-29T21:47:00.000-07:00

Back in mid June, I was able to get out for an entire weekend during my busy summer schedule. The weather had been fantastic for most of the week and it definitely didn't disappoint for the journey. I was paddling solo out to Portland Island to meet up with some friends from West Coast Paddler. The plan was to get to Portland Island and find out where some of the other people wanted to go once we got there.

I put in at Roberts Bay right after work and paddled briskly to Swartz Bay with a couple of daylight hours left to spare. It ws when I got to the point of Goudge Island when the winds began to pick up. The wind rose sharply from the lazy 5 knots in Sidney to gusty 15 knot winds in the bay. The water was a lot more disturbed too. I waited for the Tsawwassen to Victoria ferry to pass and worked hard to get to Pym Island. The wind and waves along with a nice stiff current were making the going pretty slow.

Things got a little hairy in between Pym and The south shore of Portland Island. whitecaps and fairly confused water was pushing me all over the place and the wave size was amplifying pretty heavily at Hood Island, just off Portland island's southeast tip. I made it into the protected area of princess bay and paddled up to the arbutus campground, where the wind remained well offshore. After that nice challenging paddle, I was met by Greg and Willi on the beach and set up camp under a beautiful sunset.

The next morning dawned bright and warm with a low tide. Willi and I wasted no time having breakfast and getting out on the water. Greg hung back and relaxed on Portland. We made up our mind to go out to Ganges Harbour on Saltspring Island to enjoy the Saturday market and then out to Prevost and back to camp. The water was flat calm all day and the clouds would come and go giving us some nice relief from the sun.

Saltspring's coast is fairly rugged offering very few places to take out and a lot more boat traffic than I was expecting. We crossed from Portland to near Ruckle Park and then headed north along the coast while chatting back and forth. Wildlife was plentiful out here - we saw a few huge bald eagles, some porpoises and seals. Fish fry were also everywhere in the water.

We got to Ganges Harbour around 1pm and had to pull our boats out at the boat launch and place them up on shore. After securing the boats, we headed into town to get some food and see what everyone was up to. The market was busy as usual and kids were having a great time running around and being kids. I found some sugary fudge and a hotdog - I didn't way Kayaking had to be healthy :) Willi and I found a great place to rest on the cool grass just behind the market.

We bid goodbye to Saltspring and retrieved our kayaks from the rocks. The tide had come up quite a bit, so I ended up wading to them I go mine back to the boat launch ramp to get in and turned around to find WIlli soaked with water - Darn! missed him falling in :) We finally got our act together and put in, heading up the northeast side and into the Goat and Sister Islands.

These tree lined little islands are just teeming with high end real estate. Beautiful houses with their own private docks and power just chiseled into the wilderness. As we left these little islands, the Long Harbour ferry passed by and we saw the west side of Prevost island.

Will and I split up at this point. I continued down the west side, and he went up and around the tip of the island. The paddle back to Portland Island was stunning. There are so many inlets and islands surrounding Prevost that make it a great paddling spot. The property lines on the island extends down to the tide line with most every beach prominently displaying a private property sign.

I paddled back along the same route to camp, where I met Greg. Just as I got the last layer of paddling gear packed away , Will paddled into shore and we both sat down to a bowl of soup that Greg had prepared after his hike around the island. What a great guy! The rest of the evening was spent relaxing on he beach and enjoying the warm weather.

I headed to bed pretty early and woke up the next morning to the sun being slowly blotted out by clouds with some distant squalls to the north. The weird weather had come back, so I left the tent up and escaped the rain storm when it worked its way overhead. I packed up the kayak, made breakfast and left just shortly after Willi and Greg had set off on their own adventure out to Fulford Harbour. THey still had a day left to enjoy. :)

The rain cleared out just minutes later leaving a nice hot day to enjoy. Today the current was opposing me fairly strongly and the wind was pushing me a bit off course. It was a bit of a treadmill, but the paddle home was really beautiful and mostly calm. Roberts bay was still at a nice high tide, so I packed up and left Sidney for another time.

Trip Distance: 62km

YTD: 235km

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I'd Rather Be Fishing

2009-06-07T00:34:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, the best adventures are the ones you've never even thought to try. One of my coworkers asked me if I'd like to go do some boat fishing up in Ucluelet. Uh, yeah! We scheduled a good time to get up there and try our luck with Wild Pacific Charters, a fishing charter run by Alan Boyd, my coworker's dad. All I'd ever fished for was trout and bass, so this was going to be interesting. After a fun drive into Ukee, we arrived at the boat to immediately go out and harvest some dungeness crab.

I mean.. for real, we just walked on the boat and headed out to the traps. The boat was a fine specimen of a its kind, complete with a nice roomy deck and a jovial, laid back skipper at the helm cussing out the stupid harbour speed limits. Marine fog had pulled over Ucluelet as it always does after about 30 minutes of sun on the ocean. The sleepy town was so quiet at this time of day, we watched on as the boat headed straight for the crab traps. A few pieces of gear and slicker overalls came out of the hold and Alan was hauling out some nice full traps from the bay.

That was just a taste of the adventure, we headed back to dock to cook up the haul. You should see the hollywood style parallel parking he has to do to get the boat to dock. Powerboats can really maneuver with the right dude on the wheel. We stepped off the boat and I went to set up camp as quickly as I could. The campsite was right next to the marina at a spendy $30/night for a tent spot :P. The campsite was pretty nice - a word that's fitting here - and a few deer were in the road on our way out. After that we headed back into town to enjoy some fresh dungeness crab.

It was fascinating seeing the method Alan uses to prepare crab. Last time we were treated to a huge crab dinner, these dudes cut the thing right in half, so you'd have to clean them pretty thoroughly. this way was quick and left perfect crab legs. mmmm.. It's always nice to get crab so fresh it doesn't even need butter. We shot the shit and watched a little TV before calling it a night - had to rest up for tomorrow's big trip.

Morning dawned and I swear I heard someone snoring terribly in one of the RVs, but it turns out it was just a whistle buoy out in the bay. I packed up the tent around 0530 and met up with my friend to get down to the boat. We dropped off some of our gear, met up with another excited angler and went to the only thing open in town, a small deli/convenience store right near the docks. We loaded up on some snacks and lunch and when we returned, the boat was ready to leave.

Today was still fairly overcast with a 5-10knot wind from the northwest The fog was pooling around the foothills and lazily hanging over the bay. Clear of the low wash areas, Alan poured on the throttle and we were quickly planing out west at about 25 knots on nice calm seas. It was hard to take photos, but looking back east, you could see the fog was being left back on shore. The first spot was about 10miles offshore - once we arrived, the rods were setup and we watched carefully as the action began. Birds in the air, seals poking their heads out of the water and a couple humpback whales humming around indicated this was probably a pretty good spot to find some fish.

The first nibbles resulted in some beautiful marked coho. It's pretty thrilling going from tiny freshwater fish up to nice big salmon on the end of your line. Our first bit of fishing was using a downrigger. We'd drop the line down to about 100ft and watch for nibbles. you don't need no stinking bobbers for these fish, they fight all the way back to the boat. Alan would totally help us out in landing the fish and bonking them. I have this weird thing with fish, they're both super delicious and actually kind of fun to harvest, especially when in the hands of someone experienced. Of course the biggest ones always get away, so it's a fair fight :)

I got drive the boat a little bit, immediately failing wind 101 when inside the enclosed cockpit. I actually looked for a Windex and realized I'm a total idiot. I got to try steering with a wheel and I was a pretty big fan none of that trying to convince your brain that the boat's not a car. I more or less just kept us head to wind to make the ride a bit smoother. The action died down a bit as we drifted away from the first underwater feature, we headed about 5 miles to the north and found a bunch more coho and some of their bigger chinook brethren.

Once the second wave stopped biting as quickly, my friend suddenly brought in a nice big spring salmon and we decided we had plenty of salmon, let's give halibut a try. There were a number of reports of some sizable halibut catches from the radio, so out came the deep water rods and we hung back for a moment as the smaller outboard churned away. We baited with the hooks with fish bits, but all it resulted in was these little dogfish eating the bait. A pretty big school of them floating through was going to make it hard to catch halibut, so we headed back toward shore to try jigging for rock fish / ling cod.

We caught a bunch of fish with an anatomy only a mother could love, but we were getting bites from lots of fish. It was probably just the wrong timing for rock fish, so with a hold full of spring and silver salmon, we watched as Alan filetted the catch and and bagged them for us. He even asked us what cut we like.. what a guy! Again, he has a fantastic technique for cleaning the fish, it was so fast and with such a sharp knife that if you blinked, you'd miss it.

On our way back in the skipper pulled in another nice big crab pot and we now had more seafood than we could ever imagine. Docking up, we transferred the bags of salmon to some ice chests and had another mind blowing crab supper. Alan handed us so many bags of perfectly prepared crab and we divided it all up and put it on ice before heading home. Alan Boyd at Wild Pacific Charters showed us a fantastic time out on the ocean, even us newbies could bring in enough fish to fill our entire freezer and enough crab to share with the entire family and still have 3lbs left over. What a great experience! So far I've made grilled chinook and teryaki coho, and just like trout fishing, the fish you catch always tastes so much better than the supermarket.

Go Fishing with Wild Pacific Charters

Wish You Were Here

2009-06-05T00:15:00.000-07:00

Feels like it's been near a week since I last kayaked :). This time I headed down to the ol' upper gorge just outside Victoria for a little after work meetup in the warm sunshine with my pals. The winds were low, so the heat was wonderful, rolling into the kayak club's parking lot, the wild grasses were shifting ever so slightly - a perfect foreground for golden hour and a photographic dream. Mmmm ... I love summer.

I set up on the beach and saw John and Lou walking their boats down to the shore. They both live right near the gorge now. Paula wasn't quite there yet, so I did a little hot lap under the bridge in a slight flood current. I couldn't get John of Louise under it.. hmm.. one day. After lap 1, Paula's bus arrived and she walked down to the beach looking all badass with her inflatable expedition kayak.

We gave her some time to get ready and headed back out for another go under the bridge. The sunset was near imminent, so all lenses were faced upstream toward the trees and colors ahead. It's one of those bits of eyecandy I don't think you get in many other sports. John got pics of ducks, Louise got pics of john taking pics of ducks and I figured out where Emily Carr got the inspiration for the clouds in Logger's Culls.

Suddenly we had a Paula and where there wee three there were now four. The group started to head north to Portage inlet and the bliss levels were spiking at near comatose levels. Distant forest fires have made the sky turn all kinds of previously unknown shades of red and purple. Combine this visual experience into a pill and sell it for $50 and I'll still be taking my kayak down to the Gorge instead of buying it.

The sunset started to blend into dusk and we were entering the mouth of the inlet under a large, near full moon. Lots of birds were out on the water eating eelgrass and leading their bird babies around. The Chaeto algae and sea grass is blooming like crazy at the moment and it covered with tiny shelled creatures and other algaes. Portage inlet is a bit lumpy and soupy with all the plant life and paddling along tends to snag either one type of plant or the other.

I planned to circle the inlet tonight, so I paddled around to the far bank under the barely conscious gaze of a couple of half-asleep herons. When I met back up with the group, we found another tiny adult heron workking on fishing in the last few hours of light. He had his head right down to the waterline watching closely for a late dinner.

The wind shifted a little and began to pick up speed. The weather pattern broke up over the last hour of paddling. One moment you'd have warm, moist air and the next you'd have normal,cold Victoria air. We worked our way down to the southwest side of the inlet as the moonlight took over from the day. The houses along the shoreline had small patio lights lit up, perfectly illuminating the coastline. Geese were about the only thing still rustling out in the night.

The trip back to the take out was more or less smooth, which is more than I can say for my bumbling around and locking my keys in the car. I even carry a spare so I won't lose it. I was feeling pretty glad that John lives so close to the gorge. I was able to get the tools to get into my car (I'll be using other methods of anti theft after this point). I gave Paula a ride back to her place and haded straight home to bed. Mission: successful.

Trip Distance: 11km

YTD: 173km

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When Life Gives You Lemmens...

2009-05-31T23:36:00.000-07:00

This weekend we made last minute plans to go up to Tofino for a little surfing and catching up with friends. As I was driving up, I started getting a small cough and by the time I had the tent set up at camp, I had a full-on cold. Wonderful. Surfing was more or less skunked out by small waves - there's almost no wind to speak of in this heatwave. But seriously, bitching aside, this weekend ruled. I spent Saturday laying around the beach and absorbing sunshine. Went back to camp and successfully made some pretty huge steaks on my really dodgy new hibachi. Sunday I paddled.

Despite being a bit on the sick side, I dragged my ass out of bed, dropped my friend off at Cox bay and then headed up to the launch right downtown. Beautiful bright sunny morning, light wind from the west and pure wilderness all around. Can't ask for much better really. The object was to explore Lemmens inlet, the famous mudflats in Clayoquot sound. The tide was heading out, so I guessed I'd probably be getting to the lagoon as it was emptying. The charts show no depth at all in most of the inlet.

I launched into off a fairly rocky beach after parking up in town and running back down in my kayak booties. The current was running a little here and there as I crossed over toward the reserve area to the north. Lots of water taxis were out tonight and creating some nice big wakes to jump in the kayak. The scenery out in the sound is beautiful, just trees clinging to every edge of all the rocks and large, muddy sand dunes that sit just slightly above the surface of the water. The water was a bit disturbed in the morning from the gusty wind that would come and go as it pleased.

As I got close to the small village, I started to realize how run down the place was. The buildings look stapled together, covered with plastic sheeting, tin siding and shingles. A small motorboat roared by me with a new delivery of planks for the dock and it was carefully surveyed by an older fellow while he barked orders at his dogs and teenagers. A large and conspicuous radio tower rest uneasily against huge stands of old growth cedar forest just behind the village dwellings. I circled around the edge of dock and found out where fishing and pleasure craft go to die.

The huge trees reaching down to the ocean dwarfed 20-30 foot defunct vessels littering the shore line, a place only reached at high tide, even my kayak couldn't get close to this boat graveyard. Just a bit further on from the village is a small float home resting on giant swaths of eel grass. Eagles were absolutely everywhere, some beaches had 6 or 7 eagles just standing in the open on the beach - probably mid meal or something. The water was very shallow in the areas close to shore, offering barely 6 inches of water for navigating.

I entered the inlet on the deeper side, and a number of dinghys and flat bottomed aluminum motorboats past me on their way up to the fish farm units in the interior of Meares island. Not long after the past, everything went dead silent and the wind died right off. It was so quiet, you could hear yourself breathing. I had a bit of a zen moment as I paddled around the Arakun islands. The sun was blazing down and I found myself in a maze of shallows around the islands. Eelgrass touched the top of the mountain reflections in the water and trees covered in seaweed and moss drooped down to the shoreline. Many areas of rock had been eroded into rocky water paths lined with cedar and pine - roots left exposed to the air.

The lagoon eventually became impassably shallow. I had to turn around and head back to the car if I was going to make it in time. Funny I forgot all about being sick or anything and just paddled gingerly back out the way I came. The wind was back and blowing quite stiffly across the channel between Meares and monas island to the south. Small whitecaps had formed, but it wasn't that wild. More and more treasures dotted the coastline of these inner island groups, too.

Monas island had another wonderful little shack of a house sticking off the rocks. Adorned inconsistent images like a large beware of dog sign and a giant hippy sun emblem, this house looked like a gazebo turned into a house. Like all other things in the area, it was being fixed up from the years of harsh weather. As I got to the tip of the island, I decided to cross over to the next islands before Tofino harbour.

The current on the crossing surprised me. The first part of the crossing was nothing and then as I got to the shallows, I had to ferry nearly perpendicular to my course and paddle as hard as I could to keep going across. This island was another maze of mud flats and dunes and I found myself backpaddling out of a dead end again and again. Any shrubs on the islands around here were shaved down by gale winds in short order, so it was interesting to see any new growth on the rocks trying to grow upward and how frenetically it grew.

I was finally on the last leg heading back to shore and all of the sudden I noticed a hell of a lot more kayakers in the area. The kayak store was open for business, with nearly 10 boats lined up on the shore with the excited tourists pacing the beach getting ready to follow the leader out into the sound. I pulled my boat up on the beach as a huge trailer full of sea kayaks pulled up with Washington plates and hobbyist boats. I took my boat out and got out of there just in time for them to move their trailer before getting on the water.

Trip Distance: 10km

YTD: 162km

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Sunday at Swiftsure!

2009-05-25T00:19:00.000-07:00

Today I participated in one of the last races in the 66th Annual Swiftsure. I got a call Saturday evening from John and he asked me if I'd like to participate in the race. You can guess the answer. I was to meet the group down on the Inner Harbour at 9ish for a 10AM sailing. I was a bit worried just beacuse I didn't have a full grasp of all the boat's controls, but it turned out to be just fine. If I goofed a task, I really had no problem handing it off to someone more skilled, but tried to do as much as I could with limited expertise. I didn't want to lose us the race just for being ham handed, so I was just being a bit cautious. I hope to just go out and gybe the boat like 20 or 30 times just to get the rhythm down - an actual race isn't really a place for that.

I arrived at the Inner Harbour at about quarter to 9 and met the group: John, Seth and Carl. The two other crew looked experienced, and thankfully they were. The boat was rigged up and good to go, so I dropped all my gear off, John filled the outboard fuel tank and we motored out of the Inner Harbour at just after 9.

We passed a number of returning ships in the morning and I got to hear some of the histories on them as they folded up their high tech sails. John had a vague idea of where the race was starting, but called in to find that the start point had been moved at the last minute. It may have had something to do with the motorcycle rally going on on Clover Point. The start mark was dropped just off Brotchie Ledge and the course was set by VHF radio. Winds were moderately light this morning, so the race was effectively shortened from 20 miles to about 14, just so it wasn't really painful.

We played around with the sail configurations, tested our speeds in the current and then headed to the committee ship to await the start time. The countdowns came and we managed to get over the start line to watch two boats behind us make contact with one another. We realized we were in the middle of a pretty noisy pack and had to work to find our line. The course we took, however, was not getting us close to the others. The pack leaders began to pull away and we had to hunt for a new strategy.

We gybed out of the building flood current and got closer to shore where the current would be weaker. The wind was fading off as the weather system began to change around. John checked the wind patterns and decided Esquimalt was getting enough wind to power the boat up again. We made up a lot of lost distance taking that line, but then found ourselves calmed again and fighting toward the mark, using every single tweak we could to get the most out of the wind. It was about this time I left the spinnaker station and helped put more weight on the boat's side to get a more efficient heel angle.

The light air and mounting current was making things pretty slow and we inched toward the turn mark with just over a knot of speed. Some of the faster boats had a good lead on the rest of the racers. By the time we rounded the mark, our closes competition was a ways ahead, but we suddenly had an abundance of air! We took down the spinnaker and up went the 150 jib. We pulled into a close haul and began picking up some speed, again the fleet was in our sights, but John was pretty sure it was a bit late.

Trimming up the sails and a fresh breeze got us up to nearly 7 knots. The next turn was in view and coming up quick. The more we turned up the wind to compensate for the current, the slower the boat went. By the time we got to the mark, we were withing inches of the side of it. We pulled around the mark and were suddenly tailed by another boat in the race. We were neck and neck right up to the midway point between the mark and Ogden Point. With a bigger spinnaker, they were passing us ever so slowly.

The current was still pushing us slightly off course, so we basically got back to the finish line as fast as we could. As we passed the finish line, we got a canon for a signal. Taken aback, we all looked at each other wondering why. John was not happy with the rival winning the race, but I just told them to blame it all on the rookie. :) I learned a whole lot on the boat's controls, but definitely need more practice. The other crew did a great job and knew the game well. It's humbling to be with experienced company, but I picked up a whole lot of technique just by watching. John asked me how it went - I think you know my reaction to that one :DDD. (Very good, thumbs up and all that).

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Playing in the Current

2009-05-10T23:55:00.000-07:00

May 10th, I headed out to the old stomping grounds of caddy bay for a paddle with some unexpected company. The tides were due to be insane all weekend, so why not have some fun in Baynes channel. Today, meaning may 9th, I met Paula on the beach and Bernie was out making sure he'd dialed in his boat's seat setup. (ed: sorry for the narrative shift) I left the beach at gyro in light wind and overcast conditions. I was pretty sure the currents would be transitioning about 1 or 2 knots if we left the beach near noon.

The tide change ended up coming about 30 minutes earlier than expected and it was a steep curve to either side, giving us no real slack period. We paddled up the east side of Cadboro Bay, mostly gabbing and catching up. It's been a while since I got paddling in with the group. The current had already set up eddy lines in Baynes, but I was pretty determined to cross the channel today.

Paula and I met up with Bernie in Sheep Cove, a small, rocky beach between the properties that border the bay. He was wearing his Chinese supercooler hat!!! We decided to round Flower Island and take some photos of the weasel holes in the shrubs on the east facing side. There was a small current in the channel between Flower and it was definitely flooding. We paddled down to the Cadboro Point light, and found ourselves scooting down current whenever we stopped paddling.

My friends are still pretty wary of current, so I wasn't going to force the issue too hard. We paddled back to Jemmy Jones Island and Paula went to check out the wildlife on Flower. Bernie and I saw a nice little eddyline doing it's thing about 100m off the island. I stared at it for a bit and thought it couldn't be much over 2 knots at its fiercest. I entered the eddyline and paddled hard all the way out to Chatham. Baynes was fairly serene in the middle of the channel, but the eddies over the shallow parts were pretty quick.

I got to Vantreight Island and paddled quickly to not lose ground on the safe zone of Chatham. I was being drawn toward a sailboat exiting the channel between Strongtide and Vantreight islets. Luckily he was caught in the grip of currents as well, so i didn't have to yield and burn more energy getting my foothold again. Seeing Bernie had stayed at Jemmy, I meandered south along the current shadow and took a few photos of the sailboat. That's when I saw a really sweet eddy open up.

I gauged the distance between me and the bigger boat and entered the eddy with a nice high-angle paddle stroke. I made a bearing of the Cadboro Point light and just zoomed down the eddy for a ways. The GPS said I made a peak speed of 14.3km/h and the GPS tool said i sustained 13km/h for about 500m! I think that's a first for my boat. It felt like warp speed. I realized I was probably going to overshoot Cadboro Point, so i began a ferry back to Jemmy Jones - up current. It was worth it though! What a great workout!

I met up with Bernie somewhere between Jemmy and the point. He said something to the effect of, "Whew, I thought I was going to meed you at Telegraph Bay" Implying that I was going to slide down the current all the way out of Baynes. The current simply wasn't that strong, though I do love appearing insane. We paddled hard back up to Flower island - what a treadmill!

Safe and sound back in the shadow of Caddy Bay, we paddled back to the beach and admired the lasers out for practice. We saw a pink dot on the beach and it grew into a Paula. She had entertained herself out by Flower Island and had an encounter with and angry animal that makes an orrt! orrt! noise. I could hear that damned sea lion from Chatham! The weather just wasn't breaking up, so we got the boats all squared away and got a much needed coffee.

Trip Distance: 8km

YTD: 152km

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Riding on a Thunderbird's Back

2009-05-10T00:39:00.000-07:00

Today's mission was really a last minute choice between paddlefest and going out sailing. I had it in mind to paddle from maple bay to ladysmith, but the wind model was showing 15 knot headwinds just beyond the north tip of Saltspring Island. I called it yesterday and the paddlefest plans were scrapped. Instead it's sail today and some local kayaking on Sunday. I went down to the Royal Victoria Yacht Club to meet up with John, the skipper, and a couple of others who came by to join in on the fun.

I got introduced to the boat last week at a conference where I met up with John in the first place. It's a Thunderbird 26 in fiberglass by the name of Cool Breeze and she's a heck of a boat! She's rigged for racing control, with nearly every line led back to the cockpit and the stanchions removed to stop the foresail from getting bound up. One thing I immediately noticed is that the boat has a floating vinyl boatbath under it to keep all the sea goo off of the hull. Must be nice not having to bother with bottom painting.

John had already rigged up a lot of the boat before we got there, so basically I sat back and watched as we left the marina. The wind was a fairly light northeasterly in Cadboro bay and we were able to put up the sails almost immediately. I basically held us head to wind as John ran into the cabin to set the main and jib halyards. The mast on this boat is keel stepped with a nylon compression block inside the cabin at just about waterline. The main sheet is run to a pulley block in the center of the cockpit instead of a traveler and the transom is covered by an enclosure for the outboard.

We got out of Cadboro bay with almost no effort, the boat is very well behaved and sails gently even by the lee. The Turkey head race was on this morning and we could see the contestants coming around the Cadboro Point light. They were facing a 2 knot flood in Baynes by this point, but the finish line wasn't far off. A small power boat positioned just off cattle point was watching the race times. Our skipper decided to pay a visit to the finish line boat, Lobo, and I began to realize how connected the sailing community is around here. Everyone seems to know one another and the place is full of great stories. The finish line boat gave us a little checkered flag whistle just for kicks.

The wind piped up a little and we took a nice close haul out into Baynes. The boat got a lot happier as we began hardening the jib and main. looking to either side, the water was fairly calm, but the boat was still getting some great power out of 4 or 5 knots of wind. She likes to sail with about 12-15 degrees of heel, but we got the stories of 35 degrees+ which is something I'd love to try!

lo and behold, off our bow was a Cal 20 trying to make it through Baynes with almost no wind. It was Red Current with an older couple sitting in the cockpit. We passed her quickly and kept on a course out to the west point of Chatham/Vantreight Island. Baynes was pulling us north, so we crossed to Jemmy Jones and headed back into the bay. Off our beam was a small keelboat doing tacking techiques (to gain speed?) that looked like a bunch of mini capsizes. It was neat to watch and I have nothing but respect for people who can handle and maneuver those little boats with skill.

We got down to the beach end of Cadboro bay and went out for another hot lap of the bay. The wind had died a bit and veered east, so the second outing was for housewatching. I had no idea how many of these houses were owned by locals! Uplands is one of those places that I'd rather not look at for long, though. All the homes, with their 60' sailboat outside, makes me wonder if I'm in the right industry ;).

The current had also died a little in Baynes, so it came time to wrap up the day. We briefly met up with the race winner from earlier and her team were all smiles. I'm guessing they won it fair and square despite some much faster boats in the competition. The wind had veered even more toward the south and dealt out a few last puffs from the east. Once we got back to the marina, John quickly dropped all the sails and the day concluded with a little slice of heaven, sitting in the summer weather out on the RVYC grounds with a bit of food and drink. What a fun group, too! The 5 of us sat gabbing for a couple of hours about pretty much every topic under the sun.

I had a great time out there and thanks again to John for helping to develop my sailing addiction further! All that positivity in the club makes me wonder if it's not a bad idea to join while I'm still in the lower age bracket.

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West Coast Paddler Camp Out 2009!

2009-05-01T21:58:00.000-07:00

This year's WCP outing was OFF the HOOK. This weekend went by so fast I couldn't believe it. I left work a tad early to try and catch the last of the beneficial currents from Sidney to Pender. I got up to Sidney and my anticipation of a flat calm bathtub was simply not happening. the wind meter was registering 17 knot winds and the sea looked a bit too white for my liking. I met up with Mike Jackson at Amherst beach and let him know that I intended to take the ferry. He was totally set to paddle and met me at the island a little later.

As I got to sidney I was kicking myself in the butt sooooo hard. There was nary a wave anywhere in the protection of the gulf islands, but I was committed to take the ferry with the ticket on my dash indicating a 2 hour wait.. and I was still in my wetsuit :(. A pretty boring, but pretty, ferry ride later and I was putting in on North Pender, a 2km paddle to the campsite.

It was late as I rolled into camp and just off my bow was Mike Jackson's boat. He beat me to Pender! He told me that as soon as he passed dock island (only a few km off of Sidney), everything went calm and the paddling up to Pender was just fine. Ohhh well.. there's always next year. I set up camp in the dark and headed down to the beach to gab about everything with some of the folks I never get to see outside of fun kayak camping trips!

Next morning, I was collecting my thoughts after waking up late and people were already loading up their boats for the afternoon. I got changed, ate a bagel and jumped in the boat. The morning was just perfect for paddling, lightly overcast with beams of light on the hillsides. We were going to circumnavigate the south Island. I laughed to myself as I paddled thinking of how arduous his journey was last year in the driving sleet.

We arrived at the fixed bridge that connect the artificially distinct north and south islands that make up Pender. The low tide under the bridge exposed a huge abundance of sea stars, tube worms, river otters, jumping fish and all kinds of other sea life. Further along you could see clams, geoducks and oysters spitting big streams of water into the fresh morning air.

There were seven of us in a nice tight pack with a good pace. No one was getting left in the dust as we paddled around the east side of shore. The clouds were starting to break up a bit and sunlight was hitting some of the really ugly housing developments on the cliffs of east err south pender. The houses seriously look like commercial buildings.

As we were paddling along we had these strange birds in our sights. They were too busy eating tiny fish to even car about us. Hundreds of them wound their way along the coast and out to Saturna Island. They're called Bonaparte's Gulls and they really look like miniature seagulls except for a black head and a sharp pointed black beak. They also have an unusual squawking noise. It was pretty cool being in the middle of the feeding frenzy.

Out with Friends

2009-04-22T23:50:00.000-07:00

This will be a brief entry because I kind of goofed the timing of it. I sort of lost all connection with a computer on my trip to Coachella. Didn't get any kayaking done stateside, but this weekend is the WCP camp out on Pender! I'm so stoked and the weather is too. A couple of weeks back I took some friends oout kayaking in the Gorge. As always it's the perfect place to paddle.

I took the group up the gorge toward the bridge, and as usual it was running a bit fast for kayaking. So we turned around and just enjoyed the t-shirt weather and lazy ebb current. It was a sublime trip back out to the Inner Harbour with the evening sun softening all the shadows and a light wind keeping a perfect shimmer off the water. My friends and I managed to paddle about 8km, which isn't too bad a pace for their short boats. I had a great time and we celebrated with some Red Robin grease afterwards.

Trip Distance: 8km

YTD: 114km

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The Long Downhaul

2009-04-04T10:46:00.000-07:00

So last Sunday was interesting, we had our first little boat frustration and that was losing the Halyard up the mast. More on that later. Aaron and I were fortunate to get some nice sunny weather for our last day with Red Current for the season. I'm probably going to make a sailboat my next big purchase, but I've been hunting since October only to find myself in the Seinfeld dilemma over and over. What's the deal with crappy used boats. Today was a great example of teamwork and a satisfying day of catching the wind.

We rigged up Red Current and took her out of dock with ease. The wind was blowing quite nicely, so we put up the sails right next to the breakwater. The problem was, the mainsail's halyard had been put away improperly. Whoever had the boat before us had somehow got the main halyard on the other side of the shroud. I unclipped the shackle and tried to see if it was just attached on the wrong side, but no, it was clearly routed wrong.

That's when I had the _stupid_ idea to pull the halyard up the mast to see if I could untangle it, but suddenly it was far out of reach to bring it back down. Knowing there was very little we could do about this on the water, We turned around and headed back to dock to get the problem sorted out. Once at dock, we set to making a contraption to grab the halyard and pull it down. Using the jib halyard for a bit of friction, we were able to finally pull the halyard back down the mast and then get it on the right side of the shroud using a messenger line. What a pain in the ass. The boat I end up buying is going to have a downhaul attached to the halyards - I can't even imagine if that happened on a trip.

After the halyard was fixed, we zipped right back out to the breakwater and set sail immediately. We tried to stay in what was left of the windy morning and headed down to Harling point to take advantage of an afternoon flood. However, all our monkeying with the running rigging put us about an hour behind and the flood had already arrived. We tried to get through enterprise all by sail, but the wind just wasn't in our favor, so we motored to Harling point from Mcneil Bay and found ourselves drifting backwards. If it was going to be like that, we headed back with the current through enterprise.

Some fairly good sized standing waves had set up in the eastern entrance of Enterprise Channel, so we had a fun little surf to the other side. A couple of motorboats transited the channel making for even bigger waves. It was the fist time I've seen our little boat do a full on plow. We left the channel and just cruised around the south of the chain islands on a reach trying to get everything we could from the wind.

I saw a couple of whales off of our bow and we got to watch orcas just off the east point of Discovery Island for a few minutes until they swam out of sight. The current was with us down plumper passage and we actually made good way through the channel. We were able to ride the wind to fiddle reef and then the current ovewhelmed the wind speed. We got the motor running and headed into oak bay using the Harris island approach we tried the last time.

I took us back into dock nice and clean like and we put red current away for the last time this season. I'm looking at a few boats, but I'll have to find some way to get over my massive tire kicking schtick and just settle on one. It's been tough finding just the right boat, but soon I should be sailing my own boat around the area we've been sailing the last little while. A massive thanks to Oak Bay Sailing School for facilitating getting out on the water the last few months.

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Reflection

2009-04-01T20:39:00.000-07:00

Surprise! Rainy season is upon us up in Victoria, BC. I was getting so antsy on Saturday that I basically had to get out of my house whatever the weather was. It wasn't a great day to paddle anywhere but along the shore thanks to generous current. I left at about 3:00 and saw almost no wind anywhere, but the rain was steady and the day was just grey. I got down to Cadboro Bay - an endearing spot for me at the moment, and got a brief visit from Paula while unloading my boat. She was deep in writings and deadlines, so she declined to go out on the water.

Just as I launched, I saw a guy in a drysuit and a standup paddle board heading for shore. Wonder how far he got out there. It was very quiet on the water - saw some animals I haven't seen for a while - looked like little otters out on flower island. They popped their heads out of the water and clammered over all the rocks. I was dressed for rain and tried to keep the camera dry to catch some shots of how different the water looks when the rain comes down. Mix the rain hitting the boat and ocean and mix it with a little wood fireplace smell from the shore and It's really quite peaceful and relaxing. A couple in one of the giant glass houses along the shore near cadboro point shot me a thumbs up as I paddled by.

I found a neat little set of rocks that I hadn't explored at such low tides. The rocks look like the glacial errata - huge rocks just dropped on shore by the glacial activity around the island. Right between the reef and the island is a sweet little river like channel that you can surf down as the current picks up. I had a few goes at the little race and braced out of it on the other side. Fun!

The current was getting a little too strong near Baynes and I had to paddle quickly back towards Jemmy Jones to stay off the treadmill. We were at one of those cycles where the stronger floods are coming through and it was just the right conditions to lure me out into the speedier stream. Even paddling hard I was only making about 3km/h forward. I got around Jemmy jones and the rain picked up a little more fierce - it was hitting the boat and making a satisfying clicking noise. I was a bit more preoccupied with finding willows and it's bathroom though :)

I got on willows and ran for it. When I got back outside, the rain squall was gone and that's when my camera got wet. So the rest of the photos all have a fun drop of water in them. I thought I'd go putter around the marina now I'm back in boat looking mode. The marina was dead calm at 5:30 - not a soul to be seen. I noticed a few boats in the mooring field had been refloated or were in the process of being fixed after that fun winter storm that blew through. It was just as a I left the marina that the sun decided to come out.

I paddled under a nicely lit sky back along cattle point and into the bay. There were otters and heron everywhere on this side of the bay. I guess these critters like the end of the day. It was a great little paddle and my boat had nearly dried by the time I got to the beach. I threw the boat on the Van and headed to Louise's place to watch Eastern Horizons

Trip Distance: 12km

YTD: 106km

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The Road to the Sea

2009-03-27T22:00:00.000-07:00

It's always neat to see hobbies cross over, and today Paula introduced me to a couple of new boats that may bring me one step closer to finding a kayak that fits on the scooter. For those whe don't know me, I own a couple of motorscooters, a 1975 Lambretta LI150 and a Vespa GT200. I've sort of been thinking how neat it would be if I could just get all my paddling gear and kayak on the bike. Today I found a kayak that fits perfectly on the GT's floorboards, but doesn't really fit me.

Paula's conducting a fun focus group to throw what we've got at two new Advanced Elements inflatable kayak models. She absolutely loves her Advanced Elements Firefly - it's allowed her to get on the water virtually car free and she finds that tremendously liberating. She even took it to Toronto during a book conference last summer - read about it here. She's pretty passionate about these boats and wanted me to try one out for myself for an article she's writing. Both boats were 13' models and they're fantastically innovative and tough. The Expedition model fit on my shoulder with little effort and weighs considerably less than my long boat. The build quality is fairly good despite a few oversights in water tightness seat comfort, but hey.. I'm a big guy so I'll cut them some slack, it's a boat designed for someone else.

These little boats are all filled with air and take a bit of pumping to get full. Paula noted that the expedition model I took out was a little under inflated once she saw me in it - and pointed - and laughed, but the straight edge sit on top model was taught. If you're a heavy dude, fill it all the way - with Paula sitting in the under inflated boat, it was perfectly flat in the water and she also said it felt much more able to cut the waves than the SOT. The cockpit is fairly roomy and the sponson/gunwales stretch out to infinity on either side. These things are very wide and stable and Paula tells me they're loved by the fishing crowd for sneaking up on their favorite catch.

Speaking of catch, and there's one invariably, at 255 lbs 6'4" and size 14s, this is yet another boat that is simply not going to be a comfortable boat for me beyond a few km. Comfort's pretty much the oversight of both boats I tried - The deck leaks quite a bit of water through a foredeck zipper on the Expedition model, which quickly dropped right onto my crotch. The straightedge's hull slaps roughly on even small waves and I couldn't find a way to get my big self into a comfortable seating position no matter how I squirmed around. But hey, we got out on the water and had a beautiful paddle to flower island. The novelty of the boats fitting on my scoot is awesome, but the boat is just not the one for this kayaker. I'd say these kayaks are probably more fun on flat water and with a considerably smaller person sitting in them - definitely even better if that person doesn't have a car, space or wants a neat scooter accessory. Between my timbuk2 bag the under seat storage, I was able to pack all my kayaking gear to and from the beach - now I just have to continue the quest for a boat that will fit the scoot and my butt.

Trip Distance: 4km

YTD: 94km

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Snow Bird

2009-03-25T00:16:00.000-07:00

Today was one of the longer days I've been out sailing so far. Poor wind conditions made it more motoring than anything else, though. So most of the interesting parts of the day surrounded maneuvering and sailing under power. Today we left poor Red Current at the dock due to some unfortunate starting trouble, her outboard just wouldn't come to life. After Aaron and I scraped up our knuckles enough on the pull-start, we put her back to bed and hopped onto Snow Bird for the first time.

Snow Bird is another Cal 20 that's part of the club sail program at Oak Bay marina. She's rigged a little differently and has a better (longer reach) motor for a sailboat. The only small issue is she has a tear in her mainsail near the batten housing. We wouldn't really get to see if this was a performance loss of not today, because the winds were variable and very light.

One thing that's always scared us off about Snow Bird is that she's in a strange mooring situation. in order to get her off the dock, you have to spin the bow 90 degrees and the quickly buzz the motor to get enough speed for steerage. It's a bit hair raising, but this was my first successful launch in a while. It was the moment we got out of the marina, Aaron realized he'd left his backpack with all his belongings on the dock. I'd passed the point of no return for docking in the first set of slips, so I got us into a free slip a few fingers down. Docking this boat is quite nice and Snow Bird feels much tighter for maneuvering.

Aaron ran and grabbed his stuff and hurried back. We cast off and thanks to the little bit of extra room, we were able to leave the slip with no problems or Rich-cowardice. Once free of the marina, we looked for wind.... none found... anywhere. The water was still a bit swelly from a system that had moved though, but there just wasn't wind for the catching. The motor stayed down and running while we put up the sails just in case. We navigated easily out to Trial Island and then watched other sailors, hoping someone had an idea of where to go. There was wind out by Brotchie Ledge and out in Baynes channel, but nowhere else close by.

The current made our decision an easy one. With a reduced horsepower motor, no wind and a fairly strong ebb coming, it would be better to circumnavigate Chatham/Discovery looking for wind - The destination is always upwind, right? We watched a few other boats beating up a light easterly wind, but their sails luffed and the short burst of wind was gone. The closer we got to Discovery, the bigger a Chinese freighter was getting on the horizon. We had changed course a little to avoid some fishing vessels and as we saw the giant container vessel fly past us, it actually motored right through the path of the fishermen's boats. Maybe they're just used to it by now?

Approaching the lighthouse on Discovery Island, we felt a little breeze and throttled back the motor to attempt to sail a little, but it really was no use, the light puffs of wind meeting the small swell echoing through the water was just throwing the boom to and fro and getting us nowhere. After a few minutes trying to get the boat to sail, we throttled back up and waved to the other boats in the vicinity. One boat was flying a spinnaker in the opposite direction and was getting a tiny bit out of the way, but the others we passed were slowly drifting backward.

When we got to Baynes, we found sweet, wonderful wind and killed the motor immediately. The current was faithful to the prediction and helped us speed down Baynes. The few moments without the motor purring along were really nice, but all good things come to an end. We were feeling a bit creative, so we tested our mettle at buoyage and tried a different return route to the marina. We were able to find a quicker way back to the marina which is good news for those days when the north route is calling. We docked the boat like a couple of old salts, a perfect maneuver took us back into the tricky docking situation and stunned the onlookers who didn't think we'd fit. Despite the little wind issue, today was a great day to visit the ocean and to realize how little I want a motorboat.

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Wooooooo Shopping!

2009-03-19T18:48:00.000-07:00

It's coming, folks.. Ocean river's gear up sale! This weekend: March 21 & 22

Location: Ocean River Sports & Robbins parking lot

Time: The rope drops at 10:00 am both days

"Ocean River's infamous (ed: uhhh - wrong word .. see me after class) sale is here once again! This is the one to get you all geared-up for the upcoming season of warm weather paddling and outdoor adventures! As always we will will tons of fantastic deals gear & clothing brought in specially for the sale, and as always you won't know what's there is until the day of! More exclamation points!!!"

Ocean River Sale Here

A Good Day to Sail

2009-03-18T23:04:00.000-07:00

Right after my last kayaking trip I threw all my gear in the van, strapped the boat to the roof and tore out of gyro park. Today was definitely sailing weather and I was totally psyched to get out into oak bay with the conditions. I had to run home to grab my GPS and change. I got back down to Oak Bay moments later and Aaron couldn't find the key for the boat, so we got back in the car and headed out to find the key. Half way out, Aaron found the key in his backpack so we turned around and headed back to the marina again.

When we got back down to the water, there was a long and low snow cloud on the eastern horizon. The wind had increased to about 15 knots from the northeast. We got the boat all set up and I goofed the exit again - I'm just being too timid and not giving enough throttle for steerage, so the boat kidn of lazily turn swhen it feels like it. The area to pull out in this part of the marina is just tiny, so I'll have to keep working on the undocking.

Once we got out past the breakwater, we got the sails up and pleasantly powered up. Today was some of our best sailing yet. The nice wind made navigation fairly explanatory and we were able to keep Red Current on a nice reach all the way out to great chain island. The boat powered up even more once we started our way down Plumper Passage. The tide was just right for getting around the reefy parts of the chain islands and we were saying hello to the bottom of Chatham Island in no time. We're getting a whole lot better at knowing when to tack and where it's going to take us.

The middle of Baynes channel had some strange local flood currents going on and the wind had veered down to full easterlies. When the current met the wind we faced some pretty large swell and chop but only for a few minutes. The giant black cloud over San Juan island lazily moved off to the south reveling a snow covered southern headland. With the sudden veer changing our trim, the lost a bit of power heading straight up into the freight train (the standing waves at the mouth of Baynes), so Cadboro point was where we turned around to take advantage of a broad reach home.

The current on the way back was close to slack so we were able to navigate right through Baynes and Mayor channel. We got to see a bunch of sea birds out on the chains and the wind calmed down to about 5 knots to deliver us quietly back to the marina slip.

A quick paddle

2009-03-17T23:16:00.000-07:00

On Sunday Mar 8, I got a quick little burn out to 10 mile point after emptying my kayak of friggin' ice again. The warm weather still isn't quite here yet. I headed out to Cadboro Bay expecting to meet some friends and no one was there but the wind. :)

I got to the beach at Cadboro bay and emptied out all the water from my boat after a strange cold snap brought lots of rain and ice. I got the boat all geared up, put it in the water, put my foot in it and ended up on the other side of it, sitting in the ocean. so much for keeping dry.

The morning was pretty damned nice except for a howling wind gusting 15 knots out by Cadboro and Ten Mile point. Sailboats were totally loving the conditions, though. I followed a group of them out and they disappeared around ten mile point into some stern north easterly winds. Once I got to Ten Mile point, I was facing 2-3 foot seas and a fairly strong current, so I turned around and visited the eagles on Jemmy Jones.

The wind was increasing as I crossed the mouth of Cadboro bay, and I was coming up to my deadline for being totally off the water by 11:30 (about those priorities in my next post). I got up close to cattle point and meandered back down the south side of the bay along the rock gardens and then past the RVYC marina. I land safe and sound on the beach, looked at my watch and realized I was running a bit late. Threw the boat on the car and tore home to change for sailing.

Trip Distance: 8km

YTD: 90km

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Catching Up

2009-03-09T22:45:00.000-07:00

So I missed another blog entry :) I'm a busy guy lately. A couple of weeks ago, I met Paula for a nice little paddle around Oak Bay. Paula was still working on beating a bug that she had for pretty much the last month. I Hadn't paddled in a couple weeks, so I was getting a little antsy to get back out in my boat. The water was alright with a pretty good Northeast wind howling down bay. We put in at Cadboro bay and had a headed toward Flower island.

The currents were calm and the sun was out and the wind wasn't affecting the shore. the paddle was pretty good, so we headed toward the Cadboro Point to have a look at the what the wind was doing to the east shore. Out at 10 mile point the water was full of whitecaps and crashing on the rocks. We decided not to try going any further around the point.

Paula and I headed back to Jemmy Jones island and the wind had started to chop up the water a bit. Paula got a little off kilter and decided to call it a day, so we parted ways and I headed off to Oak Bay. The Water was getting a bit choppier still and the wind kept creeping East as the morning progressed.

I passed Mike Jackson and friends on the way out to the marina. I had a hard time recognizing him at first.. turns out I _do_ need glasses - $4 Hawaiian shades ain't gonna cut it, sadly. :) I paddled into oak bay marina to oogle boats and turned around to find oak bay had become rather full of whitecaps. :P The wind had increased a bit, so it was time for me to head in.

I slogged against the wind on the way back home and got a pretty good workout for the distance. Where there's wind, all the sailboats are out with full sails! I took some photos of the boats going by and then made a B-line for gyro park. Got off the water all cold and called up Paula for a coffee. We had a gander at a nice little kayaking atlas, by the one and only John Kimantas, and planned some of our summer fun.

Trip Distance: 11km

YTD: 82km

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Fresh Breeze

2009-02-21T18:57:00.000-08:00

Just a quick catch up from last week. I got so carried away with the marina issue, that I forgot to write up my sailing fun last Saturday (Feb 14). We got some actual sailing weather and got farther and moved faster than most of our days so far, eeking about 7 knots out of the Cal20. The window was only open for a few hours in the afternoon, so we made the call and got down to the marina.

The wind was blowing down from the northeast at about 10 knots on shore. Needless to say, I like sailing more on days like this, especially in the winter when it's colder. The currents were fairly slow, but we determined that the best timing was about 2:30PM. We set up the boat and I totally fucked up the whole getting off of the dock maneuver. It's been quite a while. I stopped us dead and let Aaron take over the helm. Looks like I have some skills to brush up on.

Once we got out of the marina and actually got the sails up, We were moving at a good clip down to Trial Island. We got all the way down to the cardinal buoy in Enterprise Channel before the current really started to oppose us. The flood had come a bit earlier than predicted, and it was just enough to kill any forward progress. We motored through the channel to the other side of the rips, and we were sailing again. A couple of tacks got us right out to the tip of clover point.

The sailing got a lot faster when we switched tacks and headed to the south tip of Trial Island. On a beam reach in a couple of the gusts, we were making 7 knots with a pretty good heel. We had to sit on the opposite side of the mainsail in order to get less weather helm. The only issue with our plan was trying to get back to Oak bay. Oak bay was directly upwind which meant we had to beat quite a few times to get closer on such quick tacks.

We did all the beating we could stand and just went over to motor before it got too dark outside. It was a pretty cold ride back into harbour and we got docked without sparing even a second. The whole sail was a great improvement over our last few attempts. I'm almost thinking we're getting used to sailing this little boat.

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It's official: Change still hated

2009-02-17T21:41:00.000-08:00

So tonight I headed down to the City hall and listened to the discussion about the marina project in esquimalt. After what I heard tonight, I am left with rather mixed feelings about this project: on one hand, I am delighted that we're entertaining new marina development. On the other, this project has no value for me and seems to hurt locals in the name of tourism. I'm certain that this development has already been fully green-lighted and it's like on a fast track for marketing material to hand out at the Olympics.

As a brief overview, the meeting, packed to the ceiling with people, began with Denise Savoie making some fairly strong political statements about her biases and then Slick, one of the reps for the project and also the worst public speaker in the universe, proceeded to a delightful PR laden, brainwashing Powerpoint presentation. Conspicuously missing were the developer himself and a representative from Transport Canada. Like most unexciting and banal powerpoints, it went on and on and on and eventually the rep was cut off (thank god). The rest of the night was people putting their words into a microphone with no meaningful public response, broken only by a girl who budged in line and yelled a number of undecipherable phrases about the marina not being sustainable and then stormed out the room on a wave of boos. Overall..I feel government work was done.

So what's my beef with the marina as presented? I mean I do like fun, right? My problem is that it's not for me. Plain and simple. It's for them, it's change, and I don't like it :D . I could go one for hours how I think it's a poor design with terrible access, insufficient depths, and close proximity to aircraft engines that needs an entire basin dredged over a 2 year period, basically needs the entire traffic scheme changed to accommodate it, may or may not be ecologically sound, no experts seem to agree on the parameters, no government oversight of the waterway, fucks paddlers sideways etc etc etc yada yada yada. but when it comes down to it, it offers no value to me and, in-fact, subtracts value.

And this is the problem with change. This project has been on the books since the late 1980s. It's been looming, it's been dormant, but now here it is. This fine project is going to adorn the west bay and north shore and there isn't a damned thing we can do about it. This project is about servicing a small niche of boat owners that are ridiculously wealthy, on top of the world and ready to bring our economy some love. As long as you keep the blinders on and keep watching Slick's little powerpoint, I mean what could be better. I'd love to have a swinging hot tub party on my private mega yacht. But I won't, and neither will I'm guessing...uh.. most of the human population.

As Victoria famously does, it takes the needs of tourists and makes it paramount to the functioning of the world. In this model, you take a beautiful walking space, a rocky park, a scenic viewpoint and you replace it with development that bleeds out rich patrons ( a little after the Olympics :P ). In this case we're being double screwed, because the provincial government is in on it. Normally, a developer has a couple of lots of land on shore - cool! make a nice little pub with a huge patio. But in this situation, Victoria has agreed that this makes them money (potentially), so let's rework the entire harbour access scheme and give them some water while we're at it!

So here's how change is going to affect me. I no longer have access to the rocky shores of the north shore, instead I'll get a beautiful view of concrete, screws hinges, sewer and gas lines and a pool of bottom paint infused water to paddle through (until there's an incident with a 30 million dollar boat and a kayak). If I don't want to paddle through the marina - I can go around it! Well.. no.. the airplanes taxi out through there - but they might not, but they might. Tell me how this benefits me in any possible way?

I'd be a lot more fond of a project like this if it stored normal people boats, wasn't a giant nuisance to navigate for those of the paddling persuasion and somehow benefited the local population by not slapping concrete all over the shores. Change is coming like it or not. Like one of the public said today - all marinas are a work in progress. If they can't make a mega yacht marina work, then maybe my little dream will come true - a smaller marina and happy Kayakers.

Okay.. I'm interested.

2009-02-15T14:31:00.000-08:00

What do they mean by MEGA YACHT MARINA?

My MP sent me a letter the other day about some interesting news, and a day later it was in the Monday magazine and now the VCKC is engaged. There's a developer lurking out there who's trying to quietly pass a massive harbour development over in Esquampton. What the exact parameters of this project are, I'm really not sure, so I think I'm gonna go sit in at the public meeting at city hall on Tuesday night. This should be cross posted to Kayakyak as well. I think that Najad 570 I've been looking at will finally have a place to moor.

Here's the public notice:

Denise Savoie MP & the

Victoria West Community Association

invite you to attend a

PUBLIC MEETING

to review and comment on a

MEGA-YACHT MARINA

proposed for Victoria Harbour

Tuesday, February 17th, 2009 7:00 p.m.

Victoria City Hall

information (250) 382-3378

Sailing Oak Bay

2009-02-08T23:37:00.000-08:00

After about a 2 month hiatus, due mostly just to crap weather, my friends and I climbed aboard the little Cal 20 again and headed out to find some wind. We left the harbour and headed south thanks to some beneficial currents. We were in the midst of a little sailing race, and we could see that Caddy bay was alive with all manner of sailing vessels. The wind was with us until about Trial island, where the wind dropped off and the water became glassy. We motored to clover point until the wind freshened up a little bit and set sail around Trial island's south tip. A few of the racers managed to get around Trial, but one was completely caught out when the door closed on any headway. We had to motor all the way back to the marina as the ocean went still. A fun little trip and we're finally starting to get a hang of light wind handling.

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What's Good for the Goose...

2009-02-07T21:32:00.000-08:00

I returned to good ol Cadboro bay today for a nice paddle in the lazy currents and good tide height. The plan was to circumnavigate Chatham and Discovery the long way around. The water was very calm today with only little wisps of air gracing its surface. The weather was more or less... typical. Not raining, not sunning... just gloomy and cold. Hey, it's still winter. It took about 15 minuted for my van to de-ice and get warmed up. When I took the boat off the rack, it was covered in ice too. Joy. I got the boat rigged up and got myself in, wading in the crystal clear water.

I was following a small group of kayakers out of he Bay, the crossed at the mouth of the bay and headed toward Cattle Point. I was grinning as I saw Baynes Channel from Flower Island, it was just flat, grey and unadorned with any sign of tidal rips. I scooted right to the north tip of Strongtide Islet and along the coastline of Chatham, where I took this cheeky video. The video is showing the contrast between my goofy bathtub and the last blog that talked about the rip at Ten mile point, which I highly recommend reading if you haven't already. The water was little wavier on this side, but not much was going to get the ocean moving today.

I ducked into a little inlet that led to a fantastic little side trip right into the heart of Chatham Island. I'm glad I was gifted with a nice high tide today as it let me access this beautiful little lagoon with a small islet in the southern extreme of the waterway. There were many varieties of birds here, small harlequin ducks, eagles, herons, oystercatchers, gulls of all kinds and most importantly, geese. As I paddled over gravel and shells with only a hint of blue indicating there was water between me and the sea floor, I was getting honked at. The geese had seen my clever plan to enter their water with my kayak and were.. um.. cheering me on.

I approached the source of all the commotion, and a few groups of geese were resting on a jaw droppingly beautiful little island full of arbutus trees, bright green lichens and a red tinged plant that grew right into the rocks. I'm not sure how any of the plants get any kinds of nutrients, as they're growing right out of a rock. It's one of those places where I just took a moment to really take it in. The geese were happy I'd left and had fallen silent. It was then I heard the faint noise of a rooster crowing somewhere far off. That's how quiet this place is.

Reluctantly, I left this little lagoon and saw another neat little thing that I love about paddling at Chatham Island. The trees here have been sculpted by the wind, who embodies a madman with hedge clippers that has crafted his own little Bonsai tree farm. The trees have had every branch facing the wind ravaged, so all of the trees have ended up with a distinctive posture. Getting back to the point, the one I saw today reminded me a bit of that old Disney movie, The Flowers and Trees. You can almost see the bad old tree caressing the reluctant belle.

Discovery had only one big difference today.. none of the kelp was afloat. The little tops were sticking up, but there were almost no floating bits. It made going around Discovery island a pretty simple task. The old lighthouse is looking pretty bad these days. looks like the wind and humidity have been stripping off big swaths of paint and planks from the surrounding buildings. The foghorn station is getting marine algae growths which has stained it slightly green.

The East portion of Discovery was unusually empty: no campers, no boats. All there was to see was a number of massive cargo ships making their way up the inside passage (storm's coming Monday by the looks of it). Those cargo ships sure do light up the VHF something fierce, but to top that all off there were two Navy vessels sneaking through that needed to be boarded and inventoried. I turned the radio down a bit with all that natter. At the southern part of Discovery was an errant tide rip where the sea moves over the shallows. The tidal predictions were really good and makes me want to go out sailing.

I ended up at the Chain islands and the birds were not here. The islands were totally empty of birds! I guess all the gulls had chosen other roosts, so the seals moved in. Lots of seals were watching me and doing a peculiar thing that looked kind of surreal. The seals were sitting on rocks maybe an inch below the tide which made it look like they were levitating on the ocean. A couple of deadheads were doing that too.

I paddled over to Oak bay and found a nice little jet of current that took me swiftly to fiddle reef where not one, but two eagles were watching for food. They didn't notice that I was taking awful, blurry, crap photos of them. Sorry readers - I'll let John get the eagle photos next time. You've seen eagles: graceful, awesome looking... my photos were brown blobs, which wasn't the gestalt I was shooting for.

I paddled right into a regatta of laser boats and starting snapping photos before I realized I was kind of in their way. It's not every day the laser crew make it out past the mouth of the bay. I ducked in behind the rocks to keep my distance as another wave of sailing dinghies sailed past. I need to start knocking on some doors around the uplands. I found a few places that I'd like to rent from.

Scccrrraaaape. Knocked out of my daze of waterfront house shopping, I realized the tide wasn't as high as I'd hoped. I gave my kayak another battle scar just outside the RVYC marina for the reason of: being awesome. I paddled around the mooring field and found there are others who take boating just as seriously as I do. This one had one of those angry aircraft face things on it, but it was exceptionally not well-drawn. I headed back for the car and beached the kayak just as the sun came out. It's all good though, I took the scooter out and burned off some gasoline along some twisty roads to celebrate.

Trip Distance: 18km

YTD: 71km

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Adventures on the Iphone!

2009-01-29T00:38:00.000-08:00

I finally got around to optimizing my blog for iPod/iPhone and a number of other mobile platforms. Basically this new addition is a lightweight reader for the site that links to images that are much more quickly downloaded. I've also taken the map links off to maintain stability on less capable platforms. The focus here is on being able to read the blog whenever you've got the time and not having to wait forever for all the content to arrive.

So, how do you use this new viewer? It's dead simple, just click the "Go Mobile" link up in the top right corner of the page and you'll be taken to the new mobile site. Once you're there, simply bookmark it and check in every so often. It's as easy as that. The direct link to the new mobile site is Here in case the top link doesn't work. Give it a go and please let me know what you think in the comments.

Mill Bay to Cherry Point

2009-01-24T23:18:00.000-08:00

Taking a page from Bernie's last trip in Mill bay, I gave myself a few choices of some places to go for today. I had a look at the wind models and it was clear anywhere to the west of Saltspring was going to be a bathtub. I wanted a bathtub today, because frankly I was feeling lazy. One nice thing about calm water is you can go a lot further before you start to tire out. So the choices were Mill Bay to Cherry point, Genoa bay to Sansum point or Cowichan Bay to Musgrave landing. I had one look at the moon phase and threw out both paddles in the Sansum narrows. So it would be Mill bay to Cherry point today and as I drove over the Malahat things were looking very promising.

I rushed out of the house today and forgot my lunch, so I stopped at Thrifty's before I hit the water. I heard a lady speaking with her friend as I was looking for the deli and she said, "No they're not coming today, they're worried about it snowing out here today." I kinda hoped that wasn't on the cards today... I grabbed lunch and headed down to the beach a little south of mill bay where I could basically park the van forever.

It's another fan-tas-tic day on the old wavy blue thing. Mild temps, bathtub calm and no sign of snow. I noticed more birds than usual and they all seemed to be upset about another of its feathery brothers stealing their food. I pushed off and headed north without hesitation. Cherry point is about 10km from this launch, so it was going to be some quality time with my little boat.

Little cat paws drifted across the water as the wind veered east and started coming through Satellite channel. I headed right for Whisky point on my way out. The shallows around this point are neat. The water is very clear and you can see all these large, algae colored rocks littering the sea floor. It's one of those places that if you gawk at the stuff in one direction, you'll narrowly miss the partially covered giant rock on the other direction. The tide was quite high on my way out, so I slid right over a number of boulders marked on my chart.

The shoreline north of mill bay is covered in vegetation and houses. In some areas, the houses are just built in between some of the trees, in other, the houses are dropped by a crane onto the scorched earth with a teeny, tiny fun park at the bottom of the boulevard just to remind the folks who live there the reason that they bought property in the boonies. A few of the houses had active orchards and vineyards attached to them - this is the Island's wine country after all.

Somewhere among all the headlands I passed, there was a strange shipwreck. A 20 foot tall yellow tower was sticking out of the water with a marine winch mounted at the top. Along the beach was strewn all manner of wooden planks and boat pieces, all firmly stuck in the gravelly shoreline. Some of the boat shell looked like it had burned to a crisp, too.

Hatch point was an interesting bit of shoreline.. on one side, expensive homes, on the other a large, modern dock with a floating breakwater to the east of it. The dock looked a bit high for pleasure craft, so perhaps a fishing facility. (Nope.. it's operated by Chevron for barges - Thanks, internet). Cherry point was just off in the distance, which surprised me a little - I was early, so I sped up my cadence a little and got there to see how close to Cowichan bay's little city I could get.

I passed Cherry point and continued down into Cowichan bay as far as I could until the clock hit 2:30. No matter what, I was turning around at 2:30 since I didn't feel like paddling around after dark. I saw the Harbour about 5km off in the distance. This will definitely be a summer paddle with some friends, so we can stop and have lunch in the little city around the public wharf.

Heading back was serene and even calmer than I remembered. The sun had slipped below the hazy clouds and was now turning everything in the world gold and purple. The headlands gave me a chance to get a nice rhythm going. This is the longest I've been in my kayak for quite a while. I had a little stretch on some beach in the middle of nowhere, ravaged my lunch while looking out toward the Saanich peninsula and pushed back into the sunset.

I came around the last point before Mill bay and started snapping off photos of the golden hour. I was joined by eagles, swans, huge Herons and all kind of different ducks. Mill bay is a total haven for birds. I found a couple of houses I could totally work with. A few of them even had kayak racks already. I have no idea who or why, but the air was suddenly filled with laughter and yells. Yes folks, it's never too cold to wakeboard. A power boat went zipping by with a dude in tow. I can't even imagine the cold.

I had a pass of the Marina and went out to look at the boats on moorage. I found a really ugly bit of hull there. The whole thing was an offence to the eyes. From the paint job done with a half chewed popsicle stick to the hundred years of mildew, I was wondering how the hell it was still afloat. I think it may have been the world's ugliest sailing vessel. I paddled around a number of other long forgotten and terribly neglected boats out on a hook or mooring and headed for the take out as the sun went down. Overall a very nice paddle with lots to see and do and a really nice introduction to some new areas. I'll have to try the Sansum narrows paddles in the near future.

Trip Distance: 22km

YTD: 53km

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The Hulk in Sooke's Harbour

2009-01-17T23:59:00.000-08:00

This weekend brought me to Sooke Basin, a paddle I haven't done in a while. A couple weeks back, I had spotted the old hulk of a shipwreck out in Sooke Harbour and made a mental note to go visit it. We had some severe weather for the last week or so, which has made the water a little difficult to approach. Today it was back to beautiful, sunny skies with a little dash of winter winds. Fresh frost was covering all of the plants at the put in at Cooper's Cove. The salt chuck also had little slabs of ice floating on the surface and every kayak stroke went "crunch" on the way out of the launch.

One thing I learned today is that East winds chop up the Sooke basin something fierce. Coopers cove transitioned from a protected bay without a whiff of air to 20 knot East winds making a bunch of noisy, quick period white caps. On the way around the reservoir, I had my back to the wind and following seas, so it was a quick paddle into Sooke Harbour. Just before the spit that separates the basin from the harbour, I found another shipwreck of a mostly submerged fishing boat while being watched by sleepy cormorants.

Coming around Billings point led to a whole other ecosystem, the wind barely reached into the harbour and the sun was quickly warming the ocean. The fog banks were suddenly nowhere to be seen. I visited the marinas all the way west side of the bay, which comprised mostly of non local fishing vessels and then speedboats. The marina has a really strange fairway that is practically unmarked, it wasn't until a speedboat was bearing down on me that I realized I was in the center of the deep water in front of the docks.

I quickly got out of the way and then crossed over to Whiffin spit when it was safe. At this point the water was a giant bathtub, completely protected from the east by cliffs. A rather large fog bank stayed across the strait and the sun was warming this kayaker very nicely. The currents were starting to create upwellings and the water in Sooke inlet was actually moving quite quickly. I paddled along the spit and then crossed to the east shore to explore the coastline. The rocks are all covered with very brightly colored mosses that look at first like giant cave paintings.

I got to see a heron in a strange pose, he was standing fully upright but his wings were quite low and outstretched. He watched my boat carefully as I passed, but just stayed in his zen-like posture. The light along the shore was exceptionally beautiful this morning, it even made sea gulls look good against the rocks. Not long after exploring the neat rock formations here, I was approaching the shipwreck stuck in the shallows of Sooke Harbour.

As I paddled through the deeper water toward the wreck, I think I found the point where the ebb tide and the river current are at their quickest. It beacame a bit harder to paddle toward the boat and still snap a few photos before being pushed 20 feet back. I started taking photos of the Florence Filberg, a big, wooden tugboat stuck in the muddy bottom, from the front of the boat working toward the back. Shipwrecks are becoming one of my favorite photographic subjects for the winter. The red hulled boat and all of it's rusty metal plates made for an excellnt contrast with an empty, blue winter sky. The story behind the wreck is here:

"The boat, an old tug called the ‘Florence Filberg’, was towed up from Lake Union, Washington State where it was cleaned out of oil and other contaminants. It ran aground here during a storm very quickly after being anchored on November 10, 2007.

It is now stuck firmly in the mud with a gaping hole in the side and little chance of being floated out...under the federal Navigable Waters Protection Act, nothing can be done about the vessel until it is deemed "abandoned" for a period of 2 years."

While trying to get some good photos of the stern of the boat, I ended up drifting a bit too close to the wreck and my kayak slid a little bit violently along something partially submerged in the wreck when the current got a hold of my boat. I was a little irritated, but lucky no water came rushing in and left my boat sitting on a mud flat. From the wreck, I crossed back to the east side to stay out of the winds, which were considerably stronger in the basin now. Being in the lee of the headlands on the east side was all well and good, but once I got to Hill head it was clear I wouldn't be paddling the perimeter of the basin.

The basin was now just a bunch of whitecaps with 1-2 foot chop, which seemed significant to me for such a measely (3km) fetch. Whatever was going on, it made the trip back across a bit of a work out. (edit for Rich's woops moment) It's at this point in the story where if you look a the water with in the above photo and then the one previous, you can see sort of what I was trying to predict at the time - that I was going to be enjoying a wind bath. I popped my spray skirt next to the boat and pulled out my much maligned paddle leash. I didn't bring spare paddles today, so I was being better safe than sorry and I can't remember the last time I felt the need to leash the paddle to the boat. Sure enough, the third stroke out into the basin from the shelter, the wind grabbed my paddle and put it in the drink. I'm really glad I used the paddle leash after all, though I doubt my paddle would have gotten far even if it weren't strapped to my boat. So much for looking like a seasoned veteran kayaker - thanks John.

Anyway, I was paddling right into a headwind and trying to keep the water tower in my sights. the waves were just washing over the entire hull and getting me downright soaked. Once I reached the shoreline near the reservoir, I just paddled about 10 feet from it to try and stay out of the howling wind which was measuring in at 25 knots on the Kestrel - yeesh. Rounding the corner into cooper's cove was fairly easy and I pulled the boat out and then nearly froze to my core as the wind began to veer south, blowing cold wind right up into the cove. It was a nice paddle all told, but boy.. I'll keep the big easterlies funnel in mind next time I'm out.

Trip Distance: 16km

YTD: 31km

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Mr. Yuck

2009-01-08T23:01:00.001-08:00

Ew. Yuck. Boat's not going in the water this weekend. Victoria needs to seriously wise up about it's sewage issues. The fact that a single day's rainstorm can contaminate whole beaches means that something's wrong. It's a good weekend to visit somewhere else and leave the kayaking for another week.

Read the Story Here »

A Cure for Cabin Fever

2009-01-05T01:18:00.000-08:00

I've finally had it with being cooped up. I saw the weather aligning to make for some great winter paddling, so I hauled out all the paddling gear from under weeks of Christmas / domestic life and got organized for the morning. First light this morning was beyond amazing and the temperature had dropped well below zero. I loaded up the Van and headed down to a very frozen Cadboro bay. The morning sun was out and the beach was full of dogs and dog owners. I knew it was going to be interesting unloading the kayak, but it was a bigger ordeal than I expected. I unstrapped the boat and lifted it slightly.. it weighed 100 pounds!

The kayak was somewhat stuck to my car, ice welded to the foam blocks on my roof rack. I parked in the sun to try and get it to thaw out faster, but it wasn't moving. I got the front of the boat free and then had to peel it off the back. It took a good 15 minutes before i could get it off the car. When it was a finally free, I got it down and put it straight on the grass. I pulled off the cover and the cockpit was encased in a giant sheet of ice. I pulled out the cart and took the kayak down to the ocean. I filled her with some sea water and let it thaw for about 20 minutes.

I got all the rest of my gear ready in the mean time and got some nice shots of the shore in the light. I shooed all the dogs off and flipped the boat over. The plan worked and all of the ice had melted thoroughly. I got about 200m off shore and realized I was missing sunglasses. I paddled back and shooed a dog away from my sunglasses and got back on the water. There was no wind at all as I left and the ocean currents were running swiftly. I thought I'd have a look at oak bay first and see if any more boats had taken a beating since my last visit. One of the boats I saw last time was now aground and dismasted. Another boat was completely sunk.

It was an uncanny moment finding the sunken boat. All that remained above water was a boom with a tiny bit of the gooseneck and tack showing. The sail had unfurled and led the eye down to the wreck which was easy to see in the windless morning. I got as many photos of it as I could, but I don't ever remember the boat being above water. The cabin was open for some reason, so perhaps someone's dived down to it or it's the reason the boat sank :P.

From there, I thought I'd cross Baynes and go have a little paddle in the channel between Discovery and Chatham island. The currents were clearly running, but it was a a neap tide, so they did little but push me around a bit. The north wind was a bit more noticeable out here and it was blowing about 5-10 knots which made it pretty chilly. I was followed by 2 other kayakers out enjoying the morning. I got to the channel and pulled out on the north point of Discovery island for a quick country one. I got back down to the beach and took some pictures of the amazingly clear water. The conditions made me want to stay on the water for the rest of the day. The other kayakers caught up to me and waved to me as they passed the beach. The headed up along the coast of discovery island and I hopped back in the boat to make my way home.

I tried the channel to Strongtide island, but today the currents lived up to their name. I paddled out past the little rock garden and into a brisk current that took my boat and turned it 180 degrees before I knew it. I knew that the rock garden was still back there, so I decided to just obey the little current river and head back the way I came. I paddled along the west side of Chatham and across to Jemmy Jones island. The GPS showed that I did happen to drift a bit and the wind really did pick up on my way back. I was paddling a freezing cold headwind on the way back in with a 2-3 knot current at my beam. It was a nice workout on the way back, but it still felt great to just be out on the water.

When the wind comes up, the sailboats come out to play. On my way back in I dodged a few boats on their way out to play. Cadboro bay was thick with sailing dinghys and kayakers. It was definitely a little bit of a cabin fever cure. I slid back to the beach and made sure my boat was throughly dried out so I wouldn't have to deal with the ice issue next week. I met Bernie in the parking lot just as I got the boat tied to the roof. We had a coffee and a look at his sailboat plans while the feeling came back in my extremities.

Trip Distance: 15km

YTD: 15km

See all Photos »

Wrapping Up 2008

2008-12-31T22:34:00.001-08:00

It's a cold NYE in Victoria, so looks like it's time to tally how I did for the year. I got my first boat on January 5, 2008. Since then, I've been on the water a total of 63 times in the kayak and an additional 6 days spent sailing. 69 days on the water total. I managed to paddle 602km from the Wailua River in Hawaii to Lake Pend Oreille to Clayoquot sound. My most active kayaking month was May. I managed to enjoy three camping trips by kayak. All were with friends from West Coast Paddler. Very few cancellations from weather, but the worst kayak season this year for me was December - with August making a close second. Kayaking and walking to work, along with cutting back on junk food (empty calories), has helped me lose just over 40 pounds this year.

So here's my new years goals:

Paddle 1000km

Explore upisland

Lose 10 more pounds

Try to do 5 camps

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas from a Spoiled Kayaker

2008-12-25T23:04:00.000-08:00

I've been having some great evenings with my friends and family in town. Christmas came today and deposited two things: food and gifts. My family must have gone on an incredible goose chase to find these things. I ended up getting mostly all stuff to make life more fun on the water: a copy of the current atlas for the area, a trick inflatable PFD and a deck light for being on the water after dark. Today was one of the most chill experiences of the year and it's left me with a huge grin for ear to ear.

Warm wishes to everyone for a great 2009. Can't wait for some of those nice weather patterns to roll on through soon. :)

Excuses, Excuses

2008-12-21T23:25:00.000-08:00

Sorry to those out there looking for some updates to the blog, I've been cooped up waiting for the weather to let me back on the road again. Continuing from last week's little story, I took a stroll down to the sea and snapped some photos of the chaos in Oak Bay right now. 1 dismasted boat, 2 sailboats aground and one boat dragging anchor into the reefs. There are bunches of photos of the victims below.

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Aw Hell Naw

2008-12-13T22:04:00.000-08:00

Here's my normally bathtubby west coast playground exposed to 30knot gales :/ My poor kayak stayed firmly attached to the van today.. can't say I didn't try to get out.. I was watching someone in a small tender trying to enter their sailboat that was out on mooring. It didn't end well, they ended up jumping back into the dinghy after totally failing to board and got a huge wave over the beam of their dinghy. That killed their little outboard for some reason, so they put on the oars and headed back to the marina dock.

Trial Island

2008-12-07T23:32:00.000-08:00

A great window opened up to go an circumnavigate Trial Island came up yesterday, so I set my alarm, got up and headed down to the water. Neap tides and low wind made it pretty much perfect. I got to the put in at Oak Bay and put in at scum beach (god it's scummy). I followed a couple of boats out of the marina and got a nice little push down the coast down to Gonzales Point.

The water was beautiful, it was grey out and the clouds were lined with streaks of orange just hanging there above the Olympic range. There were all manner of birds on the water today, most of them hunting out fish and just sleeping in a big huddle. The golf course was just as busy as ever. I paddled quietly around Gonzales point and stayed close to shore until I got around to McNeil bay.

A number of kayakers had launched from McNeil and were headed out to trial, so I followed them. The water was nice and flat this time round. There was a slight current around the island, but nothing much stopping me from rounding the south tip. I grabbed a discarded coke bottle out of the water and headed into the kelp beds around the south edge.

I had to pull up the rudder and just ride over top the thick kelp beds. It was starting to rain a little now, but the water was nice and flat. I pulled up my hood and just put my paddle on my front deck and watched the rain hit the water for a few minutes. So relaxing. I decided to just head back to oak bay but not before I got a shot of the sideways cardinal buoy in enterprise channel. When I got up near it, a lone cormorant stepped out of the black triangles and hung out front. I was able to get almost a full frame of him and the buoy.

Approaching Gonzales point, I ran into the kayakers again and they were taking a breather at the point. I passed by them and got caught in a fairly fast eddy. I paddled hard to the other side of it and realized the ebb had started. I headed up north to Mary Todd Island. The going was pretty slow in the reefs and the currents were coming from all kinds of directions. I saw a fairly large Bald Eagle eating the last of a fish he'd caught.

The rain started coming down pretty hard, so ended the trip. I headed into the marina and got the boat safely back to scum beach. I put the yak on the car and headed into the marina for a much needed coffee. It was colder than I thought.

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Short Trip

2008-12-07T14:35:00.000-08:00

I met up with Aaron again to take out a cal 20 and try and get out sailing. We left oak bay marina to find that we were in a bit of a situation. There were large swells near trial island from the incoming gales and the route through Baynes was directly upwind which would mean a bit of beating in a pretty tight space. We couldn't get the boat to listen to us as we tried to head up wind, then we realized that the current was dragging us south in quick order. We motored back and went for coffee rather than trying to motor out and around ten mile point. A quick day, but always good to figure out the limits of your patience.

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Inflatable Catamaran You Say....

2008-12-07T09:48:00.000-08:00

I thoroughly enjoyed reading about and looking at all of the photos of a few travellers who came to Canada and fought their 19' inflatable catmaran up the rivers of the west coast. Have a read! The photos are to absolutely die for - I'm scheduling that route by kayak soon ;)

The experience

"In salmons´ land against current"

about the boat

The Ducky 19 Inflatable Catamaran

Make Coves not Bays

2008-11-23T20:56:00.000-08:00

After the Pool Session on Saturday, we laid some quick plans for the next day. The current was going to behave itself around 11am, so we'd meet at Telegraph Cove and see how far up the coast we could get. I met only paula the next day and she had carted her Eliza from Cadboro bay to Telegraph cove and was ready to get on the water.

The wind was very light but gave us a pretty good headwind on the way out. The water was a little choppy, but since we were hed into it, it felt like nothing really. This area was mostly new to me, I'd paddled out this way in a strong ebb once before and didn't get very far. The beneficial flood current wasn't helping much against the wind today.

We got out to a little reef just off of the hospital and saw a few birds huddling on in the lee trying to stay warm. Northeast winds tend to come straight down this patch, though there's not all that much fetch. There are a number of houses out here that make me sick with envy. One mansion of note sprawled down to the high water line and comprised of many rooms. Must be fun in a big storm.

Paula and I paddled out just a little past Glencoe Cove and decided to turn around and get a little push from the wind. Paddling full out got me a peak speed of 11.7km/h on the GPS! That's the fastest I've gone in a kayak so far. The boat loved the speed too.

We stuck close to shore on the way back and had a brief encounter with the reefs that line the rocky shores. Navigating through that while surfing on small waves felt great and we both had fun just gliding around the big rocks sticking out of the water. The wind increased a little on our way back and the water was getting a tad choppier. We hauled out after a nice short run and went for coffee. Way to go Paula for actually putting the kayak cart to good use.

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Pool Sesh - Hat Trick!

2008-11-22T22:42:00.000-08:00

Fresh from kayaking and sailing, I hopped down to the pool for a little more kayaking. I brought my wetsuit this time and had a try at some of the more tricky balancing feats. I worked on getting from the Bow to the stern without flipping the boat. I tore my wetsuit on one of the deck fittings but I got from the bow to the stern and then flipped the boat over and paddled it upside down. I spent some time with the rest of the group practicing rescues as usual and even conned some of my friends into trying an eskimo rescue. Pretty fun time and it was great seeing some WCPers there too.

A Current Affair

2008-11-22T17:00:00.000-08:00

Fresh from my morning trip with Paula, I ran over to Aaron's place and got down to oak bay marina To get out and sail again. I sort of knew what to expect from the winds a bit earlier. We got down to the dock and who should wander by but Katy and her doggie. We all walked down to the boats and Aaron and I set up the cal for a 10 knot wind. We barely had to use the motor at all this time it was just cast off and we were out of the marina. The currents arrested my attention at the marina entrance. The current was tearing around the breakwater in a pretty swift ebb.

We got out a little from shore and put the sails up. No motoring necessary today!. We chose a tack and found ourselves actually sailing by the lee. The wind was scooting us along at a nice clip and once we seetled into a rhythm the boat started to go where we pointed it. So just to see what the combined wind and current could give us, we got to 5knots sailing down toward trial. THe boat made and all new sound when we started getting up there.

We tacked and did a 360 toward the chain islands, because we didn't want to get too far south in the current. Fighting the current nearly halved our speed and we started creeping ever so slightly closer to the Chain islands. The wind was south westerly and we wanted to head into it to see how close to the wind we could get. Beating down it, it looks like we were able to get about 50 degrees to it. We tired to go a little further up mayor channel, but it was no use, the current was coming through at just under 4 knots and the boat was having none of it.

The rest of the cruise was more or less basking in the sunset. The winds were calming down and had veered a bit more westerly. We were at peak current and had stopped making way toward the marina.. a sailing treadmill. So we just took down the sails and motored in just as the sun was setting for the night. Arron showed me how to unhank and stow a Jib in its bag. a lot easier when you see someone do it. We shook out our reef and headed out for coffee.

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Oak Bay Gunkhole

2008-11-22T13:30:00.000-08:00

Paula and I agreed on a short little paddle around Caddy bay at the last minute this morning, so I loaded up the van and headed down to gyro park. There was a nice little breeze coming through the bay and all of the little dinghys were lining the shore with their sails flogging loudly. We pushed off right before them and got well to the side of the bay to stay out of everyone's way. The water was the color of lead and the storm that had come through the day before had left all kinds of swell behind it.

Paula and I had a discussion about whether or not the days of print are limited and discussed the finer points of user generated media versus the establishment while cutting through the chop and swell. We gabbed all the way around cattle point and down willows beach until we saw a sailboat in a very un-sailboat friendly place. I couldn't tell if the boat was recently shipwrecked or just junk allowed to float onto the rocks (or both). Still had sails on it! I snapped a few photos for posterity.

We were getting a bit close to the rocky shoreline, so we headed up through the moorings near oak bay marina and had a look at some of them. About half way through our gawking, the all slowly changed direction with the wind. It's a weird feeling seeing a bunch of large boats all rotating around their moorings. A few people were aboard their boats cleaning the decks and checking everything out including us. We lazily headed back to Cadboro bay and catching the last of the flood around cattle point. When we got back to shore, all of the little sailing dinghys were doing some training near the beach and a few larger craft were on their way out of the bay.

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Oak Bay Cruise

2008-11-15T22:46:00.001-08:00

Aaron and I decided to meet this morning and go for a little cruise with a boat from the Oak Bay Sailing school, a cal 20 named red current. These boats really feel like dinghys, but overall it was like sailing its bigger brother just bit more nimble in turns and a bit wilder in container ship wake. Today was glassy water and light winds in most of Oak bay, so we motorsailed most of the time and sailed off the motor when the wind was enough to push us over the currents.

I got to the marina at about 10 and met Aaron for a quick coffee. Aaron had just been handed the keys, so we walked down to the boat and rigged her up as well as we could to deal with the light winds. I watched as Aaron hanked on the jib and I helped set up the sheets. It was a pretty quick process and we were on the water in moments. Aaron knew the marina, so he did the honors of leaving the dock. We got out past the turkey head breakwater and found we were the only sailing vessel out on the water. That's always a good sign, right?

Aaron pulled out the chart and we made a course for Baynes channel to see if the east winds would be there. The buoyage is fairly clear in Baynes and plumper, and we stayed out of most of the rocky places. The water got glassier as we passed Cadboro bay and we were totally on motor, the mainsail flapped listlessly from side to side. Cadboro point was our first glimpse of wind patterns on the water. Once the wind freshened a bit we turned off the motor and had a little light wind practice. The variable directions made it kind of hard to consistently keep our sails full, but we were still at the edge of Baynes, so as the little wind patch passed, we just got dragged toward Strongtide island.

I tuned into the weather and heard a report for 4 knot winds at Trial island. That was about the best we were going to get, so we turned tail and headed toward Trial island. We passed through mayor channel and out to Trial island. We got a little distracted by some other sailboats heading out toward the traffic lane. We followed them a little ways to see if they knew any secrets, but they seemed lost, so as we became becalmed again, we decided to maybe try Juan de Fuca.

Right near Staines point, we began to get the predicted 4 knot wind and we were immediately back to sailing. We kept to the outside of Brodie rock and played with points of sail in order to get to Gonzales point and line up for our eventual docking. The wind and little bits of chop made for a couple of happy... us. We tacked as we got near Gonzales point and got another great little boost of power. The boat sailed nicely back to the Lee Rock Buoy, where we took down the sails and headed back.

For some reason, one of the boats we passed on our way out turned around and came back in as we came in. We were also followed in by a bright yellow boat called "Tigger," and I snapped a quick photo of his boat on the glassy water as we came in. We docked nice and easy and made the boat fast. It was a pretty successful day despite the challenge of sailing in light air.

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Spreading the Love

2008-11-11T00:25:00.000-08:00

So I've watched This is the Sea 4 with my friends over at Kayak Yak and I generally enjoyed it. The second disc of expeditions was definitely the highlight for me. Some jaw dropping visuals and a great capture of the emotion and interaction between friends over a long and daring adventure. I was turned on to a quick behind the scenes interview of Justine and Barry by Simon Willis' update that it's his most watched podcast so far. Listen in to his podcast Here and feel free to buy This is the Sea 4 here.

Chain chain chain

2008-11-09T22:57:00.000-08:00

Cadboro bay is my hood. I've been out there so many time this year and I just keep crawling back for more. Today I met Paula at the beach and marveled at the nice calm day that was laid out for us. No noisy halyards slapping the masts in the sailing association and no big trees moving. The wind was dead calm and the waves were gently lapping on the shoreline. Yesterday's swells were gone.

It was a chill day of paddling, and Paula and I were mostly just chatting about the man made rules around whales, whalewatchers and our postulations about their perception of the surrounding world. We crossed to the chains easily with only two tiny little eddy lines from Baynes. The chains had taken on their winter colors: dead broom plants, greyer rocks and big kelp beds all around. We were watched by really young seals who would duck down under us on our approach and glide right in behind us to keep a nice safe watching distance.

Our conversation was a little broken as we got near plumper passage. We started to drift with the flood tide and we changed course to head toward Jemmy Jones island. We were just floored by the scenery: the entire world was suddenly lit up by morning sun and all the colors of uplands with the bright spinnakers of yacht club boats gave me shivers. We thought we'd give 10 mile point a little looksee, so we started over to the light at cadboro point.

We could see some of the breaking waves at the edge of Baynes and found that the tide prediction was dead on. The rocks at cadboro point were being surrounded by a strange rainbow in the fog bank that rolled through just to the north of us. The area near the light was calmm as could be with asmall little current heading up through the rocks. We saw a couple of interesting birds out here in addition to the cormorants, seagulls and oystercatchers. These birds were about duck sized with pointed bills, brown heads, a spiky hairdo and orange legs - I think they may be mergansers.

We turned around at cadboro point and headed back down the shore waving to some of the boats on the way in. The nice little break from big southeast blows was just a treat and made it a great day to be out in the kayak.

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Setting Sail - Part 3 of 3

2008-11-08T16:43:00.000-08:00

Today was our 3rd lesson in our competent crewing course with VIMA. The November weather is here, and the big old Southeasterlies were fairly active in the strait. I had gone down to Ogden point to scope out the waves and wind at about 8am, and it was incredible. The waves were battering the beach and the breakwater and the wind was howling through the deep sea terminal. Half of me was looking forward to it.

We had breakfast and the wind just chilled out over about an hour and a half. By the time we got to the dock, the weather was downright pleasant - the last of the rain blew through as we boarded the Rose. We checked out the weather and tides and decided we'd go stick our nose out and play around at the harbour entrance. So We set to rigging the boat up for a big blow as forecast. We put two reefs in the main, and got a chance to rig a new jib on the furler. We learned how to properly flake and fold up a jib and it's kind of easy once you see it done.

Once the boat was rigged up for the wind, we cast off and motored out into... flat water. We've been blessed with great weather every time we've gone sailing! As we left the inner harbour, the distant squalls over the olympics slid out to the east leaving behind some beautiful beams of sunlight on the mountains. Today was made of two colors, grey and yellow. We passed a small fishing vessel in the harbour which demarcated the point between the flat water and the massive swells left over from the last storm.

So the swell... yeah.. it turns out 3-4 foot seas make me a bit seasick after a couple of hours. We motored over to Brotchie ledge and raised sail. The wind was a little stronger out here, but we got some good practice putting up the sails while the deck was moving around in the swells. Once we were back in the cockpit, we each got a chance to turn the boat through a few points of sail and our skipper sat back and just gave us guidance - I'm totally getting a hang of maneuvering under sail.

Which brings us to the next challenge, recovering an overboard crew member under sail. Katy showed us the technique for it and then had us each do it. It's kind of neat, just zooming into the GPS track, you can actually see we all managed to do a nice speedy recovery of our little bobbing flag under sail! This is the kind of stuff that makes taking a proper course worth its weight in gold. Not only is it clear that you can recover someone under sail with a bit more practice, but it's also a good idea of how to spin the boat around for general maneuvering. Practice concluded once we were all good and seasick. :D

We motored back home through the swells and into the protection of the inner harbor. We pulled into dock nice and smooth and then faced our final exam for certification. Katy took us up to a nice little cafe on the marina and we got to sit down and write our exam with a plate of chicken fingers and coffee. The test was pretty easy with multiple choice questions directly from the bold items in the book. If you have a photographic memory, you'll pass no problem. We all passed without problems and got a our log books. I'm pretty psyched about sailing overall Now comes the long considered decision on whether to pounce on a boat or not.

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Take Some Sailing Lessons with VIMA »

Pool Session

2008-11-02T23:22:00.001-08:00

It was a fair day today, but I didn't manage to make it out to the water in time for sundown. I drove out to crystal pool and was allowed to party with every one. :) I practiced self rescues the whole night and got in and out of the boat pretty easily. Nothing to see here, just a fun lil pool session, even picked up the secret to the cowboy re entry on my giant beamy boat.

Ten Mile Point

2008-10-26T00:27:00.000-07:00

Today was probably the only time I've actually been a bit afraid of what the wind had in store for quite a while. The onshore wind was 15 knots but there was nothing too nutty looking out in the strait. I got down to the beach and launched with the wind just whistling at my back. We were in for a fun time on the water. The plan was to go to Chatham, but that plan was rapidly disappearing.

The one great thing about nice winds, the yacht club scrambles every available boat to go out and play. We made our way out of caddy bay and I started getting a bit worried about the conditions. The wind was making huge black streaks on the water and when we got out to flower I could already feel the swell coming off Haro strait. Most of this summer, I've been spared any wind warnings at all, so today was my first strong wind warning for a while.

I looked over Baynes and it seemed more or less fine, but I couldn't convince anyone to cross it. Instead we headed toward the vortex of whitewater off Ten mile point. The wind gusts were just hurtling through and on the other side of the rocks was just steep whitewater with a whole bunch of fetch allowing for some pretty noisy surf crashing on the rocks. I kept trying to survey my partners to make sure no one attempted that stuff. John and I paddled a bit close to the rocks and the wind just told us to go away.

And we did. We headed back out to Jemmy Jones to prepare for crossing to oak bay. And then I kind of lost everyone.. they crossed back to flower and I came after them a bit later. Just as I crossed over, about 10-15 sailboats decided to come through the channel we were paddling in. I got over to slightly shallower water and snapped a bunch of photos as the flotilla passed by. We rafted up for a few minutes to watch all the boats go out and around ten mile into the stronger winds.

Paula was off and heading over to the rocks near cattle point, so I just kept pace with her for a while, but John and Louise had fallen behind. There was no fetch over Cadboro bay, but the current was opposing the wind in the middle of the channel kicking up some strange chop. It was pretty fun actually, and as much as I wanted to try for oak bay, I surmised my partners had had enough.

John and Louise caught up and we all stuck together along the rocks on the shore. The wind had picked up into some even stronger gusts, I was getting blown back out to sea on more than one occasion. made it kind of hard to take photos. We eventually paddled back and pulled out after a short but windy little run.

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