Saturday, April 27, 2013

April 27th - Portland Island (#29)

I decided on the spur of the moment to head out for an afternoon paddle to Portland Island where I knew several WestCoastPaddler.com folks were camping for the weekend.I had thought I would not make it, but then decided to try to do it in the afternoon. Left home just after 1 PM and was home by 6 PM! The paddle out was fast. I averaged over 4 knots and made it to Arbutus Point in 50 minutes. I spent just over an hour visiting with folks at Arbutus Point and then left to go back just after 4. This time, due to a stiff SW wind, it took a bit longer (70 minutes) even though the distance was slightly less - you can see how much slower the track is from Portland Island back to Knapp Island. I paddled back with Scott and Mark and had a fun paddle through the waves in Shute Passage. It was great to see several WCP folks again, even if it was for a short while. The Tahe Greenland T performed very well as did my shoulderless NLP paddle. I was very glad to have made it out and cleared my head!
Yahoo imagery of track - click to enlarge

Google imagery - click to enlarge
14 km, YTD 321 km

Sunday, April 14, 2013

April 14th - Thetis Island (#28)

I joined the first SISKA paddle outside the Victoria area to paddle around Thetis Island from Chemanius. The paddle was organized and led by Reale, and we had magnificent conditions. Hardy any wind or current and enough water to get through the gap! This was probably the longest paddle the club has done and set a new standard for energizer paddles! The water was floccy with algae, and we saw lots of starfish and sea cucumbers as we paddled around Thetis. The starfish clumps got us into a good debate about why they clumped. Some of the hypotheses were - interesting! We also had a good view of many sand dollars as we came back to the beach in Chemanius. We had a nice lunch break on the north beach were we were treated to yummy chocolate by Reale and delicious rum balls by David! One our way back over we paddled by a large bulk carrier, bellemar, and I was able to paddle along side under the anchor and stern! It was a lot higher in the water than in the linked photo!
A great day on the water and nice to get a good long paddle in.
28 km, YTD 307 km

Saturday, April 13, 2013

April 13 - Discovery Island (#27)

Dan and I went for a morning paddle around the favourite islands! The weather was a bit mixed, with wind, rain, hail and sunshine! Winds were fairly steady at around 15-20 knots from the SW and there was a decent ebb current, so we had some fun in the wind and waves crossing over to the islands. Once around Commodore point the wind was at our backs and the waves were smaller. We stopped off for a snack break in boat house bay and then made our way back around the top side of Chatham. Currents had slackened, so it was a nice easy trip.
click to enlarge
15 km, YTD 279 km

Sunday, April 07, 2013

April 6&7 - Surge Narrows (#25&26)

I joined drove up to Quadra with Olivier to stay at Discovery Islands Lodge with Dorothea, Scott, Mike, Paulo, Dan and Walter for a weekend at Surge. Alan and Brent joined us on Saturday, and we had good paddling on both days. I managed to get some great rides on both days. The wave was pretty tricky during max flood, but became very nice as the tide rose and the current dropped a bit. We had a great pot luck at the lodge on Saturday evening. On Sunday we met John, Mike, and Paul as well as Brent.
click to embiggen
17 km, YTD 264 km

Monday, April 01, 2013

April 1st - Discovery (#24)

Dan, Paulo and I paddled out to Cadboro Point were me met Olivier and made our way out around Chatham and Discovery Islands. We managed to keep above the fast ebb current in Baynes on the way over and by heading straight across from Heritage point on the way back we seemed to avoid most of the current on the way back too. We stopped off at Rudlin Bay for a nice long lunch break in the sun. There was a cool southeasterly wind blowing, but this was the first paddle of the year for me in a short sleeved dry top and rash guard - summer may be just around the corner? I also used a shoulderless paddle by Northen Lights for the first time and liked it. Being narrower I found I needed a higher cadence, but it did not seem any more effort. This paddle should work nicely as a storm paddle. At 247 km on April 1st (Day 91 of 365!), I am on track for my 1000 km a year goal! The food caches have been installed in Rudlin bay and the site is open again for camping.
click to enlarge
15 km, YTD 247 km