Alison's Great Idea

We are burning up.
Well, not quite. But we are in what some weather-watchers believe is the worst heat wave in these parts since records started being kept. It is brutally hot for BC. A high of 35c, but the humidity is making it feel like 40c here in Victoria. This is our fourth record-setting day in a row. Today was the hottest day ever recorded in Vancouver. I'm past melting; I've gone straight to sublimating.
It's strange that last December we had one of the worst cold snaps here in memory, and now we're having the worst heat wave in recent memory. Are these weather extremes a sign of things to come? Or worse, a sign of things that are already here?
With Alison's visit lasting just a few more days, we had wanted to do more kayaking this week but the extreme heat had thrown a bit of a monkey wrench into the plans. We were planning to go to Saltspring Island today but the idea of driving in hot cars and taking a ferry only to end up somewhere hotter than here had only limited appeal even to the masochists among us. Then Alison said, "Why don't we go to Thetis Lake for a quick paddle, then spend some time practicing wet exits?" That's why we like Alison; she's so smart!

Of course, we weren't the only people who thought that a quick dip in the lake would help cool things off. The smaller beach at Thetis is a favourite spot for dogs to get a brief dip and drink while they hike around the park with their people. Today, the quicks dips were long cooling swims.


Louise and I headed out while Alison and Paula, who arrived a few minutes later, geared up. Even though it was still early morning, we quickly found ourselves sticking to the shady potions of the lake as already the sun was bearing down on us and warming us up noticeably.


We also did our bit to help clean up the lake. Someone enjoyed their new inflatable raft but threw the box behind some rocks....

...while Paula either pulled a bottle of cider and a Heineken can out the lake, or was starting her daily drinking binge early and wasn't ashamed about it at all.


We saw a heron basking in the sun...

...while this eagle seemed to be enjoying the shade.


Then the fun began. After all, the real point today was to get in the lake and cool off. We have not practiced enough lately, so it was good to get in the water to try our rescues, and we were all quite pleased that they went so well. First, Alison did a paddle float rescue. The only causality was a lost sponge. (I thought it was Scottish slang for when someone does something daft. "Ach! Have you lost your sponge?" If it isn't, it ought to be. I'm starting a campaign to see that this phrase enters common usage.)


Louise has had trouble re-entering her boat in the past using the paddle float rescue, so she bought herself a stirrup and gave it a try today. That worked well for her and she was able to get back in no problem. Then she tried a cowboy re-entry.

She started too far back, and the paddle float was in the way, so the first attempt didn't work so well. But this is why we practice, right? A couple of adjustments to her technique and she was in!

Then Alison decided to stand up and applaud Louise's efforts. And she did!


Then it was my turn, and I went for a few dunks and re-entries.


But even after all the dunking, we still needed to cool off. Off to the Quik-E-Mart for Squishies!


Trip length: 5.01 km
YTD: 192.10
More photos are here.

Meet the New SPOT

Later this year, the folks behind the SPOT GPS Messenger will release a new version. The new model is expected to be 30% smaller and lighter, will offer more custom message modes and updated transmission and tracking performance.
It will also feature a protective cover over the "Help" and "SOS" buttons to prevent accidental signalling (which makes me wonder just how many inadvertent rescue missions have been launched).
Perhaps most important of all, it will now come in two colours: orange and silver.
But seriously folks, the SPOT is a great piece of gear to have. We have two in our group and use them all the time -- they work great!

Evolution in Action

We've posted clips of sea kayaking, snow kayaking, bungee kayaking, sky-diving kayaking and even stair kayaking. Now the latest: stair kayaking in a building. Darwin would be proud.

It's Déjà Vu All Over Again

It's official. Environment Canada's definition of a heatwave apparently is five days in a row of heat above 30C, and we are smack dab in the middle of one. It's blisteringly hot today. I'm building up a sweat just typing this blog. And it's very humid.
We decided for a quick paddle up the Gorge today. Louise and I were bushed after hosting a yard sale yesterday in the baking heat. We did pretty well though, got rid of some old paddles and PFDs and some other gear. After the sale, we stayed out too late watching Star Trek at the IMAX. So we were pretty beat. I don't do well in the heat, so we just wanted to do a quickie paddle today before it became unbearable out there.


We were joined by Paula and her paddling neighbour Khaled. It's an eclectic group of kayaks today. Louise and I were in our Deltas, while Paula took her Advanced Elements Expedition on the bus to join us, while Khaled was in his Pelican rec boat.


This home-made canoe caught my eye.


After we passed under the Admirals Road bridge....

...we caught up with the swans.

This person came out of their dock to feed them. If this pictures looks familiar, it's because we saw him feed last years crop of baby swans off the same dock.


We found some more of those gelatinous egg-sack things we often see....

...and a flock of one-legged geese.


We're hoping for a few more paddles this week, it all depends on the heat.


Trip Length: 8.67 km
YTD: 187.09
More pictures are here.
The Google Earth kmz is here.

This Is Really Cool

Earth Pub, the Discovery Channel's Global Science Blog, has a great little story by Kieran Mulvaney about a recent expedition to the Petermann Glacier in Greenland. Scientists, worried that the glacier might be on the verge of breaking up, wanted to deploy a special ice-penetrating radar to examine the glacier's interior.
The scientists brought along everything they could think of to drag the radar across the ice -- including snowmobiles and kites -- however the ice was in much worse shape than they'd imagined. Pitted and worn, the melting ice had formed melt lakes and whirlpools, and large cracks had filled with water to form long rivers of crystal-clear ice water.
So then the kayaks came out. Stringing out the radar between them, three kayaks made a 25km trek down the glacier gathering data, the initial results of which seem to indicate that the ice is thinner than the scientists were expecting.
And that's bad news. But if you're going to get bad news, you might as well do something fun to get it.

Potpourri

We've had another stretch of hot lawn-baking sunshine. Brown: it's the new green. Although it cooled off a bit today and is expected to cool further over the coming week, the current forecast high for next Sunday is 34c, about 11c above the normal high temperature. We'll be cooking, if we can trust the weather guru's often dubious prognostications.
This hot weather marks the temporary return of our kayaking comrade Alison, here visiting family, friends and her kayak from her current home (and the city where I was born) Montréal. [insert shameless plug here: buy her new novel!]
We put in this morning at Telegraph Bay.


Before we removed our kayaks from our vehicles, we watched a pair of otters scrambling over the low tide rocks...

...while on the other side of the small bay, this heron kept watch on the proceedings.


It was Alison, Louise, Paula and myself today. I mentioned that the cool people were all paddling red kayaks this year. Reds are in this year, said Alison. Paula argued that she was almost a red with her pink kayak.


As we made our way north-ish from Telegraph Bay, we saw quite a variety of animal life. This is the third deer we saw up on the bluffs. We saw two others earlier, both being tailed by a small black cat. No pictures, alas.


We turned around and headed back at Mount Douglas Park, where we saw this eagle.


Just south of the park, our curiosity was raised by this concrete wall. Paula said it was a salt water swimming pool. The pool fills up at high tide, allowing people to take a swim in it. She said she remembered walking to this pool from Mount Douglas Park and swimming in it as a child. She offered that if we were to put in, she'd jump into it for a quick dip for a picture.

We put in and clambered over to rocks to find that the pool was indeed full of water.

It was also full of green stuff and algae. Paula quickly reconsidered her offer to swim in it, much to Alison's amusement. Continuing our paddle, we noticed two or three other salt water pools like this one, although none were as big.


We also noticed this small room built into the side of a cliff. Paula and Alison immdiately said it would make a great writing room, and they're so right. It's how I imagine a writing room to be: a small private and secluded space, with a great view and a cat in the window....

....although generally I imagine the cat to be inside the window.


We saw a little bit of everything today: two eagles, two otters, a heron, jumping fish, three deer, a few seals, two air force jets and two pussy cats. It just doesn't get much better.




Trip length: 11.61 km
YTD: 178.42 km
My pictures are here.
The Google Earth kmz is here.

Mega-Yacht Developer Alters Plans

The developers have altered their plans for the proposed mega-yacht marina for Victoria's Inner Harbour. A spokesman for the developers said that a small realignment of a bridge will create more space between the shore and docks, and allow for a straighter route for kayaks and other paddlers. A public landing area and kayak storage area has been added.
It should be noted that the clearance under the bridge that kayaks will have to paddle under is 1.52m according to the developer's plans (a shade under 5 feet for those of you who are metric-challenged), so all you tall paddlers with high stroke angles might end up banging some paddles on it.
While Victoria's kayaking community has yet to weigh in on the changes, this kayaker still thinks this is a dumb idea. Any new development that encourages and depends on the burning of GHG-producing fossil fuels for its existence and survival is wrongheaded and misguided in the 21st century. We need to be kicking our carbon-burning addiction, not feeding it. Tourism projects like this that cater to petroleum-based transportation methods will be as dead as the dinosaurs they are burning in a few short years. Business as usual doesn't cut it anymore.
You want to build a marina on the harbour that caters to kayakers, canoeists, dragon boaters, fitness paddlers and sailboaters? Count me in! We spend money too, you know.
But mega-power-yachts? Sorry, their time has passed.

The building application is online here. The file number is 1405848
Written comments on the application can be sent to:
Section Head, Crown Land Adjudication, Integrated Land Management Bureau
Suite 142
2080 Labieux Rd.
Nanaimo BC V9T 6J9

Sunday Rescue in Cadboro Bay

I nearly forgot to post this -- there was a rescue in Cadboro Bay Sunday afternoon!
Sirens howled through the windy afternoon, as a firetruck rumbled down Sinclair Road into the parking lot of Gyro Park. Bernie and I found our shoes and followed our neighbour Curtis down to walk along the promenade and find out what all the sirens were for. A fire engine with ladder was there, as were two police cars.
And out in the bay, only about 200 yards offshore, was a small sailboat, belly-up. A person was hanging onto the hull, trying to right the boat. Black-clad, he appeared to be wearing a full-length wetsuit. There was a steady wind of over 25 km/hr and whitecap waves about 15 cm high.
Just as it became apparent that the cluster of firefighters and cops standing onshore were ineffective with their goodwill and telekinesis, a rescue boat roared across the bay. The Royal Victoria Yacht Club keeps a zodiac ready for just such events.
The people in the zodiac assisted the stricken boater with righting the sailboat and getting the spinnaker in place. The zodiac shepherded the sailboat back to the Yacht club, taking about three times as long as usual for the short hop.
This good news rescue is a great reminder for all of us to wear proper gear for immersion. Sunday's wind rose pretty suddenly. And we should keep in mind that it's not only our own cell phones or SPOT beacons or radios that will be used to call for rescue when it's really needed. There are often observers on shore who may or may not call 911.
This can be good news, as on this occasion where assistance was needed or else the boater was going to have to swim for shore and risk getting his sailboat wrecked.
This can also be embarrassing, as on the summer afternoon last year when a neighbour powered up his Pungo motorboat and cruised across Cadboro Bay to offer our paddle group a rescue. We had to admit that no, we were just having a practice session rehearsing our wet exits and recoveries... we weren't in distress. But thank you! And thank goodness he hadn't called emergency services.

A Good Excuse to Go Kayaking

The second annual Kayak For a Cure Victoria, which benefits the Canadian Cancer Society, will take place on August 9, 2009. The course is from Verdier Park in Brentwood Bay (beside the ferry terminal), down Saanich Inlet across from McKenzie Bight, and back again. You can get more info here, and register here.

Take Out The Batteries At Night

Water safety means more than just having a life jacket for everyone in the boat. Sometimes you have to think about water safety at unexpected moments.
CBC Radio reported the rescue of a child, safe and sound, from the cold waters of the Peace River. The Jones family was camping at Peace Island Park near Taylor, BC. Three-year-old Demetrius Jones woke up about 7:00 am Sunday the 13th, snuck out of his grandparents’ trailer, and found his battery-powered toy truck. By the time his family woke up, he was out of sight.
Searchers looked everywhere along the shore and downriver, where they found Demetrius about two hours later. He was twelve kilometres downriver, floating in deep, cold water. His plastic truck had rolled over, but he was still hanging on to it.
The whole story is here at http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/07/13/bc-rescued-3-year-old-swept-down-bc-river.html and it made the Globe and Mail's front page at http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toy-truck-saves-boy-from-deep-trouble/article1217236/
What this says to me as a parent is that we can't just trust in child-resistant latches for trailer doors or tent zippers when camping near water. It takes thinking actively about safety. Take the batteries out of the kid car at night. And hide the keys for the real truck.
I can remember worrying that our five-year-old twins would sneak down to the dugout pond on the farm. We got them swimming lessons. We made them promise not to go to the pond on their own. And we kept our promise to them, that Mom or Dad would escort them to the pond absolutely every time they asked. And I still marvel that somehow, the twins grew up. Solidarity for the Jones family figuring out their own safety protocols.

Saturday afternoon with Khaled

Saturday was a beautiful bright day! I picked up my inflatable Dragonfly and walked down to the beach in Cadboro Bay. The parking lot was crammed full, and among the many dozens of people crowding the beach and promenade was someone carrying a recreational kayak on his shoulder.
We launched at the same time and introduced ourselves --he was Khaled, and the kayak was his brand-new boat, a Pelican Sunstream. The conditions were perfect for this boat inside the bay, and now Khaled knows that just outside the bay are a couple of currents that are a bit too much for Pelicans.
Just by looking -- he didn't flip!
And to welcome him to the bay, on the little rock garden were otters playing. Mama otter and three of her babies were hunting at low tide. They stared and ducked away into the water.
Friday at six pm I'm launching again. Hope that others will come by after work for a quick rec paddle!

It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time

We'd been planning a return to Portland Island for some weeks now. Paula had missed our trip there last fall and really wanted to go, but as the final hours ticked away before our put in time this morning, the weather was not going to cooperate. It fact, the reports were getting bleaker by the minute. A Small Craft Warning was posted for the afternoon in Haro Straight, and we certainly qualify as small craft.
So even though it looked lovely as we launched, we knew the weather was going to turn and the wind was going to come up.


Bernie was also looking forward to going to Portland. He was thinking of camping out in the islands for a day or two, but he had forgotten his skirt and he didn't want to be out there with waves washing over him. With an ebbing tide current from the north and the expected winds coming from the south, conditions were going to look quite different from the flat calm we had at launch.


In addition to Bernie and myself, Tracy, Louise and Paula rounded out our quintet. We decided to head in the direction of Portland Island and check out the conditions. We didn't really think we'd go across, but sometimes the weatherman is wrong. We certainly had our moments of doubt in him as we moved out of Roberts Bay into the more open Haro Strait.


The herons, as usual, were insisting that I photograph them.


It's a fixer-upper. Bring your own design ideas.


We made it to the tip of Coal Island with little trouble. But here, things started going a little sideways.
From here, one would make the crossing to Portland, but the open water was already seeing the effects of the wind, so it was clearly a no-go for us. We thought about going around Coal, but as we poked our noses around the point, we could see that the wind along the exposed north side of Coal was also whipping up some waves.
Adding to the situation was the odd maneuver the ferry was making. We're close to the Swartz Bay Ferry Terminal, so keeping an eye out for ferries is Rule #1 here, and this ferry would have normally turned towards us and sailed alongside Coal Island, past us and to the terminal. But it had turned in the opposite direction and was making a slow lazy loop. None of us had ever heard of a ferry doing this. I was monitoring ferry traffic on my VHF, but I didn't hear anything odd.

After a quick discussion, we decided to head down the channel and forgo even a circumnavigation of Coal today. The winds were definitely coming up faster than forecast.
The other factor that hastened our discussion was that the ferry had finished its loop and was now heading towards us and its regular course. We did not want to be close to the rocky shore when its wake came in.
We turned into the channel, but Bernie and I stayed back a little. Bernie was fiddling with his new video camera when I called out, "Here it comes!"
"Here comes what?" he said.
"The ferry!"
"The ferry doesn't cross here," he said. "It'll be out over by--"
"Look up!" I shouted.
He looked up, and decided it was time move back a little.


Moving down the channel, we met Alex Matthews and some friends enjoying the current. (His book Sea Kayaking: Rough Waters is on my Christmas list, you know. Hint hint.)


After a quick chat with Alex and his friends, we pressed on. The waters were now teeming with pleasure craft. I haven't felt as close to being a potential speed bump as I was feeling today.


Then we were into it. The winds came up and the waters were churning. Swells, currents, waves and boat wake were giving us a workout. Sometimes it felt like we were going in five directions at once.


So it ended up being not at all the paddle we had planned, but it still was a paddle that we enjoyed. And my new SPOT worked like a charm. Three messages sent, three received - woo hoo!



Trip Length: 7.91
YTD: 166.80
My pictures are here.
The Google Earth kmz is here.