Judy's Modifications

We had a pleasant surprise on Sunday morning, even though there was ice on the Gorge, so our planned outing was called off. A bunch of us went for coffee instead. The pleasant surprise part came when walking along the beach at Gyro Park afterwards: two unfamiliar kayaks were coming to shore.

As they reached the beach, we walked over to say hi. The boats became recognizable at about the same time as the paddlers -- it was Judy and Mike, who live next door to the Beach House!

Mike has a sweet and simple sea kayak, and Judy was out in her little green Pelican that usually leans up against the side wall of their house (on the other side of the hedge from Bernie and my kayaks).

"We call these 'drowning boats'," I teased her. "They haven't got any flotation and when a Pelican fills up, it sinks."
"Not this one!" Judy laughed. "I've got some flotation in the stern, and some pool noodles in the bow."

We checked, and I gotta say, this is the safest Pelican I've ever seen. Judy rigged it out with rope and a homemade paddle float on the deck, a big styrofoam float fastened behind the seat, and the pool noodles up in the bow. John got a picture of her improvised flotation innovation.

Pool noodles! Is there anything they can't do?
(And while we're at it... Oi! Anyone who is paddling an empty shell of a little recreation kayak with no bulkheads or flotation devices, listen up. You have no excuses now! Get some pool noodles if nothing else is available, and fasten them into your boat.)
Now I want to make a paddle float like the one Judy made!

Radio Licensing Course

This note was just sent to members of SISKA and VCKC, and is quoted in full:

VHF Radio – Licensing Course
This course is a joint offering by the South Island Sea Kayaking Association (SISKA) and the Victoria Canoe & Kayak Club (VCKC). You don’t need to have a radio to take this course.

Do you want to learn how to use a VHF radio when out paddling? If so, you should take this course. Not only is it very useful, it leads to getting your Restricted Operator’s Certificate (Marine) - aka ROC – which is a legal requirement if you use a radio on the water.

WHAT: A 3-evening course leading to the Restricted Operator’s Certificate (Maritime).
WHEN: The course will be held on Thursday evenings – March 3rd, 10th 17th, starting at 7.15pm.
WHERE: The VCKC Clubhouse, 355 Gorge Road West
FOR WHOM?: Anyone who has a VHF radio but does not hold a licence. Anyone holding a pre-digital licence (i.e. no Digital selective Calling [DSC] endorsement on their licence). Anyone who does not have a radio but may want/need to use one in an emergency. Anyone who has a boat with a radio and wants to learn how to use it properly
BY WHOM?: The course will be taught by Greg Diemert and Phil Miles of the Canadian Power Squadron.
HOW MUCH? The cost of the course is $65. This includes the course manual, a CD of notes and test questions, the registration and the certificate itself.
REGISTRATION: It will help if you let me know ahead of the course that you are interested (Alan Thomson, 3135thom@islandnet.com or 250-592-4170), but you can register and pay on the first night of the course. Cash or cheques only.
The course consists of 2 nights of classes and one night for the exam. If you want to study the manual ahead of the course, you can get the manual from Greg Diemert at Ensign Chrysler, 1061 Yates Street. Pick up from Greg at Ensign Monday/Tuesday 8.30 to 3.30 pm: Wed 12:30 to 6:30: Thursday/Friday 8:30 to 3:30. Or phone 250 386 2411.
NOTES
If you already have a Restricted Operator’s licence but without the Digital Selective Calling endorsement, it is recommended that you take the full course.
If you have the full licence already, but would like a refresher, it may be possible for you to sit in on the first two nights of the course – it will depend on student numbers. If there isn’t room on the course, an additional night (March 24th) has been reserved for a stand-alone refresher course.

Another Rescue in the Gorge

Well, Friday afternoon there was another rescue in the Gorge.
This time it was a couple in a canoe who flipped under Tillicum Bridge. The Times-Colonist newspaper wrote about the incident. The paddlers were caught in an eddy in the current. Apparently several 911 calls came in from people who saw a man and a woman clinging to their overturned canoe. Luckily for the soaked paddlers, the police marine unit was working nearby and rescued them in a few minutes. The reason the police marine unit were nearby was an unlucky one; they had two boats and some divers searching for a missing man.
A boat flip doesn't have to be an emergency from which one needs to be rescued. It's a good thing for small boat users to try to be able to get themselves out of a tricky moment, especially when paddling in sheltered water, with a dock and shoreline for landing. Our paddle group has had a boat flip in the same place the rescued couple did, right under Tillicum Bridge. You can read Bernie's account here, John's post about it here, on January 27 2008, or my post about it here. John's post has photos. Mine has more arch comments (so there), and Bernie's has cool drawings to reconstruct the accident.
Bernie's flip was not an emergency. Unlike the couple just rescued, he was wearing a PFD, farmer john wetsuit, and a paddle jacket. He has done enough wet exits -- even in cold water -- that he didn't panic when his kayak turned upside-down. And he was with friends who escorted his swim to the dock. It was a good chance to practise our "rescue skills" even though he did not need to be rescued.
The big difference between the experience of that couple in the canoe and our paddle group was preparation and practise. Anyone can flip a boat. Some places, like the Tillicum narrows, make it easy to flip. In just the past three years, there have been several people needing rescue there, or after getting themselves to shore the damp boaters have knocked on at the door of a nearby house to ask for help getting warm and dry. It's worth remembering that anyone could end up in an upside-down canoe or kayak on any outing, even in sheltered places.

Monster Alert!

As evidenced by this blog and many others, you can photograph almost anything while you're in your kayak (once, I took a picture of a leather sofa floating down the Gorge. But I digress), however last week a pair of British kayakers may have snapped a photo of a monster.
Locals believe that Lake Windermere in Cumbria could be home to a lake monster similar to Scotland's Loch Ness monster, or Okanagan Lake's Ogopogo, or Cadborosaurus, long rumoured to haunt our home waters of Cadboro Bay.
Last week a British couple managed to snap off this photo as the "monster" swam near them as they were out kayaking in the lake. They describe the encounter as "...petrifying and we paddled back to the shore straight away. At first I thought it was a dog and then saw it was much bigger and moving really quickly at about 10 mph. Each hump was moving in a rippling motion and it was swimming fast. Its skin was like a seal's but its shape was completely abnormal—it's not like any animal I've ever seen before."
One British ecologist thinks that what they actually saw was a really big catfish.

Southern Exposure

In 2000 Chris Duff became the second person to complete a solo kayak circumnavigation of the South Island of New Zealand. In Southern Exposure, his memoir of his journey, Duff offers up a thrilling story, starting with his inspiration, research and preparation. After he launches, we follow along as he endures long periods alone, harsh winds, the imposing Fjordland region, and crazy surf landings, including the harrowing attempted landing that wrecked his boat and damn near wrecked him. Featuring many pictures and maps this is a terrific read for those of you who like travel adventure books.

Here's One For Alison

Our friend and kayaking buddy Alison moved to Montréal a while back and she occasionally manages to get out and paddle during the shorter kayaking season there (as she has reported on the blog here). But here's a place she might want to try next itme she's on the water. The Saint Lawrence river kicks up a regular standing wave in front of Habitat 67, and some folks shot a video of themselves having some fun in it:

C'mon, Alison -- it's your turn now!

Birdwatching

Are you interested in birdwatching? I'm always noticing the birds when we're out kayaking.

Some are easy to identify, like kingfishers and bald eagles. Others are pretty much "little black waterfowl" with maybe a white patch or a bent feather. Was that a coot or a surf scoter? Sometimes it's hard to tell. Ducks can be hard to tell apart, especially in the dim morning light when they all look like black forms silhouetted against shiny water.

One time in Oak Bay, a puffin surfaced right next to my bow. Yes, a puffin! The beak was very clearly that odd shape and bright colour, even if the bird was holding what looked like a little grey squid. I squealed with delight, the bird ducked down, and I haven't seen one since. I looked it up in the bird books at the Elk/Beaver Lake Nature Centre: tufted puffin. For real, in Oak Bay right by the Uplands, without going way up-coast or off-shore to the birds' isolated nesting grounds.
(I found a great photo taken by Dave Walsh of a similar sighting which you can find at his website. Look him up -- he's got some terrific photos. There's also a page by Joe and Mary-Ann McDonald with action shots that point out these pudgy little birds are active predators like hawks and eagles!)

But it's always great to glide in our kayaks close enough to see the ripples around birds, or have them fly past and swoop low right by our heads. John takes some awesome photos from his kayak!

At any rate, there's a beginner birdwatching course starting soon at Swan Lake Nature Centre. The Capital Regional District sent out a promo poster by e-mail today, promoting the course. It's not free, but it is taught by an expert.

SWAN LAKE NATURE SANCTUARY
presents
Birding Basics
an introductory course for adults
Birdwatching is the fastest growing activity in North America and Victoria is a great year-round birding location - join in the fun and discover the birds in your neighbourhood.
Taught by local ornithologist, James Clowater, this course includes 4 Wednesday evening classes and three Sunday morning field-trips.

Classes: 7 to 9 pm, Wednesday April 13, 20, 27, May 4
Field trips: 9 to 10:30 am, Sunday April 24, May 1 & 8
$80 for Swan Lake members - $95 for non-members
Please call to register - 250.479.0211
3873 Swan Lake Road, Victoria, BC, 250.479.0211
http://www.swanlake.bc.ca/
www.facebook.com/SwanLakeChristmasHillNatureSanctuary

Opportunity Knocks

It was either a short kayaking time today or a long one.
First, I went out for a short loop around the little rock garden. Well, yeah, it's my favourite place to be on the water. Lucky for me it's within sight of the Beach House. Sure, there are more beautiful/challenging/interesting/awesome places to paddle. This one's right here, and it's only my fault if I don't go here every day.
And when the sky got bright before 8:00 am, and the weather was cool and calm without any wind or rain, it didn't even seem like winter. No excuses! How many days in February dawn like this? It might not be a nice day by afternoon, but it was nice in the morning. Opportunity was knocking, so I went out in my little inflatable kayak.
I didn't stay long today, though I'd planned to do figure eights around and around several of the rocks. The tide was high, after all. But during my first figure eight, I came around a rock and saw four little heads swimming toward the little rock graden. It was an otter family, probably the one I saw Friday, bobbing and ducking their sleek way towards my playground.
Their playground.
Yeah, I get to play in lots of places. So do the otters, but this was where they wanted to play today. And I had to be somewhere else in a little more than an hour.
I ducked out of the otters' sightline, and paddled away. A homeowner on the bluff above the water leaned out from his balcony to tell me there were otters just on the other side of the rock. We chatted about them for a minute, then waved goodbye.
Back to the shore, running the gauntlet of dog-walkers, and I got ready to go somewhere else.
That somewhere was the mall, where some of us kayakers spread out charts and talked about places to go during the spring and summer. Man, if we go everywhere we want to go, we'll be busy every weekend and several weekdays too! Familiar places to revisit. New places to try. Challenging crossings, as well as easy day paddles out from a campsite.
So that was a long kayaking time, if you count all the imaginary trips we laid out on those charts. I'm psyched. I'm ready. Bring it on!

-later, the next morning-

The very next morning began with heavy grey cloud, a steady onshore wind, and big fat raindrops spattering on the duck feeding in the puddle in front of the Beach House. Yep, good idea to get on the water yesterday, cuz it aint happening today! Happy St Valentine's day to all paddling friends.

Instant Kayaking

This week I got a couple of weekday paddles in -- always a good feeling. Thursday didn't seem at first like a good day to get on the water. I have a new writing assignment, been waiting for another editor to phone as arranged, and then came a call from Marlene about going to the coffee shop.
In a flash I knew I could still shoehorn a kayak outing into this day. Marlene arranged to come by the Beach house in an hour and a quarter. So I got into my wetsuit and PFD and yanked out my little inflatable from its carry-bag.
Once again, can't say enough praise about the Advanced Elements inflatables. From packed bag to on the water in under ten minutes! That's including the leisurely stroll a couple hundred yards to the beach with the little kayak on my shoulder.
The tide was out and the day was bright for February. I headed out past the little rock garden, startling a heron, to look at Sheep Cove. There was the heron again, fixing the gaze of one beady eye on me and daring me to make him move again. And there were four gamboling river otters, eating something they'd found in the kelp at the cove. It was really their turn to enjoy the cove.
I turned around into the slight breeze, and found my head blowing clear and all my thoughts clean and straight. So much easier to write on days when I've been out in a kayak!
Back onshore, I zig-zagged around various people visiting Gyro Park with kids or dogs or lunch close at hand. They all look so wary when they arrive, and less fussy by the time they leave...
I let about 25% of the air out of the inflatable before stuffing it into the porch and going indoors. Talk about instant kayaking -- one hour total, starting when I stood up from my computer till I was re-dressed in clothes for going to the coffee shop. Another hour in Olive Olio's. And that evening I taught the writing workshop I'm teaching at Oak Bay Rec this winter. Not a bad day overall, especially with the interval on the water.

Kayaking With Those Who Know

I haven't hit the water in a couple of weeks. Life interferes sometimes, you know how that is, and the weather just hasn't been up to our demanding standards. Well, that's our rationalization, anyway.
Plus I've been nursing a foot injury the last few weeks, suffering from plantar fasciitis in my right foot, but stretching, icing, and an orthotic insert in my shoes has helped quite a bit. Not quite back to normal yet, but at least the sharp pain every time I take a step is gone, so that's a plus. We're hoping to be on the water this weekend, but it looks like a front is moving in on Sunday bringing some high winds. So we'll see.
But a lack of recent paddling doesn't mean there's been a lack of paddling activities.
Last night we attended the "Kayaking With Those Who Know" event at Ocean River Sports.

To begin the event, a representative of the BC Marine Trails Network spoke. This group is spearheading a campaign to protect areas used as kayaking campsites along the many thousands of kilometres of BC coastline. The group will officially open the first four trails of the network this May at the Vancouver Island Paddlefest in Ladysmith.
Then kayak tour operators from other parts of the island took the stage. First, Brian from Ocean River recounted a tour he organized with Pender Island Kayak Adventures last year, a three-day extravaganza including visits to the Fall Fair, a winery, and a hotspring. That's my kind of kayaking! :)
Next up, a rep from Kingfisher Wilderness Adventures showed a slideshow of pictures taken on their tours through Johnstone Straight and the Broughton Archipelago on the east coast of Vancouver Island. This is prime orca country and they had some amazing shots, especially of a run last year when they found themselves surrounded by about a thousand dolphins!
Then Mothership Adventures presented their slideshow. As the name implies, they use a mothership as the base for their kayaking tours, also in the same Johnstone Strait and Broughtons area, but they also have tours up to the Great Bear Rainforest.
Finally, another slide and short film was presented by West Coast Expeditions. They specialize (as you might be able to tell form the name) in kayak tours on the west coast of the island, specifically around Kyuquot, the Bunsby Islands and the Brooks Penninsula. Kyoquot looks like a gorgeous place to paddle. Now I need a second job to afford all these tours!

Didn't Bring Camera

Saturday was a day for a recreational paddle on Beaver Lake. It's a sheltered lake, a small end of a roughly figure-eight shaped lake still known by two names: Elk Lake for the big loop where the rowing sculls zoom about, and Beaver Lake for the small loop where the speed of boats is generally much lower. (Yeah, yeah, they've been one lake for a hundred years since Colquitz Creek was dammed to raise the water level when this was the resevoir for Victoria. We still think of them as two lakes. Go figure.)
It was a mild winter day, so I paddled in regular clothes... well, if River Pants from MEC and an Icebreaker merino shirt qualify as "regular" then I was in civvy clothes. Actually, I wear them a lot in the winter, so there! I also took the small inflatable kayak rather than my lovely sea kayak, because I wanted to be able to take the bus home. The Necky kayak doesn't fit on the bike rack on the front of the bus, alas.
Out on the water, I noticed a flock of over a hundred coots sitting on the water. It was easy to give them lots of room, and on my way back from admiring some birds' nests and a cormorant perch at the mouth of Elk Lake, I saw the coots again. Now they were splashing with their wings, one or two birds at a time and usually at the edges of their big flotilla.
What were they up to?
After a few minutes of drifting and observing their ducking heads and splashing wings, it seemed clear that the coots were following a school of little fish and chasing the fish into the centre of their group. As the coots milled around, everybody got a chance to dip in and take a fish. I couldn't tell what kind of fish were being caught, just that they were small fingerlings.
What a day to forget my camera!

The "New" Sport of Kayak Surfing

From Popular Mechanics in 1976 comes this story on the "new" sport of kayak surfing! "It's like riding a floating bobsled!"

River of Life

A couple of months ago, Paula found herself remembering an old National Film Board production. The NFB offers up many of their past productions online, so I took a meander through their offerings for kayak-related films, and I found this one called River of Life, a 2007 documentary focusing on the Yukon River Quest, "the world's longest annual canoe and kayak race. Athletes come from around the world to test their endurance, racing day and night along 740 km of rugged river shoreline."

This is the Sea Two

The second of Justine's Curgenven's series of kayaking DVD series, This is the Sea Two, cements this series's reputation as some of the best sea kayaking films you'll ever see. This volume opens up with Bryan Smith running the tidal race at Skookumchuck,quickly followed by segments featuring Doug van Doren on Greenland sticks, a circumnavigation of Japan, and a profile of Sean Morley. There are some exciting footage of expert sea kayakers playing in the crazy tidal races at Penrhyn Mawr and "The Bitches" in Wales, followed by a relaxing paddle on the sandy shores of Lake Michigan, which looks like a beautiful place to paddle -- maybe one day... Justine also visits Newfoundland, as well as the Lofoten Islands in Norway.
As always, the highlights are the expeditions films, in this case it's a feature segment on Justine and two other paddlers kayaking around Tasmania. It's a wonderfully shot adventure, with gorgeous scenery.
It's a must-see for kayaking fans.

My Birthday Is In Two Months. Just Saying.

A couple of days ago we showed you the Jetbuster Jetrider, a jet-powered kayak that does away with the need for a paddle. How about we do away with the kayak altogether and just go with jet power?
This is the JetLev, a water-powered jet pack. Basically, it's the same as strapping a couple of fire hoses to your back, but unlike other jet-powered back packs, the engine and fuel tank stay on the ground (or in the water in this case), reducing the weight of the pack and the thrust required to maintain flight.
You can hit speeds of 30 kmh and a height of about 10 metres. All this can be yours for only $100,000. Come on, Lotto Max!
Check out these videos:

Mike Jackson Interviewed on Sea Kayak Podcasts.com

Local kayaker Mike Jackson is Simon Willis' latest interview subject at Sea Kayak Podcasts.com.
During the 30 minute podcast, Mike gives Simon a quick tour of all the kayaking hotspots around Vancouver Island, the where-to-go's and the how-to-get-there's. It sounds like Simon was throughly convinced that his kayaking destination in 2012 should be Vancouver Island.
Check out the interview with Mike at Sea Kayak Podcasts.com, and while you're visiting check out the dozens of other informative and entertaining kayaking podcasts archived there.

Cold Company

Unlike the rest of the duck-watching crew, I did actually get out on the water Sunday. It was only in my small inflatable, and only for an hour, but it was still good. And cold. Not as cold as some days I've been out... didn't wear a paddle jacket over my shortie wetsuit, just a merino wool sweater. (Mmmm! wool sweaters are great. I picked up a couple at a thrift store four years ago, and they still work great when paddling. Not a great fashion statement, but then, neither is the wetsuit.)
I wasn't the only kayaker at Gyro Park, either -- Gordon was launching at the same time. He's the guy who writes the Victoria Kayaker blog. We chatted for a while and then I hopped into the Dragonfly and scooted away. It took a bit longer for him to get his Romany kayak loaded and ready to cross over to Discovery Island. He was headed over to meet some friends who camped out there this weekend.
The friends I saw while kayaking weren't kayakers. They were ducks! I saw a sharp-looking merganser and some buffleheads. I wanted to stay out longer than I did, and I'd even feathered my paddle to make paddling in a breeze a bit easier. But at Stein Island a bunch of small ducks let me know that I'd gone far enough for one day, and they Didn't Want Me Here, NOW. I took the hint.
Later after a marvellous bowl of hot cocolate at Olive Olio's, when we walked over to Mystic Pond to do some duck-watching, we saw an extra car parked at Mike Jackson's place, and guessed that he was one of the campers. Turned out we were right! He wrote about it on his blog.

Just Ducky

We had planned for a paddle out to Discovery Island today. The currents were perfect for a nice paddle out to the island, but the weather changed on us and a cold weather front came in overnight. We woke up to below zero wind chills and a 20+ kmh breeze. Which isn't to say that some people didn't go kayaking today - we saw at least seven vehicles with kayak racks parked at Gyro Park as no doubt many paddlers ventured out to play in Baynes Channel, but, as noted here before, we're wimpy paddlers. (And it wasn't all fun and games out there today -- a pair of men in a dinghy were lucky to be rescued in nearby Oak Bay when they got dumped later in the day. They were out setting crab traps but the crabs almost got their revenge.)

We went for coffee, then went for a short walk to nearby Mystic Pond.

A number of creeks run into this pond, smack dab in the middle of this urban residential area. The creeks and pond are under a covenant -- homeowners are not allowed to alter the course of the streams or the pond, thus ensuring the survival of this urban oasis.

This is an important little spot for the local wildlife. Many of the local herons that I take pictures of when we kayak out of nearby Cadboro Bay nest here at Mystic Pond. Without trying hard, we counted at a dozen heron nests just in one tree.

But the herons weren't around today, only mallard ducks. So we left the ducks to the pond, while we planned another kayaking trip on a less windy day.

Noodles Can Do So Much!

Saturday I didn't get on the water, but I did get some errands run. And there was an interesting news story in the local paper, about a pool noodle that was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Noodles! Is there anything they can't do? They make improvised cushions for roof racks for your kayak, or for strapping the kayak directly to a car's roof (for goshsakes be sure to tie down the bow too, eh?). They also make good sponsons or can be snaked into a sit-on-top to keep it from filling with water. Bits of pool noodle make good rope floats. Yup, they have many uses. And now the local paper has let us know yet another application for noodles.