Kayak vs Dog

Spoiler Alert: the dog wins.
Check out the video below:

Muir Creek paddle and video

In June, I went for a marvelous  paddle, though a short one in the estuary of Muir Creek.

This was a good day to pull the little inflatable kayak out of our van and set it up on the creek bank. There was very little current as the creek nears the ocean, and I drifted about happily crossing from side to side or going upstream without any effort till a few dozen yards above the bridge it was too shallow to go further. The water is low from June to September, but I hear there is much more run-off in rainy months from November to March. I drifted downstream into the brackish, swampy part of the estuary. The other half of the estuary was open to the sea. Linking the two parts was a place that at high tide would be fine for paddling, but I was there at low tide. The link was a pebbly mini-rapid too shallow for even my boat. So I contented myself with exploring this side of the estuary and watching bubbles of swamp gas rise from the muddy bottom.

I can see why artist Jeffrey J. Boron has made a painting of Muir Creek. This place is a good one for a short outing in a sheltered space! It would be even better at high tide. If you click on this link, you can see the location along the shore west of Sooke and east of Sandringham Point. Just after West Coast Road crosses Muir Creek, there's a place to pull off the road and park. Room for half a dozen cars, maybe, but no improvements like you'd expect at a park. That's because it isn't an official park; it's just been treated like one by the local residents and visitors. There's a terrific website about Muir Creek and the many good reasons to make this site a park.

While I was paddling, Bernie went the route marked on this website as he walked along the footpath to the ocean shore and then east on the cobble beach to look for fossils. He found some, of course, from the Sooke formation!

A couple of days later in June, Karl and Stephanie went to Muir Creek  with their dog Isaac. Karl took this video, which he posted on YouTube as part of his series on Great BC Beaches. It looks like the tide was high during their visit.

Follow-up on the Norway shooting incident four years ago

Four years ago, there was a terrible shooting incident in Norway, which we mentioned briefly here on the blog because among all the events and deaths of that day there was heroism by two small boat users who rescued forty of the teenagers from the island. The summer camp at Utoya has been opened at the island again, reports the Guardian newspaper, and young people are returning to this place for camping and boating.

Kayakers Save Eagle

We've covered previous stories of animals hitching rides with kayakers. Usually, it's a small seal trying to hitch a ride, but sometimes it might be a video of a dog or cat riding a kayak. Yes, we've posted cat videos. And occasionally we find a story about a bird needing a ride, as when a kayaker gave a drowning owl a ride.
North Island Kayak recently posted this picture to their Facebook page of an even more incredible bird encounter, as two guides found a soggy young eagle in Johnstone Strait. According to their post:

"We knew it wasn't going to make it as it was just dogged, and was shaking like mad. On paddling closer it immediately started to make its way towards my kayak and tried to get on the bow but it couldn't make it. We figured the stern of the Wes' would be easier, with a little paddle help he made it up on deck. We paddled to the shore and with twenty eagles watching delivered him to dry land."

Wow -- what an amazing encounter!

The kayak that started it all

As John noted yesterday, we've been blogging here at Kayak Yak for ten years now. And the kayak that started us all paddling together is still being used this summer. The Pamlico from Wilderness Systems wasn't new when we bought it from a kayak rental place at Elk Lake; it probably wasn't new when they bought it.

This has been our go-to boat for a lot of purposes. That wide-open cockpit is useful. Are we paddling at a sheltered beach in a flotilla with kids? Put a kid in the front between the paddler's shins and the Pamlico can handle it, if everybody's careful and wearing PFDs. Is Bernie going to harvest some bullwhip kelp for making pickles? The Pamlico makes it easy to snake a couple of kelp pieces into the boat. Getting a beginner on the water? This is an easy boat to climb into or out of even for someone with a stiff knee.



The keel on the Pamlico helps this ten-foot long kayak glide a little straighter than a smooth hull.

Now the rotomolded plastic of its hull is scratched from being run up on rocks or dragged along the sand. Still holding together, this is one tough boat. The Pungo from Wilderness Systems is what they make now instead of a Pamlico single; it has a bulkhead and hatch cover like Bernie installed in this one. If people are thinking about going to a hardware store and buying one of those thin cheap kayaks with no flotation, I hope they decide instead to go to a kayak store and buy a tough kayak like the new versions of this one. It's safer and it's built to last or repair! And the kayak store will teach you lessons.

10 Years of Kayak Yakking

Here's something a little different for Throwback Thursday. Ten years ago tomorrow, we published this blog's first post, a paddle report from Cadboro Bay.
It was only the third time I'd ever been in a kayak, and the first time Louise and I had been out in our new-to-us kayaks (which you can see below) that I had bought off my sister, and the first time I'd ever been in a kayak on the ocean. My previous two times kayaking was just going for a couple of little lake paddles in Paula and Bernie's little red Pamlico (which you can also see below). Despite living on the ocean's shore for most of my life, it had never even occurred to me that kayaking might be something I might like to do until Paula and Bernie bought their red kayak second-hand, maybe even third hand, from a rental place that was unloading old rental boats, and they dragged Louise and I out to Elk Lake to give it a spin. Hesitatingly, I climbed into their kayak not sure what to expect, but after a few paddle strokes, I was enthralled, a big smile spreading across my face. I could get used to this, I thought to myself.
A few days later, Bernie and I rode our bikes out to Matheson Lake, where we met Paula and Louise who drove out with the Pamlico tied to the roof of the car. While the four of us picnicked on the beach, we each took a turn paddling the little kayak around the lake. I think it's fair to say we were all pretty hooked by this point.
Then I recalled that my sister had bought a pair of kayaks some years earlier, a pair of purple Dagger Bayous. Inquiring, I discovered that they had used them only a couple of times and that they were just taking up space in her basement. So a deal was struck, the kayaks had a new home, we had a new hobby, and our bank accounts have never recovered.
As we geared up, I also bought a waterproof case for my digital camera, and it only seemed natural to me to take pictures while we were out kayaking. Every since then, I've taken at least one camera out with me when kayaking, sometimes even three cameras. (Except for that infamous time when I forgot all my cameras at home.) I had a couple of other blogs going (blogs were A Really Big Thing back in 2005) so starting a kayaking blog seemed like an obvious thing to do.
And now, here we are ten years later.
The blog continues...we'll be at well over 1800 posts by the end of the year. Our most popular post continues to be a 2010 post about the two Norwegian guys in full wet suits who were waiting on lawn chairs in the street for the Google Maps car to drive by. Over 17,000 page views. I have no idea why that post is so popular. If I knew why, I'd be a millionaire blogger by now.
We've slowed down the kayaking in the last few years; various injuries and aches and pains have taken their toll, and after all, we are no longer young spring chickens in our early 40s! :) Also, landlubber issues and activities have consumed more time. And time, of course, is the one thing that there's never enough of.
The little kayaks Louise and I paddled in this post are long gone from our home, moved on to another good home. Their replacements in our basement are bigger, better and much more seaworthy. These newer kayaks probably don't get used as much as they would like, but they do get used every so often. And every time we use them, that big old smile spreads across my face.


And so, without any further ado, here's a re-post of that first blog entry from August 7, 2005:

A lovely sunny day for a paddle. Bernie's keen to begin.


Here I am, the first time out in my new ride, a Dagger Bayou. My sister and her hubby owned a pair of these and have hardly used them over the last five years. So in one fell swoop I bought two kayaks, all the gear and roof racks. Yes, I know my paddle is facing the wrong way. I'm just a newbie. This is only the third time that I've been in a kayak. I don't even have a skirt yet.


The Daggers are slightly longer than Paula and Bernie's Pamlico, which they took turns in.
Here's Louise in her Dagger.


Paula is really setting the pace.






This is fun! I think I could get used to this!


John's pictures are here.

Some People Are Dying to go SUPping

There's a myserious man in Australia who is stand-up paddling the lakes and rivers around Canberra dressed like an undertaker. And to make his costume authentic, his paddleboard resembles a coffin.
Some believe he is a local paddler who is known for paddling odd creations (like this kayak he made from plastic bottles), while others are unsure of the origins of the paddlebaord phantom who plies the foggy waterways. Either way, it's a mist-ery.

Amy Schumer goes SUP!

Okay, now it's official that comedian Amy Schumer is the happening thing -- because she's gone stand-up paddleboarding with her girlfriends. In an interview Monday night on the Daily Show, she told host Jon Oliver about having a marvelous holiday with her circle of friends. And Jennifer Lawrence came along for the day they went jet-skiing and had all kinds of fun.
As the saying goes, Pics or it didn't happen. Here's a photo that Schumer put up on Instagram and Twitter:

You can see many more images from that holiday if you google "Amy Schumer" and paddleboard. The page also comes up with images from her press conference with relative Senator Chuck Schumer in which they both speak in favour of gun control legislation in the wake of a cinema shooting at a showing of her film Trainwreck.

Now, This is a Kayak

Photo by Tobin, via flickr....

Susan on the North Saskatchewan river

Friend Susan had this to say on Facebook:

Had such a fantastic day canoeing on the North Saskatchewan, that we've decided to turn pirate. Next time you see me on the river, we'll be flying a Jolly Roger and waving cutlasses and cursing the power boats.
Also want to buy some chocolate pieces of eight. Anybody who can answer the riddle, 'what's a pirate's favourite letter?' will get one. Unless they're in a power boat.

When a friend of hers suggested that the favourite letter might be ...'R'...   Susan replied:
A good guess! But a pirate's first love is the 'C'!
 

Kayaks and Lightning

This picture is making the rounds on the Interwebs again, supposedly showing the remains of a kayak that was struck by lightning. I'm pretty sure that this kayak was not struck by lightning, but rather is the victim of a fire. There's what looks to be a gasoline-powered compressor at the far end of the dock, the deck is charred but not exploded apart which what one might expect if lightning struck the dock, and the smoldering deck fire was stopped on the right side by a garden hose. It's possible, of course, that the initial source of the fire was a lightning strike, but I believe this kayak succumbed to the fire, not lightning.
Regardless of the lineage of this photo, it does serve as a good reminder of lightning safety when it comes to kayaking. Getting struck by lightning is rare, and getting struck by lightning in a kayak is even rarer. But it does, unfortunately, happen, sometimes with fatal results. In our part of the world, we might get one or two thunderstorms a year, if that, so lightning safety is something that is rarely considered here.
Some good tips can be found at the Newburyport Kayak Report, and at PaddlingCalifornia.com. The most important tip is, of course, check the weather forecast before heading out.

Poirier Lake

Another good round of commando kayaking on a summer day! I'm trying to learn all the buses in and around Sooke near Victoria. This time I hopped on the #63 again with my inflatable Lagoon (a dandy little kayak), and hopped off at the sign for Poirier Lake, with two five-car parking lots right beside Otter Point Road. Poirier is a little kidney-bean shaped lake a few hundred metres across, surrounded by tall trees and a hill, with a few houses peeking out from the trees. On the map it looks like the lake drains through a creek into Young Lake nearby. Poirier is one of several small lakes in and near Victoria that are part of a management plan.

As Hook and Bullet website says, 

Poirier Lake is a lake located just 2.5 miles from Sooke, in Capital Regional District, in the province of British Columbia, Canada. Whether you’re fly fishing, baitcasting or spinning your chances of getting a bite here are good. So grab your favorite fly fishing rod and reel, and head out to Poirier Lake. For Fishing License purchase, fishing rules, and fishing regulations please visit British Columbia Fish & Wildlife. Please remember to check with the local Fish and Wildlife department to ensure the stream is open to the public. Now get out there and fish!

As a matter of fact, one can go fishing only in lakes or the ocean on the whole island this summer. Long before the Department of Fisheries closed all the streams and rivers due to the dry weather, all the fly-fishing clubs and First Nations had announced that no one should fish in any of the streams or rivers. The poor fish are suffering from low water conditions, with some streams drying up to leave only a few warm pools of water.

I rolled up to the lakeshore and chatted with a pair of workers for Juan de Fuca Recreation and the Capital Regional District. I found the plans for park improvement online. There's a nice picnic shelter here above the shore, and a few picnic tables as well. The paths are crushed gravel, and there is a porta-john. Plans are in place to turn the two concrete pads into the base for good little docks for fishing, one of which will be a boat launch. No motor boats are allowed, but small rowboats, canoes, kayaks and the like are welcome. Swimming is not recommended.

The lake has a shallow muddy bottom on the north-west shore, with at least three kinds of water lilies growing. All around the lake are many sunken logs with branches sticking up near or to the surface. These would be places to look for fishes, and possibly turtles, but neither were visible today.

I turned on my SPOT beacon and sent an OK signal from the lake. Later I sent another from the bus stop a little way along the road while I was waiting for the bus. It's a nice way to let Bernie know at home that I've arrived at the lake, and then that I'm waiting at the bus stop after leaving the lake. Paddling alone is less dangerous when a person wears a PFD (always), chooses a sensible place sheltered from strong wind, and has a plan to avoid annoying problems when possible.

I can see why Poirier would be a popular lake for fishing. Not only is it right on a paved road (and a bus route!) but there are clouds of bugs fluttering over the lake so I'm sure the trout are snapping them up. While I was paddling slowly along the south-east shore near the steep hillside, the water looked deeper than where I launched. It was cool in the shade from the trees, there were dragonflies eating clouds of mosquitoes. Several big splashes told me there were big fish swimming unseen. All in all, a pleasant place to have a quiet and relaxed paddle in a small boat.

Swimmer and a Kayak Flotilla in Active Pass

On July 25, Karl and Stephanie were on a BC Ferry going from Tsawassen to Swartz Bay. While the ferry was in Active Pass (as in, a narrow passage between Gabriola and Mayne Islands with fast, swirling currents, where the traffic protocol is Stay The F*$% Out Of The Way Of The Ferries) they saw a swimmer with a group of kayakers for escort.

Here's the video Karl took:


If this video doesn't load, you can find it here on YouTube, where Karl wrote:

While taking the 1:00PM ferry from Swartz Bay (Vancouver Island) to Tsawwassen (Vancouver BC) on July 25, 2015, they told us that a person was swimming through Active Pass (Between Galiano Island and Mayne Island) with a group of kayakers. They said something about his route, but I didn't hear it. Swimming around Mayne Island perhaps? If anyone knows the name of the swimmer and their route, please post it in the comments. The ferry was the Spirit of British Columbia. Filmed with a Canon HD CMOS digital camera.

Canoe Jumping

Stunt jumping ain't been the same since the late Evel Knievel retired. But if he'd ever gotten into a canoe, I bet he would have tried something like this. Check out the video below:

With Ben in Cooper's Cove

Today there was time for a quick paddle at Cooper's Cove with Ben. He's made various appearances on the blog, often quoted in conversation or chats, sometimes photographed when kayaking with us. Today he paddled our old red Pamlico, the go-to boat for a casual recreational paddle.
Bernie is the one who has taken this boat the most places around here anyone has ever handled this model of kayak, according to Brian Henry of Ocean River, and when in practise Bernie can stand it on its side. But he's been out in it twice this summer and doesn't feel in practise. As for Ben, when he took it out the first few minutes were taken up with practise leaning around and trying various grips on the paddle befoer he settled in and felt comfortable steering and picking up speed.
Cooper's Cove is a nice place to paddle, sheltered from most of the wind. Here's a link showing my SPOT message during the outing. Ben and I looked in particular along the peninsula where one could see the earth accumulating over time and eroding at the edges. As long as that soil has been accumulating since the ice age, people have been using this little cove. A pity that the cove took such a pounding during the construction of the water main from Sooke Lake reservoir to Victoria. There are some articles about that time here and here where the flowline sounds like an interesting sight to see.
Bernie came back to pick up the happy paddlers. Then I went off to the grocery on my bike, and came back to find Ben and Bernie crowbar-ing some damaged boards off the porch deck. Ah, summer!

Standup Paddling Across The Atlantic

People have rowed and kayaked across the Atlantic, but if his plan comes together, next January Nicolas Jarossay will attempt to become the first person to stand-up-paddle unsupported across the mighty ocean.
He plans to paddle from Cape Verde off of Africa to Martinique in the Caribbean, a trip 4,000 km trip estimated to take 60 - 75 days using a specially designed paddleboard 6.3 metre paddleboard with a pod at the front for sleeping.
Jarossay is not the only person lining up an Atlantic corssing by SUP. Chris Bertish is also planning an SUP crossing from Morocco to Miami starting in November, 2016.

A Gentle Reminder...

....to securely tie-down your kayaks to your car. Or what happens in the video below may happen to you.

Friends in Montana

No, Kayak Yak paddlers aren't in Montana. But some of our friends have been there! Most recently, our friend Ed Willett the Canadian SF writer (check out his website here) made a trip to Montana with his family. While his wife was busy with a professional event, Ed and their daughter went rafting down a frothy section of Gallatin River near Yellowstone National Park.

Ed and his daughter are the pair of paddlers on the middle bench of their raft.

You can't tell in this photo that under the PFD and paddle jacket, Ed is wearing a wet suit. Apparently it was not tiger-striped like the futurist suit on the cover of his novel Marseguro.

Ed reports that the outing was fun, and very very wet. It was a two-hour excursion highlighted by the Mad Mile, which has eight Class 3 to 3.5 rapids in a mile. Geyser Whitewater Expeditions was the company that got them on the water. It sounds like they had a great time.

Stranded Orca Saved

photo from the Whale Point Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/whale.point.3/posts/912426832151101

A young transient orca was saved by whale researchers and local volunteers yesterday when the orca became beached on some rocks as the tide went out. The orca was spotted high and dry on the rocky shore near Hartley Bay on the central BC coast. The volunteers kept the orca cooled with watered sheets and blankets for nearly seven years it took for the tide to return.
The CBC reported:

"We decided the best thing to do would be to keep her cool, that meant to put water on her body and we used blankets and sheets," said Hermann Meuter, a co-founder of Cetacean Lab. "It was the only thing we could do." Meuter said they could see the orca's behaviour change as they began to help her. "At first she was stressed, you could see that her breathing was getting a little faster," said Meuter. But after about 15 to 20 minutes, she began to calm down. "I think she knew that we were there to help her," said Meuter. Around 4 p.m. PT, the tide began to rise and the orca was able to start freeing herself. "It took her about 45 minutes to negotiate how best to get off the rocks," said Meuter. "We all just kept our distance at that point." When she swam away, the orca was quickly reunited with her pod, which was nearby.

Check out the remarkable story in the video below: