Gordin reported: >Last Sunday six members of the Victoria Canoe and Kayak Club and a couple of people well known to the Paddlewise community circumnavigated Mayne Island in the heart of the Canadian Gulf Island's of British Columbia...We call ourselves the Fat Bastard Kayaking Gang. < Okay, so m-a-y-b-e we're the "moderately" Fat Bastard Kayaking Gang," which I suppose is still better than the "gang who couldn't paddle straight," which would perhaps describe some of the other groups of Sunday paddlers in Victoria. Though I imagine the real reason you started this alternative paddle group was to get away from the usual short-milage, slow-heart-rate Sunday paddles. :-) But me, a fat bast*rd? Well, I suppose. Not that I don't try hard _not_ to be a bast*ard. I mean, you tell me the guys are cheap and don't want to overly support the BC Ferry Corporation, so after working overtime for the provincial government all day Saturday -- processing a bilzzilion more physician's claims than my coworkers -- I stay up late for 4 more hours, no dinner, producing a heavy-duty, break-apart, stub-tenon joinery roof rack for four kayaks, then go home to a late meal, gear-gathering, and what little sleep between PVC heart beats. Then arriving at Park n' Ride, you don't even want to try the rack out. man! :-) Okay, so we get to the ferry terminal early, and wait, and wait. Then we get to Mayne, on the water, and fly through the "big bad ebb" in no time at all. Heck, we were circumnaved around the island by lunch, despite some residual tide. And I never did get a morning coffee. Poor Steve in his dry suit. Talk about your portable sauna! Well, the company was good, and I held back my pace as much as I could, though who in the heck ever said them plastic Gulfstreams were slow? Or was Bill hell-bent on that after-paddle beer? Come to think of it, the pace was pretty fast overall. And the Seda Glider of Hans, sure glad he didn't crank it out. Well, too much testosterone, even for a bunch of old, fat bast... Glad you enjoyed it just inside the south entrance to Active Pass. When I was a wee lad, I did indeed paddle out to the Pass, paddle in the pass through a full tide cycle, then catch the last ferry home (ferries home-bound are free). Now that's cheap. Done it at night too. Ah to be young again. You should try it on a big spring ebb or flood. The wake stabilizes at five-foot plus. Stationary surfing is epic (though I did get one nice ride Sunday). The whole pass looks like a class IV river. Just the facts, eh? Well, you could have mentioned the Coast Guard vessel that came through soon after the ferry. Funny how we all spilt, making for shore. Good little kayakers we were -- 'till they left. :-) Then there was the little sailboat that wouldn't get out of the way of the ferry as it bore down, blasting its horn. That was great entertainment from the pub's patio to watch. Thought the ferry was going to do a full 180. Hmmm, I think it did. At least it wasn't kayakers in the way. As for the fat bas*ard thing, maybe you are right. I had to take an ambulance from the clinic after work Monday, to the ER. Went into Atrial Fibrillation that afternoon, with a BP of 200 over 150. Pharmaceutical intervention prevailed eventually. Now I just gotta to pay my ambulance bill. So, guess you definitely got our heart rates up on the weekend. Well, nighty night. OT at 7:00 am tomorrow. But Sunday, I'm sleeping in! Doug Lloyd Victoria BC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ "Whatever can be said at all can be said clearly and whatever cannot be said clearly should not be said at all." Ludwig Wittgenstein ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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