A west coat sea kayaker guide with a whitewater paddling background attempted a trip around Vancouver Island. He had a hard time up the east coast, but did okay, making it to Port Hardy. It is assumed he paddles in the off season to due to his guide career that takes place in the better paddling weather. He made it to San Joseph Bay the other day, but pulled out for good due to rough waters and the problem of negotiating Brooks Peninsula with his declining time window. This may have been a wise decision. Brooks is especially difficult in bad seas with surf break extending well out, and boomers that grow exponentially as you head further out to avoid surf. Doug Lloyd *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
Paddling around Vancouver Island is a snap. Cape Scott, Brooks Peninsula, Estevan point. There are days you could paddle those places with no problem in an open Coleman $400 canoe from WalMart. In the summer, there are a fair number of such days and many only slightly more daunting. And there are many days that you would not want to be out in these exposed places. If you were lucky. you could paddle every day and whip around the island. In the winter, there are far fewer mellow days and the place can look very unfriendly for long stretches of time in a fashion that is unfamiliar to the summer paddler. It can be very nasty and to be alone out there for days on end -- I could never do it. Adrenalin exhaustion. Places that you could easily stop to rest on a "typical" summer day are completely closed out. You are forced to travel well off shore which makes finding places to land a lot harder. When I have been there "off-season" (and I have never been there in the dead of winter) it is distinctly "less friendly". But there was a February a couple years ago where things were very calm for many days in a row. It would have been easy. Spring and fall -- something in between obviously. Weather is such a huge variable that when someone tells you they have paddled around Brooks you have no real idea what they were up against when they did it. It could have been a joke or a daredevil trip. If you have time without deadlines then things are more doable. You have to be able to stand the loneliness and boredom of just hanging out in the rain on some beach. There is a nice description that J. Swan has about a trip along the west coast of Graham Island (Queen Charlottes) in the 1800's. It is a pretty exposed place and he has some Indians doing the paddling in a open canoe. They did it by NOT paddling MANY MANY days to his frustration. If it was questionable at all, they did not move. But if time is no object then it is a strategy that will work. The guy made a good decision with his declining time window. IMO. I do not know what this April has been like but there are a lot of Aprils that would intimidate me, not that I am so courageous as a baseline. I do enjoy the place in summer. On Apr 26, 2007, at 4:53 PM, Doug Lloyd wrote: > A west coat sea kayaker guide with a whitewater paddling background > attempted a trip around Vancouver Island. He had a hard time up the > east coast, but did okay, making it to Port Hardy. It is assumed he > paddles in the off season to due to his guide career that takes > place in the better paddling weather. He made it to San Joseph Bay > the other day, but pulled out for good due to rough waters and the > problem of negotiating Brooks Peninsula with his declining time > window. This may have been a wise decision. Brooks is especially > difficult in bad seas with surf break extending well out, and > boomers that grow exponentially as you head further out to avoid surf. *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
[Please remove all old content that is not pertinent to your reply including old headers and footers. It's list policy.... this post was modified to meet policy] On 4/26/07, Robert Livingston <bearboat2_at_comcast.net> wrote: > > Paddling around Vancouver Island is a snap. Cape Scott, Brooks > Peninsula, Estevan point. There are days you could paddle those > places with no problem in an open Coleman $400 canoe from WalMart. > > In the summer, there are a fair number of such days and many only > slightly more daunting. And there are many days that you would not > want to be out in these exposed places. If you were lucky. you could > paddle every day and whip around the island. Experienced cruising sailboaters are well aware of the dangers of the equinox. March/April and September/October make for particularly unpleasant weather associations in both the northern and southern hemispheres. The trip between Tahiti and New Zealand - often called the "milk run" for its mild weather - is well known for its equinoctal gales and one can be tossed around in a very nasty manner if one's timing is off by a couple of weeks. Of course, spring and fall are the very times when many of us want to get out and either enjoy the last few paddles or get a head start on the new season.Worse yet, we tend to have rusty skills in the early season just when we might need them the most. Craig Jungers Royal City, WA *************************************************************************** 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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