Introduction
Dear <<First Name>>,
We are looking forward to seeing lots of members at the party on Saturday December 3rd. It has been a sell out event. Thanks to Alan Campbell and his team of elves for organizing!
Here is the next edition of the SISKA newsletter. We hope you enjoy it. We also hope that members will continue sending in 100-150 word articles from our various paddles; if you can, please contact one of us.
You can find an archive of all our past newsletters at: http://siska.ca/members/siska-newsletter-archive
Michael Jackson (SISKA president) and Ben van Drimmelen (editor) |
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Upcoming Events
December 3, 9:00 am - 3:00 pm, Cadboro Bay to Cadboro Bay Christmas Paddle (RELAXED PADDLE)
December 3, 12:00 pm - 3:00 pm, SISKA Christmas Luncheon & Party! (now sold out)
December 11, 9:30 am - 3:00 pm, Albert Head to Witty's Lagoon Paddle (ENERGIZER PADDLE)
December 18, 1:30 pm - 5:00 pm, Songhees to Victoria Harbour Christmas Caroling Paddle (RELAXED PADDLE) See details below.
December 18, 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm, SISKA Pool Clinic and Drop in session
January 9, 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm. Injury Prevention in Sea Kayaking - Keeping you on the Water with Jennie Sutton
January 17, 6:00 pm - 9:30 pm, Tides & Currents with Mike Miles
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SISKA CHRISTMAS CAROLING PADDLE 2016
Join paddle leader Debbie Leach in the fun of a caroling by kayak round Victoria Harbour. We will launch by the totem pole near Delta Ocean Pointe at 1:30 on Sunday December 18, raising our voices in West Bay Marina and Fisherman's Wharf. 'Twill be fantastic if you and your boat are looking particularly festive!
Alan Campbell has printed and laminated carol song sheets for us. (To preview and practice the carols http://www.nwoc.com/xmassongs07.pdf). Sign up on the SISKA website for a merry-making afternoon and celebrate the season in style.
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Many thanks to Glynis Newman and her helpers Susan Duhamel and Gary Allen who have coordinated paddles to our Christmas parties over the years.
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What’s in a Name?
This is our local name series! Most of our featured names are drawn from “The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Place Names” by Andrew Scott. We have a copy in the library!
Becher Bay and area
Two of our club paddles this month were based out of Becher Bay, so it seems appropriate to focus on the names around Becher Bay for this newsletter. Captain Henry Kellett was again responsible for many of the names - this time, he was honouring many of his RN surveyor colleagues. Captain Kellett named all of the following features.
Becher Bay
Becher Bay was named in 1846 after Alexander Becher (1796-1876). Becher was a Royal Navy hydrographer who began his career charting lakes in eastern Canada. Sometimes this bay is misnamed Beecher Bay, perhaps in confusion with Beechey Head!
Beechey Head
Beechey head was also named in 1846 after Frederick Beechey (1976-1856) who was a prominent Royal Navy navigator and geographer. Beechey served under Franklin and Parry and was eventually elected for a term as president of the Royal Geographical Society.
Bedford Islands
Once again it looks as if Capt Kellett was responsible for naming these islands, in this case after one of his midshipmen, Bedford Pim. Bedford was already a famous name in RN hydrographic circles at the time as two brothers, George and Edward Bedford were prominent Royal navy surveyors.
Alldridge Point
Alldridge point was named after another RN surveyor, George Alldridge.
Creyke Point
And Richard Creyke was yet another RN surveyor.
Frazer Island
This island was named after a RN surgeon, Thomas Frazer, who served with Kellett on board HMS Starling during the 1st Anglo-Chinese war of 1840-41.
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BC Marine Trails Network message:
The Salish Sea Marine Trail is forging ahead, and we need your support to help complete it. The trail project will result in a 257-km paddling route linking Vancouver and Victoria as part of the Trans Canada Trail and create potentially 11 new paddling campsites along the southern BC coast. The project is budgeted at $55,000 and so far we have $25,000 funded. We are looking to raise $10,000 from the public through crowdfunding to help with some of the vital tasks that are necessary.
https://fundrazr.com/salishseamarinetrail?ref=sh_e6H8g3
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Tips for the trips
Stumbling in the Dark
A 'bright' idea for a stocking stuffer, perhaps? Hanging a small light at the top of your tent makes It is easy to find at night. You can even leave it there when you strike your tent.
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Camp-suited Cookery
Lynn Baier advises that Roger Botting has a simple but excellent pizza recipe, a bacon, apple, blue cheese treat.
For the crust: 2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 heaping tablespoon of Quick Yeast, about 1 cup warm water and 1 teaspoon of sugar (to get the yeast really going). Mix the flour, yeast and sugar in a large greased bowl and add warm water (almost too warm to hot tub in) and stir until the dough forms a ball. Not stiff, not runny. Let it sit for a couple of hours for it to rise.
For the topping: Cut 4 strips bacon into small pieces. Cut 1 apple into small chunks and gently fry 1 small onion. Set aside a handful of shredded mozzarella cheese and another of crumbled blue cheese.
Then put it all together: Fry the bacon until its almost as cooked as you like to eat it along with the onion in a 12 in cast iron fry pan. Pour out most of the bacon grease and scrape off the bacon crumbs. Then carefully spread the pizza dough into the greased pan, using wet fingers to gently spread the dough around until it covers all of the pan and a small bit up the sides. Cover with the mozzarella almost to the edge. Then, lay out the bacon, onion, apple and blue cheese. Bake in a hot (450 degree) oven, checking every few minutes until it looks to be cooked through.
This could easily be done in a dutch oven with about 5 hot briquettes underneath and 3 on top or on a skillet with one of those silicone cooking covers. And you can use your own ingenuity to slightly adapt this to a series of pre-prepared ingredient packets for a kayak camping trip!
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2016 Off-water Clinics
A huge thank-you to workshop leaders for the time and effort they put into presenting their clinics this year. Thanks also to the coordinators who orchestrated and facilitated these clinics - Barbara McDougall, Edgar Hulatt, Don Tunstall and Don Scott.
The leaders were able to offer the following clinics:
Injury Prevention for Kayakers Jennie Sutton
GPS Mike Jackson
Kayak Repair Andrea, Blackline Marine
Tides and Currents Mike Miles
Drysuit and Gasket Repair Larry New and Tony Playfair
Weather and Waves Don Tunstall & Sheila Porteous
Clayoquot Sound Trip Planning Rob Zacharias
Charts & Compass: Navigation Basics John Abercrombie
Kayak Trip Advice Doug Alderson
Paddle Meals for Group Trips Debbie Leach, Lynn Baier, Paula
Ball & Beth Anne Masselink
Background & State of Kayaking Industry Brian Henry, Campbell Black
& Mike Henderson
Radio Operators Course Edgar Hulatt
Radio Operators Refresher Edgar Hulatt
Wilderness First Aid for Kayakers Alison Harle
Marine Communication and Traffic Services Tour
Detailed Planning for a Lengthy Wilderness Lynn Baier, Jennie Sutton,
Kayak Trip Debbie Leach, Alan
Campbell, John Minkley &
Morley Eldridge
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Rescue tip:
Jennie Sutton was able to demonstrate a rescue technique during our November 13 paddle from Spirit Bay to Cabin Point.
Sometimes, a swimmer can't get back into their kayak right away; for example, if one's empty kayak is bouncing back and forth in a surge channel. Waiting for the kayak to reach a location where others can safely extract it can take a while. In such a potentially-prolonged immersion situation, the swimmer can get chilled even with a dry suit.
It is best to get totally out of the water. This can easily be accomplished by having the swimmer climb onto the stern of a first rescuer’s kayak. That gets the swimmer mostly out of the water, but makes the rescue kayak less stable. That stability is provided by having a second kayak raft up with the first. Now the swimmer can swing her legs onto the nice stable platform provided by the two rafted kayaks, completely out of the water as others bring the wayward kayak over.
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Step 1 - Out of the water, but tippy
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Step 2 - Dry AND stable
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Paddling Video tip - Greenland and Euro paddles
A short video explaining key differences between Euro and Greenland Paddles.
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Greenland and Euro Paddles on Paddling.Net
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Library addition - "This is the Roll 2"
The SISKA library now has two copies of This is the Roll 2. Some segments of it were filmed at Goose Spit in Comox! The copies will be available in the tub at our next meeting.
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Pool and clinic costs
Effective January 2017 the Drop In Pool fee will increase from $15 to $20 and the On and Off Water Clinic fee will increase from $10 to $15. The rationale for this is to cover operating costs of the pool rental and room rentals for clinics.
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Gordon Brown clinics with SISKA - upcoming
Just a quick heads up that we are hoping to run some clinics with Gordon Brown this winter. He is staying on the Island and we are looking at some dates in January. If you want to find out more about Gordon, check out his DVD site: Sea Kayak with Gordon Brown (we have several of the DVDs in the library) and Skyak Adventures, his sea kayaking operation on the Isle of Skye.
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Following John Roger's presentation to SISKA in October, five curious paddlers set out from Banfield Park, wheels strapped to decks, to explore the Victoria Waterways Loop.
The weather was perfect: bright sun and little wind. A gentle flood tide took us under Tillicum bridge and up the Gorge to the new Loop ramp from Shoreline Road. Landing was still hampered at the upper parts by unused construction rocks but there will soon be a smooth gravel surface for easy access at higher tides.
Then, it was on with the wheels and a 1 km portage along a paved (E&N trail) and gravel path to the launch at Portage Beach in Esquimalt Harbour. Wheels off, and we paddled past various coves and islets to the CFB Pacific Fleet Naval Base. (100 meters distance is required from all ships and installations - VHF contact on Ch 10 advised). Continuing along the exposed Esquimalt oceanfront, we passed the Brothers Islands for a leisurely lunch on the sandy beach at Fleming Cove.
With insufficient time for a nap, we headed past Macauley and McLoughlan Points, West Bay, Colvile Island and into Victoria Inner Harbour with its vibrant marine traffic.Flattered we were as they opened the Blue Bridge just for us.... until we noticed a huge barge and two tugs silently emerging from the other side. An easy paddle under the Selkirk trestle brought us back to our launch site where we diverted for coffee at the Spiral Café. A very pleasant 8.4 nm paddle, it took 4 hrs.
For a recent article, go to http://www.vicnews.com/news/401499585.html. When completed, the Victoria Waterways Loop will offer something for every type and level of paddler from the protected Gorge Waterway to the more challenging Esquimalt ocean shoreline. The scenery and associated wildlife include the urban Gorge waters, Fisgard lighthouse, some open ocean, the Inner Harbour and a bit of industrial Victoria. John Rogers reports that Victoria City Council recently voted unanimously to support the Loop. Check out the website at www.vicwaterloop.ca - comments are welcome.
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Kayakable Birding
Birds are a fine feature of any kayak trip. But which is which? In each Newsletter, we’ll describe a couple of species that you are likely to see at this particular time of year.
This issue, a couple of those small black and white ducks that hang out in the bays and coves, diving in shallower areas.
The Bufflehead is one of our smallest ducks, usually in small to moderate flocks. The male has a distinctive large mostly white head on a mostly white body (OK, it has a dark back.) Females are a drab grey-brown, with an oval white patch behind the eye. These ducks are fanatic calendar-watchers; they return for the winter pretty much on October 15 every year (a day earlier on leap years).
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Buffleheads, male and female
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Somewhat similar to, and tending to hang out with, Buffleheads are Common Goldeneyes. Again, a mostly white body and dark back; however, note the black head with the round white spot on the face. (If that white spot is a crescent, you're seeing our other Goldeneye, the Barrow's Goldeneye.) The female is just grey, with a brown head and, yes, a bright golden eye.
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Common Goldeneye, female and male
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Becher Bay Relaxed Paddle
On October the 30th, 15 of us put in at Spirit Bay, formerly known as Cheanuh Marina. This little village is really starting to grow, in a delightfully colourful way. We started by winding our way around the shoreline, checking out all the nooks and crannies, past the point and around as far as the tombolo between Large Bedford and Vancouver Islands. We backtracked a bit to the beach just below where an old movie set cabin is crumbling away.
After a nice social lunch, we crossed the bay, staying a bit in the lee of the east wind, past Frazer Island and over to Aylard Farm. We started to make our way to Aldridge Point to have a look at the petroglyph, but conditions were starting to become a bit challenging. We left that for another day (the "other day" materialized in an Energizer Paddle two weeks later, on November 13) and continued along the shore, staying on the inside of Wolf Island and back to the marina. Orcas and humpbacks had been reported at Aldridge Point the previous day, but we had to do with seals, mink, and thermo-regulating sea lions. Three of the group saw a black bear, too! We had Daniel Donnecke along to point out and identify over 40 different bird species in the Bay. We de-briefed at Mychosen cafe; another fantastic day all round.
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Paddling in Becher Bay
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New Names for Club Paddles?
We want to tweak how we name our club paddles, and would like suggestions from the membership. At the moment the names are “Relaxed” and “Energizer”…. We also have 3-4 “Special Interest” paddles (the birding and intertidal paddles). Are there better or more evocative names?
Submit your suggestions to Jennie Sutton …and be eligible to win a coveted prize! |
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Meeting - Mike Gilbert - Paddle Canada
Mike Gilbert, Paddle Canada's President and BC director, came to our November meeting to tell us about Paddle Canada's programs and plans. You can find out more about Paddle Canada by clicking this link. Paddle Canada has been advocating for paddling in our country since 1971 and Mike was able to tell us about some of the new programs such as Adventuresmart and Paddlesmart. We also had a substantive Q&A with him afterwards.
Paddle Canada's Four Priorities:
- Public Awareness and Membership
- Engageing Youth in Paddling Skills and Safety
- Partnerships With Similar Organizations
- Instructor and Skill Development
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