Introduction
Dear <<First Name>>,
Thanks to those members who contributed photos and materials. After enjoying a SISKA event or paddle, please consider sending a short (100-150 words) summary article; for more information, contact one of us. If you would like to start a regular column, please let us know!
Alan Campbell (SISKA president) and Tony Playfair (editor)
PS: You can find SISKA on Facebook at this link.
PPS: SISKA has a Meetup site for "impromptu" and other paddles organized by club members. For more details, go to https://www.meetup.com/SISKA-Meetup/. To join this, you have to be a club member.
PPPS: You can find the SISKA newsletter archive here: http://goo.gl/VUkafR |
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Upcoming SISKA Events
Saturday, July 06th, 2019 - 9:30 AM to 3:00 PM - Oak Bay Marina to Contingency Paddle
Saturday, July 13th, 2019 - 9:30 AM to 3:00 PM - Brentwood Bay Ferry Wharf to Todd Inlet Nocturnal Pyrotechnic Observation Paddle
Sunday, July 21st, 2019 - 9:30 AM to 3:00 PM - Island View Beach to D'Arcy Island Paddle
Saturday, July 27th, 2019 - 9:30 AM to 3:00 PM - Amherst to Portland Island Paddle
Saturday, August 03rd, 2019 - 9:30 AM to 3:00 PM - Oak Bay Marina to Contingency Paddle
Saturday, August 10th, 2019 - 9:30 AM to 3:00 PM - Brentwood Bay Ferry Wharf to Todd Inlet Nocturnal Pyrotechnic Observation Paddle
Sunday, August 18th, 2019 - 9:30 AM to 3:00 PM - Fleming Beach to Fisgard Lighthouse Paddle
Saturday, August 24th, 2019 - 9:30 AM to 3:00 PM - Moses Point to Russell Island Paddle
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Community Events of Interest
Saturday, July 06th, 2019 - 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM - MEC Paddlefest - Willows Beach
If you are aware of an event that should be included in the next Newsletter, please email Alan Campbell at alanglencampbell@shaw.ca.
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West Coast Vancouver Island Kayak Trip: Coal Harbour to Victoria, July 1-31
Hi Folks,
When Rob Zacharias turned 50 he kayaked all the way around Vancouver Island by himself – a truly amazing accomplishment!
Unfortunately, due to fog, wind and weather he was unable to enjoyably explore parts of the West Coast on his homeward journey.
So…this year Rob turned 65, and decided to celebrate by paddling the West Coast of Vancouver Island again from Coal Harbour, Quatsino Sound, back to Victoria.
Michael Egilson and myself are joining Rob for what will no doubt be another epic paddling adventure!
Covering a total distance of about 310 nm over the month of July, the general plan is to paddle about 20 nm, then camp 2 nights and explore a little more in the area by day paddling and/or hiking.
Of course, wind and weather will ultimately determine what can be safely paddled when, and allowance has been made for “weather days” so the plan will inevitably evolve as the month unfolds.
We are using an InReach satellite communicator to track and message, so, if you wish, you can follow our journey and posts at the following link:
https://share.garmin.com/WhereweareontheCoast
Cheers,
Alan, Rob and Michael
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Siska Picnic
by Fred Pishalski
June 15th was the South Island Sea Kayaking Association 2019 Picnic (Clinics and Gear Swap). It was held at Cadboro Bay Beach Gyro Park. The Gear Swap was 9am-12pm, people brought lots of used gear and boats for sale, much equipment and cash changed hands in a few hours. During the morning there were clinics in Kayak Fitting, Navigation Exercise with Chart & Compass, Kayak Camping, Arranging Meet Ups and Trips, and a TRAK Kayak demo. In the afternoon there were clinics pertaining to Towing, Forward Stroke, On Land Weather, How to use your GPS and finally a Relaxed Paddle. A very special shout out to Jane Jacek and her minions for putting this event on plus thanks to everyone who showed and had a good time.
Here is a link to the many photos of the day - https://imgur.com/a/TYcV4AS |
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Trip Reports
Cougar Annie's Gardens
by Debbie Leach
Come for the gardens....stay for the cultural and natural wonders. History at Boat
Basin comes alive on the ‘Walk of the Ancients’ with its awe inspiring big trees
and logs felled over 600 years ago. Six SISKA members were among visitors who met
and toured the property acquired by Peter Buckland. After Annie’s family left, the
garden had reverted to rainforest and the Boat Basin Foundation was established to
maintain the gardens and the Temperate Rainforest Field Study Centre.
Cougar Annie’s Garden, one of BC’s most historic homesteads, is located on the northern
shore of Hesquiat Harbour 36 paddling miles from Tofino. There is rough camping
nearby or guests can stay in modern cabins. We urge you to go soon, by float plane
if you prefer, while Peter is still around to regale you with stories from the legendary
gardener and his 31 years following in her footsteps.
More information. www.boatbasin.org
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Quatsino Sound
by Fred Pishalski
A group of SISKA paddlers rented the Kagoagh Lodge in Hecate Cove in Quatsino Sound which is located at the Northern end of Vancouver Island. For those of you not from BC, Quatsino Sound is where the first three years of the TV show ?Alone? was filmed. We stayed in Port Hardy both going and coming and 4 nights at the lodge which is mostly used for sports fishing expeditions starting this week. There were 16 in our group and we filled every room plus did all of our own cooking.... The weather was outstanding, warm, sunny, calm seas and no wind right up until the day we headed back when we ran into some rough seas and strong winds. We first put in at Coal Harbour and paddled thru Quatsino Narrows and into Hecate Cove. We did day trips out of the lodge and returned to hot showers and wonderfully cooked group meals. On the way back we detoured into Marble River Canyon which was a treat. Great trip with good people.
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Trip Tips
Car Care. A post-trip wand wash is a great way to vanquish road dirt and sand.
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Attracting new blood to our team of SISKA Paddle Leaders
by Gary Jacek
Many of you may know that SISKA has grown during the past decade from a modest club of about 100 paddlers to our present membership topping 300.
This metric tells us that we are doing a good job of attracting new members.
On the other hand, along with promoting safe paddling and stewardship of the places we paddle, we also offer two organized club paddles per month.
Our SISKA Paddle Leaders will accept between 8 and ~20 paddlers for these paddles, depending upon weather, sea state, distance and other safety challenges.
Ten years ago with about 100 members, it was easy for a member to sign up for one of our monthly club paddles. Now with more than 300 members, it is far more likely you could be told the paddle is full. Go away. Try again next month. And nobody wants that.
More worrying is that many of our initial cohort of SISKA paddle leaders have "aged out", moved away or taken a new path in life. And a SISKA paddle cannot go ahead without one of our Paddle Leaders.
Paddle Coordinators past and present have done our best to recruit new SISKA paddle leaders from the pool of club members who hold Paddle Canada Level 2 certification.
But we have only been treading water, replacing the SISKA paddle leaders we have lost over time. This is not a good narrative for our growing club.
We only lack one resource to enable us to offer, and keep offering more SISKA club paddles per month--Paddle Leaders. And this is what keeps your Paddle Coordinator up at night.
So with this in mind the SISKA Executive has approved a new program to engage our members who DO NOT currently hold the two certifications required to be a SISKA Paddle Leader.
Paddle Canada Level 2 certification
Restricted Marine Operators Certificate (Marine Radio)
If you are a keen PC Level 1 paddler, or you are an experienced, strong paddler who revels in "conditions", but simply chose to spend your discretionary dollars on yet another adventure, instead of PC2 certification, WE WANT YOU. And we want to reduce the financial barriers that prevent you from joining our SISKA Paddle Leader team.
Effective June 12, 2019 if you:
1. Obtain your Paddle Canada Level 2 sea kayak certification
2. Obtain your Restricted Marine Operators Certificate (Marine Radio)
3. Retain your receipts for courses taken/passed as shown above
4. Attend a SISKA Paddle Leader orientation evening
5. Lead a minimum of 2 SISKA paddles per calendar year
For each year that you lead 2 SISKA paddles, submit your PC2/RMOC receipts to the SISKA Paddle Coordinator and the club will reimburse 25% of your course tuition for #1 and #2 above. This offer will be extended for the first 3 years that you are a SISKA Paddle Leader, to a maximum of 75% reimbursement.
If you find this is an attractive offer, Gary Jacek would love to hear from you. You can reach him at PaddlesAndTrips@SISKA.CA
We will also be following up with an offer for our existing SISKA Paddle Leaders, in recognition of their important and ongoing contributions to SISKA.
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MEC Paddlefest Victoria 2019
by Fred Pishalski
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Date Saturday, 06 July, 2019
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Time From 10:00 am to 04:00 PM PDT
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Organizer MEC Victoria -come check out the SISKA/BC Marine Trails booth
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Address Willows Beach 2740 Dalhousie St Victoria, BC Map
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Event times
10:00am Festival kick-off
10:00am MEC Love Floats Pride Paddle
10:00am Demos start
12:00pm On-water Clinics start
4:00pm Festival wrap-up
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Safety Tip
by Lynn Baier
Here’s another one borrowed from rapid media’s Tom Watson
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To Buy or Sell
If you have any buy/sell items that you would like to post in the Newsletter, please send a short description and your contact info to newsletter@siska.ca.
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SISKA’s Kayak Skills Course Partners
There are some fine discounts available from our kayak skills course partners for SISKA members who sign up for their skills training programs; have a look at http://siska.ca/docs_public/SISKAsKayakSkillsCoursePartners.pdf.
Our partners are:
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