Dear <<First Name>>,

When this issue comes out, I (Mike Jackson) will be back in Antarctica for the second of the three trips I am working on down here. With a bit of luck, I will be able to get out paddling at least once. The wildlife and sights I have seen are amazing and I am looking forward to sharing some of those with you at our February meeting. 

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!

Michael Jackson (SISKA president) and Tony Playfair (editor)

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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

January 2019 Meeting Information - Vancouver Island Circumnavigation

Bob and Elizabeth Purdon are retired Central Saanich residents and are active SISKA members. A significant part of their retirement involves weekly day paddles and one to three week kayak trips in our local areas and in the warm waters of Baja California Mexico. In the summer of 2018, Elizabeth and Bob along with friend Marg Rees of Canmore, circumnavigated Vancouver Island in what we think is a record long time of 58 days. Their presentation will include slides and a talk about the planning and preparation, logistics, problems encountered and the highlights of the trip.
 

by Vic Turkington
 

Long ago there was a great chief who lived in the mountains far inland.  He had five daughters, and each was a princess. 
 
One day these five princesses decided to go to the beach for a picnic.  They set out and soon came to a very high cliff.  The princesses leaped from rock to rock down the cliff like mountain goats.  Remember that they were princesses from the mountain, and their clothes made of icicles and snow flashed like jewels as they played on the rocks.  They had so much fun playing amongst the rocks that the picnic was forgotten and they only noticed what time it was when it began to get dark.  Quickly all the princesses rushed home  -  all except the youngest, who was having too much fun to go home.
 
The great chief was very angry with his daughters for arriving home so late.  He was furious with the youngest, and despite the pleas of his other daughters, he turned her into the waterfall.  She will forever be reminded that she should have obeyed her father and gone home on time.
 
This is why the waterfall is called the Sitting Lady falls, and it is said if you look closely, you can still see the Indian princess.
(courtesy Sooke Museum)

So when we poke our kayak bows into the cascading waterfall, if we look up, we may see the lady sitting on a rock beckoning us to come closer !

- Happy New Year.