SISKA's March 2016 Newsletter. Upcoming events, reports and articles
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March 2016 SISKA Newsletter

Introduction

 
Dear <<First Name>>,

Here is the next (3rd!) edition of the SISKA newsletter. We hope you enjoy it.

We also hope that members will send in a couple of photos from our various paddles or maybe the odd 100-150 word article; if you can, please contact one of us.

Advance notice: our Annual General Meeting will be our April 27th monthly meeting - more details to follow.

Gary Jacek recently sent out an email about overdue DVDs from the club library. If you have any of these, please get them back to him as soon as possible. Thanks.

We are still looking for some volunteers to help out with the May 14th SISKA BBQ and the June 25th MEC Paddlefest. If you are able to help, please contact Alan Campbell

Michael Jackson (SISKA president) and Ben van Drimmelen (editor)

Membership Renewal

Ah, March. Last call to renew your club membership. If you really have still not done so, please go to the membership renewal page and renew.
 

Table of Contents

 

Upcoming Events

 
March 04, 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm  (ENERGIZER - note Friday PM)

March 05, 9:30 am - 3:00 pm  (ENERGIZER)

March 08, 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm  - spaces still available!
 
March 09, 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm 
 
March 10, 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm  - spaces still available!
 
March 12, 8:30 am - 2:00 pm 
 
March 13, 10:15 am - 4:00 pm  (ENERGIZER)

March 13, 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm  (+ pool drop in)
 
March 14, 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm 
 
March 20, 9:30 am - 3:00 pm  (RELAXED)
 
March 23, 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm  - Cook's precursors in the Waters of Nootka
 
March 29, 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm 
 
April 03, 9:00 am - 3:00 pm  (ENERGIZER)
 
April 06, 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm 
 
April 11, 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm 
 
April 15, 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm 
 
April 16, 9:30 am - 3:00 pm   (RELAXED)
 
April 16, 9:30 am - 3:00 pm   (RELAXED)

April 17, 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm Pool clinic and drop in
 
Apr 24, 9:30 am - 3:00 pm   (RELAXED)
 
April 27, 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm Monthly Meeting and Annual General Meeting Gulf Islands National Park
 
April 30, 9:30 am - 3:00 pm   (ENERGIZER)
 
For details such as locations and instructor/leaders, go to the SISKA website
Aerial photo of Rum Island by Josh McCulloch “©joshmcculloch.com"
 

What’s in a Name? Rum Island

 
This is the third in 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!
 

Rum Island


Rum Island lies only about 1 km from the US-Canada border and supposedly served as a staging point for liquor smugglers crossing the border to Stuart Island during the Prohibition era. Renee Nelson bequeathed the Island to the Province in 1978 with the specification that it be called "Isle-de-lis" (the name of the marine park) for the wild lilies that bloom there in the spring. The Coast Salish name for the island is Xelexátem meaning "crossways".
 
Gooch and Rum Islands near the border

Weather sites 

(By Michael Jackson)

I am often asked about which sites I use for planning paddles. This is particularly important when planning a club paddle as weather conditions can easily change or cancel a club paddle. I am going to break these down into two groups: the forecast sites and the current weather sites. The official “go-to” weather information is of course the weather report on the marine VHF and the Environment Canada website. but there are many others that I use. I am going to focus on two areas that affect most of my paddling: Haro Strait and Juan de Fuca East.

For forecasts, my go-to site is Big Wave Dave, and there are several specific pages that I look at. The first is “Predicted1” which is the model-based prediction using the University of Washington model. It is broken down by hour during the daylight hours and you can click on any square in the table to get a map of predicted conditions for that time. You can also go ahead several days (up to a week), though the forecasts become less reliable as one goes further into the future.
BigWaveDave's Predicted1 display for February 28
Plenty of wind predicted for Willows Beach!
This is the noon BigWaveDave map for February 28th
My second one is “Predicted2” which is based on the Environment Canada models. It is only for the next 48 hours and has some sites which are not in Predicted1, such as Pat Bay. If these two pages agree, then I am reasonably confident in the predictions. Since I paddle mostly in the Oak Bay/Cadboro Bay/ Discovery and Chatham Islands area, I focus on the “Willows Beach” prediction.
BigWaveDave's Predicted2 table for February 28th.
Similar to Predicted1...
On the day of a paddle, and sometimes after a paddle, I look at several sites that show current weather conditions. One of these is the BigWaveDave 24 hour plot for Discovery Island which shows the automated reports from the Discovery Light together with the two model predictions.