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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October 23 - Siska General Meeting
by Fred Pishalski
Our speaker for October is Peter Freeman. His book Cape Horn Birthday documents the extraordinary non-stop round-the-world journey of a lone sailor and his thirty-two-foot sloop Laivina. GPS did not exist when Peter set sail from Victoria in 1984. Peter navigated the old-fashioned way, with a compass, a sextant, books of tables, and his wits. Along the way, he had to rebuild the self-steering rudder, repair torn sails, and fix broken gear.
Peter encountered severe storms, snow, and hailstorms as he sailed as close to the Antarctic ice as he dared. In the South Indian Ocean, Laiviņa almost rolled over in a violent storm. While the little sloop was inverted, Peter was under water, helplessly tied to the pushpit rails holding his breath as he waited for the sturdy little craft to right herself. He not only survived but upon arrival back in Victoria, Peter learned that he had broken the existing non-stop round-the-world world record. So please join us for an interesting evening with Peter Freeman on October 23rd.
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Upcoming SISKA Events
Monday, September 30th, 2019 - 7:30 PM to 9:00 PM - Whales in our Waters - VNHS
Saturday, October 05th, 2019 - 9:30 AM to 3:00 PM - Brentwood Bay Ferry Wharf to Mackenzie Bight Paddle
Sunday, October 06th, 2019 - 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM - Crystal Pool Indoor Kayaking - City of Victoria
Tuesday, October 08th, 2019 - 7:30 PM to 9:00 PM - Early Naturalists - VNHS
Saturday, October 19th, 2019 - 9:30 AM to 3:00 PM - Amherst to Tsehum Harbour Paddle
Sunday, October 20th, 2019 - 9:30 AM to 3:00 PM - Island View Beach to D'Arcy Island Paddle
Sunday, October 20th, 2019 - 6:30 PM to 9:00 PM - SISKA - Crystal Pool Indoor Kayaking
Monday, October 21st, 2019 - 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM - ELECTI0N CANADA
Wednesday, October 23rd, 2019 - 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM - SISKA Monthly Meeting-Peter Freeman
Monday, October 28th, 2019 - 7:30 PM to 9:00 PM - Deep-Sea Discoveries - VNHS
Saturday, November 02nd, 2019 - 9:30 AM to 3:00 PM - Oak Bay Marina - Parking Lot to Chatham and Discovery Islands Paddle
Sunday, November 03rd, 2019 - 6:30 PM to 7:00 PM - Crystal Pool Indoor Kayaking - City of Victoria
Sunday, November 10th, 2019 - 6:30 PM to 9:00 PM - SISKA - Crystal Pool Indoor Kayaking
Saturday, November 16th, 2019 - 9:30 AM to 3:00 PM - Cooper Cove to Sooke Basin Paddle
Tuesday, November 19th, 2019 - 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM - Inter-Tidal Marine Life by Mike Jackson
Wednesday, November 27th, 2019 - 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM - SISKA Monthly Meeting-GordonBrown
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Community Events of Interest
Thursday, October 03rd, 2019 - 6:30 PM to 9:30 PM - All-Candidates' Meetings on the Environment - 100 Debates
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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Camp Cookery
Corned Beef Hash
by Lynn Baier
I needed to come up with a recipe for this month’s newsletter, so I thought I’d try this one that I’ve been thinking about doing for a while. I rooted around my dehydrated food cupboard and found that I already had half a head of cabbage and an onion. I just added one of those cartons of dried hash browns and a can of corned beef. The vegetables rehydrate within about 15 minutes. Add the beef and mix all together in a frying pan. Crisp it up on one side, the flip it over and crisp up the other side. Add pepper and you’re done. We enjoyed it but next time I plan to add mushrooms and red peppers (I didn’t feel it had enough colour). We had it for dinner, but it would also make a hearty breakfast on a layover, or late start, day.
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Safety Tip - Contact Tow
by Gordon Brown via Lynn Baier & Rob Zacharias
Here’s a simple method for keeping kayaks together when doing a contact tow. It comes courtesy of a Gordon Brown towing session. The pics explain the method. One loop should suffice for both sides as it’s easily moved, and always on deck ready to go. Make sure your bungy is heavy enough to keep things solid, and short enough that there isn’t too much play.
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Victoria Harbour Traffic Scheme
by Alan Campbell
Mariah McCooey, Transport Canada’s Victoria Harbour Master, gave a very informative presentation about paddling safety in harbour waters at our monthly meeting September 25th.
Victoria’s Harbour is a very busy place, with large numbers of traffic of all kinds, including kayakers, so she and her staff have their hands full keeping everyone organized and safe while they transit the harbour.
Mariah welcomes people to drop in to say hello at her Harbour Master’s Office, a low white building at 21 Erie Street, overlooking the main dock at Fisherman’s Wharf.
The new 2019 Victoria Harbour Traffic Scheme map and notes are well worth checking out at
https://www.tc.gc.ca/media/documents/pacific/2019_FINAL_PRINT_EDITION_ENG.pdf
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Upcoming Courses
by Alan Campbell
Fall is definitely here now, but we are still enjoying some great paddling weather in and around Victoria!
To help you take advantage of this plus gain more skills and experience at the same time, I have included links to courses offered through some of our kayak skills service partners that are still to come.
A few of them are running very soon, so check them out and make your contacts as soon as possible!
Blue Dog Kayaking
https://bluedogkayaking.com/paddle_canada/skills/level-2/ - Oct 23-27
Go Kayak
http://gokayak.ca/newsletter/index.html - Oct 19-20 and Oct 26-27
Ocean River Sports/Gordon Brown Sea Kayak Centre of Excellence
https://oceanriver.com/adventure/sea-kayaking-level-1-skills/ - Oct 5-6
SKILS
https://www.skils.ca/course/sea-kayaking-adventure-retreat-at-discovery-island-lodge/ - Oct 8-14
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