Sixteen Paddlers

Today we paddled through some of the Winchelsea islands, yet again. The trip was one of the Saturday excursions offered to members of the Nanaimo Paddlers Club. There were 2 canoes, 10 single kayaks, and our tandem - an unusually large group (in our limited club experience). We launched from the Sebastion Road access in Lantzville because we could roll our kayak there on foot. Everyone else launched at the Benwaldun access, also in Lantzville, where we joined them after a 25 minute paddle.

The water was atypically calm and the air temperature about 42 Fahrenheit. That's plenty warm for autumn paddling; although it seems cold before one leaves the house. It may have risen to 50 Fahrenheit by the end of our 5 hours. There were many more seals than I had noted on an earlier trip. We unfortunately startled several basking clusters who quickly waddled into the sea, but then watched us from the safety of the water.

There was quite an age range in our group, from perhaps 35 to 80. Everyone seemed able to maintain the pace, although there were likely some who could have raced well ahead. South Winchelsea was our lunch spot, after landing on a narrow rocky beach. It was so constricted that some boats were carried up out of the way for the rear of the flotilla to land. The island had an eagle's nest and I saw 3 eagles flying about at one point. The tide was ebbing so that, after lunch, the boats needed a longer carry back to the water.

Last Saturday we paddled from the government wharf in Ladysmith with a group of about 8. That was noticeably breezier than today. We'll miss next Saturday because we'll spend the weekend in Seattle at Eli's niece's place. Eli's mother will be visiting from Spokane as well. Our return to Canada will be the 'landing' event for our landed immigrant status, eh?

Richard
2007.10.27