BACK TO HARTLEY BAY

Right after my two week California road trip I then got back in the car with my friend Jen Dickie and dr0ve up to Prince Rupert. From there we took a ferry down to the native community of Hartley Bay. I have worked with this community and the youth now for a number of years. Last year i did some kayak training for the high school kids and Jen and I came back up this year to deliver the next level in the Paddle Canada Kayak certifications. 

I had really missed being back in the community and it was awesome to see all of the kids. We had 13 students that we put through a three day course. They were trained in paddle strokes, rescues and decision making. 

It was incredible to see how quickly the  confidence in these kids grew over the three days. We were very proud to present the students with their certifications. We are now looking forward to heading back up to take the kids on a multiday kayaking expedition in their territory to help develop their decision making skills, expedition planning and to help them gain more experience. Thanks to Cam and Eva Hill, my adopted family for looking after us while we were up there and sharing their amazing hospitality with us.

TABLE TOPS BEACH BREAK, SOLANA BEACH, CA

CALIFORNIA ROAD TRIP

The last week of April and first week of May we headed down to California for an epic two week road trip. Our first stop was LA for an 8 hour mountain bike race. The day after that we went up to Malibu to do our first stand up paddleboard race. It was a 7 mile downwinder and it was a blast paddling with Chuck Patterson, one of the best stand up paddlers in the world. From there we carried on to Newport beach for an amazing workout with Bob at Crossfit Newport, I was sore for three days. We stayed at our friend Cat's place. Thanks Cat for the great hospitality.  Then it was down to Solana Beach just north of San Diego to stay at TR's place. I was in heaven as it was a 2 minute walk to the beach with the stand up paddleboard. We were down there for 5 days and I spent most of my time in the water SUPing Tabletops.  I was so tired i could barely lift my arms. It is such an incredible surf culture in California and I think I made jen stop at every surf shop from Squamish to San Diego. I was like a little kid in a candy store. My favorite place was the Patagonia first surf inspired store in Cardiff.

 I didn't really want to leave Solana Beach but we had to make our way back up north. We stopped in places like Ventura, Rincon, Santa Barbara, Big Sur, Monterrey, Morro Bay and Santa Cruz. The Big Sur shoreline was one of the most incredible shorelines I have ever seen and if you ever get a chance to drive it you will never forget it. Our last night was spent in northern california at an incredible spot in the Redwood forest called Patricks Point.  Beautiful campsite with booming surf. 

The final day we stopped at Cresent City to see if Greg Noll was around but not even his son's surf shop was open and the surf itself was terrible so we cruised all the way home to Squamish. I think we stopped at every coffee shop between Squmaish and San Diego too. It was an amazing trip and I can't wait to get back there.......a lot longer next time.

A FEW MORE HAIDA GWAII PICTURES

A great view from the top of Tow Hill. Check out the weather. I was so surprised that it was sunny out. Everytime i have been up there, even in the summer it was windy and rainy. Also check out the amazing sets coming into the beach. The surf was really incredible. I was freakin out at this point looking down on the waves.

This was Kelly, the owner of the trout house where we had an amazing dinner. It was really busy and Kelly said in the summer its nuts. Well worth the wait though. 

SURFING HAIDA GWAII

What a weekend. April 3rd Jen and I finally headed up to north beach on the Queen Charlotte Islands. I had been up to Masset a number of times to fly into the Outpost Lodge where I have been working as a salmon fishing guide but Jen had never been up there. We arrived to amazing weather on Friday and we took advantage of this by doing a 25 km run out to Rose Spit from Tow Hill. Incredible thing was we ran for 2 hours and never saw anyone on the beach. North Beach is a stunning place and we could actually see the mountains of Alaska. There was also an amazingly clean swell hitting the shores so after the run I was in my wetsuit and headed out for some incredible rides just west of Tow Hill. Surfing North Beach had been on the list for awhile so it felt incredible to be out here all by myself surfing some beautiful waves. The water was freakin cold though. Coldest I have been in and after 10 minutes my hand were pretty much frozen but I couldn't bring myself to come back to the beach. Shortly before hypothermia set in I managed to stumble back to the beach.

That night we had the best halibut and chips on the island at this cool little spot at the trailer park. I mean it.....awesome halibut. Saturday we awoke to 30-40 knot winds, typical charlotte weather and we decided to take our rental and go and explore the North Island. We headed down to Port Clements to check out the Haida Canoe, then it was west to Rennell Sound. I wanted to surf the west side but our progress was stopped short with too much snow on the crazy road down that connected us to the sound. Glad we decided not to push it, i am sure it would have turned into an epic. Instead we went south to Queen Charlotte City, then to Skidegate, up to Tlell and back up to Port Clements where we went on the Golden Spruce Trail. If you have not read the book Golden Spruce check it out. Great read, especially if you have ever been to the charlottes or plan on going there. Then it was back to our accommodations at the Beach House, owned by West Coast Fishing Club. Dinner that night was at one of the best restaurants I have ever been too, no kidding. Its called the Trouthouse, a super funky place owned by Kelly and Jonathon. If you are ever up around Masset you have to stop here to eat. Incredible organic food. I had a buffalo burger 2 feet high and Jen had a really good salad. I think I won though and for desert we both won because we had home made apple pie with icecream. What a day.

Sunday we woke up and I had a really amazing surf session at a riverbreak with a few locals. It was so much fun. Jen had a great time too and was really comfortable in the peeling beach break waves. I really did not want to leave but we had a flight to catch. Next year I would like to bring a crew of people up there to surf north beach for a least a week. I highly recommend the trip, we scored on the waves, had some great adventures and met some really cool people. We can't wait to get back.

MORNING COFFEE IN LANGDALE

Well I had been looking at doing the crossing from Lion's Bay to Langdale on the Sunshine Coast for awhile now and on March 14th I decided to go for it. This can be a tricky crossing because unless conditions are flat you are either dealing with an inflow wind or an outflow wind, either of them will be pushing wind and swell on the side of your board making you really work on your balance and your core strength. The Sound can be a really nasty place with the wrong conditions. It can blow up pretty quick. The crossing was about 9 nautical miles and I left at 8:30am from the marina in Lion's Bay. I wore a full wetsuit, and I carried a cell phone and VHF radio for safety. I also had leash on my board just in case I fell with a backpack of water and snacks. I did also let people know my route plan. Conditions for the first hour were pretty flat as I bee lined it to the bottom end of Gambier. About half way across the winds really started to pick up and a good chop was starting to build. I was pretty stoked though as I had my hip hop going on my Ipod. After the initial nervousness wore off I got into a great rhythm and found paddling in the building swell pretty fun. I had a few funny looks from  a few boaters that cruised by. The bottom end of Gambier was scenic with the odd Bald Eagle monitoring my progress. I planned on trying to get the 12:30 ferry back from Langdale and my paced seemed pretty good. As I made my last little crossing to the ferry terminal the conditions calmed down and I got into port 3hrs after leaving Lion's Bay. It felt great to finally make it across and once there i dropped my board and ran to the coffee shop for my morning americano.......mmmmmm that was well worth the paddle(had to get a cookie too). The best part of it all was I did not have to pay for the ferry back to Horseshoe Bay. 

Used Stand Up Paddleboard and Paddle- $900 

Ipod- $50 bucks

Wetsuit- $300 bucks

Backpack and Gear- $100

Not having to pay for an $11 BC Ferry.........PRICELESS

Well not really. I thought the epic would happen when making the crossing but that was smooth. The epic happened when i got back to land. I had to hitchhike from Horseshoe Bay back up to Lions Bay. A great guy and logger from Bowen Island, Chris, picked me up. Upon arriving at Lions Bay i found my truck had been towed. I left my keys on top of the car and thought they would have been lost so i went to Squamish with Chris to get another set of keys which I didnt have. He had a few errands to do there and then he drove me all the way back to North Van to pick up my Jeep at Payless. 

The fee for getting my truck..........NOT PRICELESS.

My keys luckily were there and back up to Squamish I went. I had to leave my board at Sewell's marina at Horseshoe Bay which I had to pick up later in the week because it was closed by the time I came back through. Thanks to Sewell's for storage and thanks so much to Chris, what a saviour. 

 

It was a great adventure and I look forward to more big crossing in the future. Crossing the straight of Georgia is now in my sights along with a bunch of other cools trips and expeditions.

1st Stand Up Paddleboard Race

Well not really but March 8th Jen and I headed to Qualicum Beach in hopes of competing in our first stand up paddleboard race. We awoke to a heavy snowfall and strong Northerly outflow winds in Nanaimo. I thought it was perfect conditions for the BC race. I was pretty excited and when we got to Qualicum Beach, well, it was really cold with choppy conditions and strong onshore winds. There was about 15 of us and the group consensus was that the conditions were a little tough for the first race. Most people had trouble standing on their boards but I had been training in some solid conditions in Howe Sound and it looked pretty fun to me. They decided to have the race at a later date when conditions were better for the general public. I decided to do the course anyways and it took me about 30 minutes. It was pretty wavy but I loved it. Instead the group all headed out and practiced some surfing right off the beach. Jen managed to catch some of her first waves and she had a huge smile on her face all day. She might be ready for Jaws now but we have to get to Hawaii first. It was fun playing around in the wind swell and always great practice for balance and the core. Such an incredible workout. I guess we will just have to wait for the next race, hopefully in California where the normal people are paddling without wetsuits and toque's. It was great though to be with other SUPers and I know this sport will be taking off up here. Canadian SUPing at it's best.......cold, windy, wavy, numb fingers and other parts........and snow. Thanks a lot to Island Longboards and Todd for trying to se this up for us.