kayakwriter
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On October 25 we caught the ferry from Tsawwassen to Long Harbour on Salt Spring Island. Our band consisted of myself and my friends Mike, Paul and Nessa (the latter 2 kindly gave me permission to use some of their photos in this posting).
Even with the afternoon arrival at Long Harbour, the steep put-in on the far side of the spit, and early nightfall, we made it to James Bay in plenty of time make camp by daylight. It got down to near freezing soon after sunfall, but we were warmed by generous layer of clothes, copious food and lavish quantities of wine.
Our original plan had been to paddle to Portland Island on the Saturday, but the updated forecast suggested the crossing to Swartz Bay on Sunday morning might be a bit sporty, so we decided to remain where we were and just do exploratory paddles around Prevost.
The next day, we had a huge breakfast, did light local paddling and generally lazed about.
Sunday morning, just before dawn, the wind arrived with a vengeance. I added additional lines to the Twin Brothers Shelter I was sleeping in, and we wound up breakfasting in there, out of the wind. By the time we'd finished eating, there were fully developed seas between us and Saltspring, so we decided to stay an extra day for safety's sake. The danger zone was only several hundred yards, but with 35 knot headwinds, even assuming we could make progress, we'd have been in the exposed area for a good long while. As we proceeded to call/text our various folks back in Vancouver, you could practically hear the raised eyebrows. "What are you talking about? It's beautiful here!" Good thing we took video to convince the skeptics.
We spent the day exploring on land. Though I've camped at James Bay many times, I'd never actually followed the trail out to the tip of Peile Point before, so that was interesting.
We hadn't planned on having Sunday supper in camp, so it was a bit of a Spartan affair, with only two FD chicken dishes, as much rice as anyone could manage, leftover eggs, veggie bacon and sausage, more chocolate than we could eat, assorted nuts, the dregs of the red wine, and a hipflask of Chivas Regal. Les Stroud would have been proud of our survivor mindset.
We were up early Monday morning, breakfasted on instant oatmeal, and hit the water. Though the wind had reduced, the seas were still pretty lumpy in the crux zone, and we felt vindicated not to have attempted it the day before.
As soon as we were fully in the lee of Saltspring, it was beautifully calm, so with time to kill before our midafternoon ferry, we paddled down to the end of Ganges Harbour and raided a bakery for sweet snacks. Even with the detour, we were up on the land in plenty of time to dry our tents, tarps and bags before we caught the sailing home. Always a bonus not to have sprawl gear around the house to dry.
Even with the afternoon arrival at Long Harbour, the steep put-in on the far side of the spit, and early nightfall, we made it to James Bay in plenty of time make camp by daylight. It got down to near freezing soon after sunfall, but we were warmed by generous layer of clothes, copious food and lavish quantities of wine.
Our original plan had been to paddle to Portland Island on the Saturday, but the updated forecast suggested the crossing to Swartz Bay on Sunday morning might be a bit sporty, so we decided to remain where we were and just do exploratory paddles around Prevost.
The next day, we had a huge breakfast, did light local paddling and generally lazed about.
Sunday morning, just before dawn, the wind arrived with a vengeance. I added additional lines to the Twin Brothers Shelter I was sleeping in, and we wound up breakfasting in there, out of the wind. By the time we'd finished eating, there were fully developed seas between us and Saltspring, so we decided to stay an extra day for safety's sake. The danger zone was only several hundred yards, but with 35 knot headwinds, even assuming we could make progress, we'd have been in the exposed area for a good long while. As we proceeded to call/text our various folks back in Vancouver, you could practically hear the raised eyebrows. "What are you talking about? It's beautiful here!" Good thing we took video to convince the skeptics.
We spent the day exploring on land. Though I've camped at James Bay many times, I'd never actually followed the trail out to the tip of Peile Point before, so that was interesting.
We hadn't planned on having Sunday supper in camp, so it was a bit of a Spartan affair, with only two FD chicken dishes, as much rice as anyone could manage, leftover eggs, veggie bacon and sausage, more chocolate than we could eat, assorted nuts, the dregs of the red wine, and a hipflask of Chivas Regal. Les Stroud would have been proud of our survivor mindset.
We were up early Monday morning, breakfasted on instant oatmeal, and hit the water. Though the wind had reduced, the seas were still pretty lumpy in the crux zone, and we felt vindicated not to have attempted it the day before.
As soon as we were fully in the lee of Saltspring, it was beautifully calm, so with time to kill before our midafternoon ferry, we paddled down to the end of Ganges Harbour and raided a bakery for sweet snacks. Even with the detour, we were up on the land in plenty of time to dry our tents, tarps and bags before we caught the sailing home. Always a bonus not to have sprawl gear around the house to dry.
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