Friday I checked the weather and it seemed to finally be a decent weekend, so I asked my buddy Terry if he was up for a paddle from Calvert to Ferryland and back on Saturday. Peter and Roy expressed interest in paddling earlier in the week so I sent them an invite as well.  We all met at the Foodland in Bay Bulls Saturday morning and headed out to Calvert. Terry, Peter, Roy and myself heading out of Calvert. Terry's Torngat had a close encounter with a rock on a paddle that we did a few weeks before and ended up losing a large chunk of gelcoat off of its nose.  Terry patched it up ..read more

I spent a good hour yesterday on good earth trying to find a spot I had never been that looked like a fun place to paddle.  Around the head of Brigus looked interesting so thats what I picked.  I sent out an email yesterday to see if anyone was interested in paddling from Brigus to Cupids.  Most had other plans,  few were a maybe, Terry was good to go.  We met at the TCH Irving at 9 and headed off to Brigus. Hell of a view from the beach!  Off to a good start. Terry posing for Newfoundland Tourism. Just heading out of Brigus to have a look at the town. Ol ..read more

I get two weeks off for Christmas break and I had planned to do a lot of paddling and maybe throw in a camping trip, but the weather refused to cooperate.  The days I had some free time it was windy or stormy so I wasn't able to get on the water. Today is my last day of holidays and it was sunny with light winds so I took advantage. I made a quick run to the Outfitters then came home, grabbed my gear, and took off to Witless Bay. After two weeks of poor weather, I couldn't have asked for a better day to get out. Beautiful day with temps at -1, -5 with the windchill.  Made for ex ..read more

I haven't done many posts this year, mostly because I haven't done a whole lot of paddling worth writing about.  I got my instructors certification earlier in the year so myself and Dean spent the later half of the summer teaching level one on our free weekends.  The last 3 out of 4 weekends I've managed to get out camping.  Once was just myself and Dean car camping, then Neville joined us two weekends ago for another car camp, and finally we got a kayak camp in with Terry this past weekend. Myself and Dean planned a Kayak trip to Wild Cove on Great Colinet Island this past week ..read more

Around lunch time I got the itch to go for a good paddle.  It's been a while since I've paddled in some decent conditions and I'd had enough waiting.  I left work at 2:30 and headed home to collect my boat and gear.  I was having a hard time deciding where to go.  The toss up was between MIddle Cove-Flat Rock, or Tors Cove around the Islands.  Every time Ive been to Tors Cove there have been decent conditions out around the Islands so thats where I headed. Fox Island.  Right now the Island is occupied by a flock of Sheep.  My pictures didn't turn out ..read more

I've been saying I would take my boys camping for a couple years but never got around to it...this year I promised them we would go.  I kept and eye on the weather and a 3-4 day window opened up of next to no wind and low chance or rain so it was time to get my boys out kayak camping. I got all the gear packed the night before, double checked I didn't miss anything, and we left shortly after lunch on Wednesday afternoon. The boys slept most of the way there.  I got to Colinet and had the boats unloaded and half packed before they woke up. As soon as the boys woke up they started t ..read more

Each year Dean and Hazen do an Intro to Kayak Camping trip open to all club members.  This year Hazen was out of the province and Dean was fighting a shoulder injury and couldn't fully commit to going, so he asked me if I wanted to take over this year.  I had already cancelled a club paddle earlier in the month so I said yes to try to make up for the lost paddle. I asked Dean, Brian, and Ron for their advice leading up to, and during the trip because this was my first time leading a club paddle.  When I paddle with my regular group we paddle in whatever the conditions are that ..read more

Witless Bay Chapter I get off work at 12:30 on Fridays so this past Friday I decided to see if my buddy Ron wanted to go for a paddle in witless bay.  He lives right on the water so I figured if he was home he would be up for it, and sure enough he was.  We ended up waiting a bit later in the day to go which is fine because that seems to be when the whales are more active. I left from the boat launch in Witless Bay and paddled down the shore to meet up with Ron by his house. After we met up we decided to cross over to Gull Island in hopes to run into some whales. On our way ove ..read more

I'm booked up with family stuff over the next two weeks and today was the better day for kayaking this weekend so I sent out an email to the crowd to see who was interested.  Dean and Hazen wrote back so this morning we met up at the TCH Irving and took off to Conception Harbour. After an hour drive we got the boats off the cars and all geared up to go.  Dean giving a pre game speech before heading out haha ;) Crossing the Harbour to make our way up to Salmon Cove Point. Myself and Hazen have a bit of sciatic pain sometimes, so once we crossed over we jumped out on a beach for a ..read more

Yesterday was our first Wednesday night practice for the year.   We get together every Wednesday evening to play/practice in St. Philip's and depending on the weather we'll either head to Topsail Beach, Portugal Cove, or if its really windy we'll stick close to the cove and play. There is still a good bit of ice packed in along the shore on the way down to Portugal Cove and this was my first time ever seeing pack ice like last week so it was fun to get out and explore a bit in my kayak. Tony was the first one out and I wasn't far behind so we played around the ice a bit while we waited ..read more