Whether you want to try 10 different kayaks, meet manufacturers, keep up with what’s new, or just hang out in a crowd of Sea Kayakers, there are

a couple events every year you should attend!

We have 2 Paddlefests coming up this year, and rumors of  a “moving water festival” for 2011 on Quadra Island…
But let’s take care of 2010, In order:

- Vancouver Island Paddlefest in Ladysmith will take place on the weekend of May 15&16.
QUOTE: “Paddlefest 2010 — May 15 & 16th — is a weekend-long festival with activities and events for paddlers of all ages and paddling abilities. Located at Transfer Beach in beautiful Ladysmith, British Columbia, participants can attend this free event and enjoy a variety of activities including vendor/trade show, workshops, demonstrations and fun activities.” You can have a look at the schedule and see if you find anything of interest under “Classes and Workshop, teachers and speakers will be present…

- MEC Paddlefest will then take place on June the 5th, information is not quite ready yet but It will be as seen last year, on Cadboro Bay, probably on a sunny day, and with vendors, exibitors, manufacturers, as well as classes and workshop all day…. I don’t think you can go wrong signing up!

Both events are almost free, sometimes a $10 fee is requested to cover the cost of organizing and running those events but really, it’s almost free and it’s lots of fun.

On a different level but still related to promoting the outdoors through free sources, MEC victoria is launching a new campain dubbed “the Brown Bag Lunch Series”. Here is MEC take on it:

Quote:” Join us each week for a fun, fast, and informative series of sessions. Led by our team of Product Specialists, the Brown Bag Lunch Series covers everything from choosing the right rain wear to tuning up your bike for summer. February 25 Staying Dry Lots of rain and high humidity make choosing rainwear a real challenge on Vancouver Island. Join us as we talk through the world of Gore-tex™, Entrant™, urethane coatings, and Durable Water Repellency and discuss their various advantages”.

The serie will take place every week and aim to educate and share knowledge with novices and intermediate outdoor users. The session run from 1230 to 1300, keep an eye here for the next Subject to come… or you can contact the MEC organizer at mpardy@mec.ca.

On the same note, this summer MEC will be running the Wave Grabber Serie in collaboration with the Gorge Paddling club, where once a week you’ll be able to rent a kayak for the evening and have a BBQ after paddling for a total of $10 per person, I will post more info about this in the future so stay tune and enjoy a week of sun…. going surfing!

Well, episode 2 of The Season is out and let me tell you, it’s action time.
I’ll let you decide if you like it, the video is clean as water from around here, pristine! and the Camera work beautiful, the sea kayaking skills I think speak for themselves…. What do you think?

The Season Episode 2 from Fitz Cahall and Bryan Smith on Vimeo.

Of course there are many places to go, and as a kayaker living on Vancouver Island I sometimes wonder if one life will be enough.  There are beautiful spots, remote places, untouched wilderness, pristine waters… where to start?
Here is an option for you, we just came back from a little trip to Quadra island, North east side of VI, by Campbell river. Why there you ask, a number of reasons.
It was a little bit of a drive, but once there it was as if we had landed in another world. The area is beautifull, this is where our tides meet on Vancouver Island, meaning on a flood the water is flowing North to South from the North end of VI to Quadra and flowing South to North from Victoria to Quadra…
So lots of wildlife due to big tidal exchanges, many channels to explore, a great place to learn how to calculate currents times, Turn and maximums… Summer brings Killer whales, Bears, salmon, eagles…
The island offers great current paddling for the adventurous, and if you worry about traveling there on your own you can contact Coast Mountain Expeditions to get a guided tour, lots of good food, find the secret spots…
We went there for the currents, and we got plenty! There is no question the area should be entered carefully after good planning, but if the currents are slow or if you time your passage at slack, what a beauty! Of course we aimed to play, and did, videos and pics to come later once the gear is cleaned and dry…
We stayed at Discovery Lodge (slide show here), and let me tell you about it! The main room upstairs offers A View, you just don’t get tired of watching it. There is a stove… everything is made of wood, comfy sofas, huge dinner table, nice bedrooms downstairs and a sauna on the dock! I know it’s a little to much but it was for work so what could I do?!
In the end we ate, hung out, made fires, paddled hard and forgot about the rest of the world.
Now not only can you go, it’s easy and the price is right!

There is also talks about a possible “Moving Water Festival ” this summer that would take place on Quadra and be organized to offer Sea Kayakers an opportunity to try paddling in currents. Since the West Coast Sea Kayak Symposium is no more, it makes sense to introduce some new ways to meet people and bring the industry together.

Any way I look at it, if you go there you won’t regret it, whether you paddle on your own, on a guided tour, or not at all!

Pictures by Dave Aharonian, Visit his Website Here.

And more pics about this trip and a short report by Alex Matthews at Kayak Noise