A Week in the Gulf Islands and Some Late Fall Paddling

[Art]

I spent a good part of the summer working on a cedar strip kayak build so, in reality, this was the only multi-day trip we were able to fit in. Fortunately, the weather gods were looking down on us for the entire week. It was another epic west coast trip.

Arriving at the put in at Cedar-By-The-Sea (South of Nanaimo)


More photos here.

....and just yesterday, the recently completed Redfish Silver rests atop the XC prior to its inaugural launch at a local lake.

[BillAileo]

Art,

Fantastic work on the Redfish Silver! The photos both here and at the link make us very jealous of your paddling options.

[John@CdnRockies]

Yep, that kayak sure looks like it was lovingly put together. Very nice work indeed Art. Are you going to let Sai use it as well?

John

[Art]

Thanks Guys. I'm of the firm belief that one can't have too many boats….right John?

The Silver was originally built with Sai in mind but it's looking more like she wants to build one on her own now.

[PJ810]

Fantastic photos! Loved the ones on the West Coast Paddler site. Always impressed to see such beautiful hand-built craft on the water. They ooze their owner's dedication.

Being Canadian paddler, have you contemplated doing the Yukon Quest?

[coastal]

Great pics Art, those boats look AMAZING and glad to hear you've been out enjoying the comparably good Fall weather we've had this year!

[Art]

Glad to hear that you enjoyed the links to the photos guys.

PJ - Since I have a family member who lives in the Yukon (Whitehorse), I would love nothing more than to take the XC and the boats up there. We drove as far north as Fairbanks, AK back in '98 and plan to do another trip sometime in the near future.

As far as the Yukon River Quest goes, I think I would leave that to the hard core kayakers and stick to paddling the many pristine lakes along the way.

BTW, the entire strip build of the Silver can be viewed here.

[edwa]

Much, much prettier than my beat up Nimbus. What's the length and weight?
Probably lighter than my beat up ...

[Art]

The Silver is 16'9" in length and sports a 22 ¼" wide beam. Fully rigged, it weighed in at a svelt 39 lbs.

Nimbus produces some really fine boats and happens to be only one of a handful of remaining Canadian manufacturers of composite kayaks. I ran across some Nimbus devotees on Vargas Island (Clayoquot Sound) who all happened to be paddling Telkwa Sports except for the fellow in the vintage version below.