As Mark Twain once said...

... the report of my death was an exaggeration. I am alive and well and just as lazy with blog updates as ever.

A big change in my circumstances at the end of last year saw me return to the UK for a couple of months and then, due to a total lack of paddling opportunities, I was back in Canada. Which is slightly ironic since there were also precious few places to paddle when it was minus 30 celcius and just leaving the house meant pushing aside a large snowdrift. Some huge road trips in crazy driving conditions followed, and New Year's Day saw my friends and I paddling on Butze tidal rapid, a wave formed in Fern Passage off the coast of BC. A combination of hangovers, dreadful planning and horizontal rain meant we didn't get much surfing in for the 1,600km round trip. It had all seemed like such a great idea in the pub two nights before.

Late January saw another attempt and although organised over beer again, this time we headed south to make the most of slightly warmer temperatures. We managed paddles on the Thompson and Chilliwack rivers, trudging through snow and braving the cold water, but all the rivers around Vancouver were too low so we ended up paddling around the sea wall in the harbour, throwing a few playboating moves to the amusement of the public. The drive back up north was long and the temperature dropping to minus 26c didn't help.

I love snowboarding, and feel privileged that I can get out and do that most weekends in the winter here. I finally bought myself a new board since the old one was vintage 1997! A few trips out to Smithers to hit the hill with my friend Ross meant I got to test the new board out, and had the added bonus that I could go to the Bulkley Valley canoe club pool sessions. Boarding and paddling in the same day! Happy days. Another winter distraction was getting out shooting with my friends Matt and Ian. We set up some targets and I even hit some of them, despite never having held a gun before. That was until they broke out the shotguns and clays, I think I got closer to hitting Ian's truck than any of the targets ;)

I jumped at another paddle opportunity down south. Tofino on Vancouver Island with Matt, who was just taking a surf board. I hooked up with Rebecca on the way and the two of us spent the week trying to keep up with Matt on his board. Surfing is tough, but waaaaaay easier in a playboat than trying to stand on a board! On our third day the wind was off the hook, every beach was taking a battering but we headed out to North Chestermans and tried to get out past the breakers. Matt gave in early and when Rebecca and I had enough we realised we'd been blown right down the beach. We then had to haul our kayaks up the windswept beach, resulting in a battering and fits of laughter at the futility of it. On the last day the waves were so big that on one occasion, I caught my bow whilst dropping in and my almost six foot long boat got tumbled end-over-end. It was a reminder of how powerful the ocean is compared to a river wave.

Rebecca had mentioned that she wanted to get out paddling again soon, so we organised to hit the Chilliwack river over Easter weekend. I was happy as the cold weather further north meant that all the rivers were still frozen and paddling season was a way off. On Good Friday we paddled the Chilliwack Canyon section, technically the hardest grade of river I've run to date, the level was very low which meant that the entire run was technical boulder gardens. The river wasn't pushy, but there were some substantial drops. We met up with some Vancouver paddlers and a couple of the guys really knew their stuff. Rebecca had a new boat on demo which was marginally bigger than mine, but we couldn't help noticing that everyone else had huge creek boats, and many paddlers had elbow pads and full face helmets. My little playboat raised a few eyebrows.

The run went well though, there was a lot of wood and in places logs were river wide, making things a little difficult, but we followed the experienced guys with no trouble. It took me a little while to relax, I felt like I was constantly turning the boat in and out of rocks. My super-aggressive paddling took it's toll on my arms and two hours was plenty! The following day we returned to paddle the same section and met a single paddler at the take out, so we invited him along. This turned out to be fortuitous since I was much more relaxed on the run and caught an edge above double-whammy, the biggest drop on the river, essentially a small double waterfall. I rolled up immediately above the drop, tried to eddy out and realised I wasn't going to make it, then turned the boat right on the fall and ran the correct line with no issues. I saw Rebecca come out of the eddy after me in case I needed help, but was so relieved that I landed it that it took me a good few seconds to realise she wasn't behind me at the bottom. Looking around I saw her hung up on a log jam at the base of the first fall. I won't post my immediate thought, but I paddled hard for the eddy at the bottom and grabbed my throwbag out of the boat. I then had to climb the bottom fall to get to a position where I could throw Rebecca a line. She'd managed to prop herself up on a rock with her paddle, but I wasn't sure how long she could last there. I called Josh (the other paddler) down to help, but all he could do was try to hold station between the two falls. I threw my rope and Rebecca let go with the paddle and went straight upside down. As she couldn't get the boat free of the tree, she swam and then Josh was able to tow her out ok.

It was a sobering experience and one that made me realise it is time to get a river rescue course sorted out. My awareness needs to improve and I could definitely use more practice with lines and rescue scenarios. Being totally mental (in a nice way), Rebecca was fine after her near death experience. In fact she was fretting only about the amount of scratching on the demo boat :) With all the wood and our debacle on Saturday, we elected to run from Slesse Creek to Tamahi rapid on the Easter Monday. That run was a much nicer level with some big rapids and fewer boulder gardens, it made for a lovely paddle down in the sunshine.

Since Easter the local rivers have started to open up, so finally I get to paddle my butt off :) Spring run off will soon be underway so hopefully more fun times ahead.

Frase.