Cominco

Being the fools that we are we decided that we would hold the Sociable Affair after all and it work out much better than expected.

The Set -up day was a very hot then very wet day . I did manage to get everythng done between downpours. Surprisingly enough we even had 7 people show up and paddle, an added bonus. We found a few minor flaws in out huge tent but nothing a few minutes with a sponge didn’t fix. I suppose we should actually seam seal the tent but summers here are usually rain free.

Saturday dawned beautiful and sunny and we added folks getting an early start. Our boats were seeing plenty of traffic and then there were lots of other paddlers in the area. Yellowknife River bridge can be a busy place on agood day. The boat launch makes it attractive to the powerboaters and fishermen. We had a reporter from the Yellowknifer arrive Saturday afternoon and interviewed myself and some of our guest. we received a very nice write up in the paper and a few good pictures as well.

Suday continued on the same as before with possible showers that neve arrived. We gave away boat rides all day and hd some burgers etc. to cook up and things run pretty smoothly. We gave away rides until just after 20:00 hrs and then began to pack up. The rain had been holding off all day and we wanted to get things put away as dry as possible. I hate packing tehts etc. away wet just so I can unpack and dry it all again later. Mildew and rot can become an issue if we store the stuff wet.

The Sociable affair may be postoned due to weather if it does not stop raining. we would nopt mind if we were already set up but setting up and hauling everthing there in the rain is not fun, Not many folks will attend in this weather so we may have to cancel if things do not pick up sunwise. We usually hold this Affair closer to the end of July but decided to move it ahead to catch the last 3 days of the 75th Anniversary of Yellowknifes Homecoming celebrations. We usually get very little rain here  the rain is good as it keeps the forest fire alert level low and brings the river levels up. Folks won’t want to stand around in the rain waiting for their turn in the boats and I certainly don’t want to sit in the tent for 3 days, six miles from home with no one to paddle with.

I hoping that the weather forecast comes true and things clear up today. Our second year for this event we had rain all the last day and no shelters. We now have two big sun shelters and a huge 5 meter diameter dome tent and tarps. But out of the rain and in the bugs is no way to spend your week end if it can be avoided. Anyway I will try positive thinking and work on sending the rain south to the farmers. Alberta needs the rain more than we do this year.

The day started fine as I finished the Volvo Ocean after 9 months of Virtual sailing and things were going well. I had a pretty good day when PC problems arose and I have been very busy trying to fix these things. It worked but I lost some stuff. I can get this back easy enough it just takes some time. For some unknown reason,  I lost my windows operating system and had to re-installl everything. This took a while to figure out.and I am glad I made the disc as requested when I first bought the machine with out them I would have been lost. Once I install Open Office I will ave everythingback except some e-mail addresses.

Each year our group host an Annual Sociable Affair where we invite the town out to play  with our canoes and kayaks. This yeear we are hoisting the event on the week end of July 3rd and will finish on the evening of the 5th. We use the day use campground at the Yellowknife River Bridge as it suits our purposes very well. The site is a 15 minute drive from town and is accessable by road and water. The bridge is located at the mouth of the yellowknife river and has a boat launch and pinicic faculities. The site is on the way to Cottage country in Yellwknife which would be Prelude Lake and the othe r campgrounds located on the Inghram trail. Folks drop by for a paddle and snack on their way to other places . We find it handy as anything we may need or have forgotten is close enough to drive back and get. Some folks paddle out, some power boat, others drive and one or two bicyc;le. We even had a family walk the six miles once to take part. Each year we provide as many canoes and kayaks as we can come up with and then we give away rides for 3 days. We also do roll demos, throwbag games, football and volleyball. This year there will be a slack line and Greenlandic rope games and horseshoes (very popular here) as well as anything we can think of that is fun. we provide hotdogs, hamburgers, juice and fruit during the day and one hot evening meal for who ever happens to be hungry at the time and there. The members from the Paddlers have permission to camp overnight so that we do not have to move the boats back and forth each day.

we would like to thank Luke Coady from the Parks dept. for allowing us to stay over the week-end as it greatly increases the value of the event. Our members enjoy putting this on and we like to camp out so it works for all of us. This will be the sixth Annual “Sociable Affair” and we hope the best yet.

I new blog page may be a little more difficult to get used to than a new kayak but it should be a lot drier. Now that I know I have this feature I will try and use it on a regular basis. Thanks to Jeroen for providing this place and Playak a  great site all round.

Summer was a little late in arriving in Yellowknife and that shortens an already short season. We have lots of padling to try and squeeze in before the snow flies. This year I will work on a few new roll styles and also see if i can get anywhere with the squirt boat. My back and the Squirt boat don’t see eye top eye on anything. I have some damaged nerves in my spine and they seem to live right where the suirt wants me to bend,all and it makes for very short sessions. I thought this might happen when  orderd the boat but,  knew that if I can lick the problem that squirt boating will be well worth the effort.

Wish list for 2009 paddling season, Master backdeck roll, double a double sea kayak, anything I can in the squirt and a sweep roll would be nice. Should all go well by the end of the seson I should have a C to C, sweep and backdeck roll. The C to C is my combat roll at the moment and I really like it. However I  see the value in mastering as many as possible and it is fun to try.

I bought a new PFD made by Mountain Equipment Co-op and it has now replaced old reliable. My old PFD is still in great shape and I like it , the new one is however heaps more comfortable and I will use it. My next investment is a drysuit and I look forward to that.

Heres top a long and sweet summer season friends, enjoy, get wet, have fun come home every time covers it for now .Cheers, Greg

Seems the first time I wrote this I did something wrong and so here we are for round two.

I live in Yellowknife, NWT in Canadas Northwest Territory and have since 1974. One could safely say that I now all this place home. Living here in the summer is a Paddlers deam come true, 20 hour days very little rain and thousands of lakes and rivers to suit every type of paddling style. Huge rapids on the Slave River near Ft. Smith ( five sets actually) the Mackenzie River gateway to the Arctic Ocean, the Coppermine River a must on every canoeist list. The south Nahanni River and the ghost of Headless valley. There is the Hanbury and Thelon river systems that will carry you across half of Canada to Baker lake, Chesterfield Inlet and Hudsons Bay.  Great Slave and Great Bear Lakes waiting to be explore by you and your friends. The trips and their degrees of difficulty vary and suit every skill level.

We are blessed with a lack of No Access problems and you can paddle where and when you like, excepting certain parks that require permits,which are easily available, Ten feet from my door the bush here goes for hundreds of miles with nary a soul anywhere.  Fresh air and clean water lots of fish and usually good weather make this one heck of a spot to spend your life. Should you be considering heading this way let me know if I can help as we like sharing the backyard all one million square miles of it or what ever is out there. Plenty for us all to enjoy. See you when you get here. Greg