On the water

I have been mostly taking off the month of July, staying home, reconnecting with my kids and partner and spending a lot of time alone, reflecting and letting the lessons of the past year sink in.  July is always a time of new practices emerging for me and this summer I have found myself on the water more.

It has taken me 11 years of living on an island (and 18 years living on the coast) to finally make friends with the sea.  I grew up on lakes, canoeing, rowing and swimming in fresh water where there are no currents, no unpredictable waves, no dangerous rips.  I have always loved swimming in the sea and snorkelling, but getting ON the water has been a challenge.

This summer though my mate Geoff Brown came to visit and got me up on a stand up paddle board and now I’m hooked.  I have been out numerous times this summer, paddling the waters around my home island.  Yesterday a friend and I went hard for about three hours, up around the north end of Bowen Island, where the view opens up to Howe Sound and Mount Garibaldi to the north.  Along the way we were tracked and followed by seals, eagles and herons, and even saw a

Today, after a stressful morning of cleaning, ferrying kids around and missed phone calls, I took my canoe out for a paddle around Kilarney Lake, the largest lake on our island.  I was after practice some solo techniques.