July 2007

Sea trials started with the new BCIT spray cover for 16 days through the Southern gulf islands a Canoe journey called ' Pulling Together ' to Victoria.' Spirit Dancer' canoe then continued to the San Juan Islands to Anacortes in Washington state, the cover has seen some amazing places, the spray skirt will be in for more modifications this late Fall and more trials to be done this winter. B&M Logging, Mission, BC is donating enough clear Yellow Cedar wood for 200 paddles. Canada Corrections are providing the expertise to make paddles for the paddlers of the UK coastline. Haney Rotarians have been  helpful in the process of communications UK, and offering many suggestions of how they can help. Continued testing of the Canoe ' Spirit Dancer ' and the new spray deck will continue through the summer, fall and winter of 2007. More reports to follow soon........

June 2007

Stanley Park ( Vancouver's crown jewel ) is donating Western Red Cedar wood ( Old Growth ) to be cut into planks then carved into paddles for gifts for the receptions around the UK Coastline. The paddles will be built by Stewart Nahanee of the Squamish Nation. Infosat communications at www.infosat.com are helping with satellite communications while travelling the more distant and remote areas of the UK Coastline, this will help overall with our emergency communications. Associated Labels  at www.associated-labels.com are helping with promotional labels to represent our canoe journey for 2008/2010 this will be a great asset to our journey and will help with the overall promotion. Cedars-us   Stewart Nahanee from the Squamish Nation will be helping making gifted paddles of various sizes for the canoe journey, Stewart has made beautiful paddles over the year mostly from Red and Yellow cedar.

May 2007

BCIT Engineering department are in the process of starting the new spray deck which will have 18 openings for paddlers, the sea trials tests will commence in early July. Ross Miller of BCIT will link our website to google earth. A jack system is being developed so the canoe is manoeuvrable on land, for long extended portages on sand beaches, the bulkhead system will be used as part of the overall structure, 4 jacks on wheels will be used, low profile tundra tires will attach to the jack system, it will be highly manoeuvrable, either on pavement, gravel, or sand. Chris on Baffin Island from May 8 to June 5 2007

March-April 2007
There have been several meetings with BCIT in regards to the custom built spray deck for the canoe, it will have 18 port holes to accommodate the paddlers, the design will be one of a kind and like no other craft on the water.

BCIT will have4 teams involved  over the two seasons under Mark Angelos program Fish, Wildlife and Environment. First team BCIT will depart out of London for leg 1.Vancouver Police Department will have a team of 8 for leg 2. UBC will have a team of 8 paddlers for leg 3. Legs 4 to 7 are still yet to be determined, we have several teams applying at this time.

On March 31st Chris was inducted into the Ridge/Meadows Hall of Fame

The Provincial Government will be meeting with our board on November 21st 2007.

Meeting with Ross Miller BCIT.  There will be a link to our website via Google Earth to track our progress while on the water in UK. Meetings with UBC Research Forest regarding wood for paddles TBA soon. Canadian High Commission and CTC are prepared to meet later this year in London. Haney Rotary are helping in many ways, TBA. Corrections Canada are interested in helping make (200) paddles for the paddlers.

Meeting with Katzie First Nation re: Youth involvement meeting set for June. On going communications and meetings being set up for UK Visit October/November 2007. Chris will speak at the Scottish Canoe Association (SCA) in October 2007 in Perth.

November 2006-February 2007
Since arriving back in Canada the dynamics and logistics have been very intense, literally hundreds of phone calls and emails in preparation for the canoe journey, here are just some of the highlights not necessary in order, a meeting with Tom Shandel with the Film industry, meetings with sponsors, one being BCIT which has taken the role of participating in many ways including designing a new water tight spray deck for the canoe.

Meetings with Mark Angelo and with his students. Discussions with RNLI UK setting up a fundraiser for there Charity, discussions with CTC and the Canadian High Commission.

MCA Coastguard has allowed us to use the Maritime Map which allows interested participants to view up close the coastline and some of the villages of the UK.

BRI Bellville Rodair our shipping company based in London, UK our most recent sponsor.

Meetings with the Provincial Government with MLA Randy Hawes coming up in March 2007.

November 13. Thursday, meeting with top kayaker in Scotland to discuss some of the logistics and timing of paddling areas such as Pentland Firth, the west and north coast of Scotland, as we traveled back to Dundee we filmed and photographed the coastline, some of this will be transferred onto the website. Arrive in Dundee late.

November 9-12. Orkney Islands, meetings with local community, lecture at St Magnus, Lifeboat, Deputy Head for outdoor program for school district, meeting with Andrew Drever Orkney Council, Boat Museum, meetings with BBC Radio Cornwall, meetings with Orkney Today newspaper, story in for November 9th. 2006.

November 1-4. Meeting with Alan Beaton near Aberdeen talks about the West and East coasts of Scotland, meeting some of the expert paddlers of Scotland in Alford off the next morning for Stromness, Orkney Islands. 2006.

November 1-4. Isle of Luing, just south of Oban, meeting locals talks with the local one room school house, lecture in evening for the community of Cullipool, fundraiser from the lecture, off to Dundee on the 5th November.

October 28-29. Guest speaker for the Scottish Canoe Association in Perth SCA becomes a sponsor for the UK Journey. These two days with SCA proved to be instrumental in gaining support and forming a marvellous network through the paddling community throughout Scotland. Many thanks to Margaret and Rosie.

June 2006
On going testing with sea trials on the BC Coast, Chilko Lake testing hull speed under sail 13nm per hour, incredible stability and good handling. Whitewater swift water training Thompson River. June-September 2006.

December 2005
First Meeting with MCA Maritime Coastguard Brian Taylor, Mark Rodaway, in Solent, Southcoast.
A letter on behalf of MCA Coastguard member Brian Taylor

Gentlemen,
On Thursday I took a telephone call from Chris Cooper, a Canadian gentleman, who is in the UK at the moment researching for a project he hopes to undertake in 2008/2010. He then came in to the Station on Friday afternoon and met with myself and Mark Rodaway, who was thankfully working in the station for the day.
Chris has been involved in many documentary and other projects previously in his home country of Canada and is very keen on complying with all UK certification and safety regulations for this project. The canoe/kayak involved is approximately 42ft in length with South Sea type stabilizers fitted and will have a hardened cover fitted for the journey. He will be arranging crews from Canada and hopefully from around the UK and hopes to have some involvement with a charity, such as BBC Children in Need. He is also hoping to have media coverage for the event.
Mark Rodaway provided general safety advice for such a project, however, due to the long lead time for this project and his desire to maintain links with the MCA he was provided with contact details for Scott and Mark and he will no doubt be in touch before he heads back to Canada in about 10 days.

March 2005
British Isles Canoe Journey was conceived in discussion with Karin Mark who is my freelance writer for newspaper and magazine articles most recently with Adventurous Magazine summer 2005. March 31st 2005.

Another very important aspect to this story is that is in spring of 2003 on June 3rd I met a young teacher assistant Kip Cooper who was from the UK and visiting Canada, Kip and I met on a canoe outing I was providing for a private school in White Rock, after the days journey I asked Kip if he might like to join us on a canoe journey down the BC Coast from Burnett Bay to Port McNeill, this summer, Kip accepted the invitation.

The following year my wife Barbara and I went to the UK to visit Kip’s parents in Bedale, Yorkshire, England. Keith and Anita introduced us to their older son Mike who also took a liking to canoeing and came to British Columbia in the summer of 2005 to experience the British Columbia coast. This all kindled a flame that sparked the Spirit Dancer British Isles Canoe Journey.