Welcome to BeanPaddling.ca

Welcome to Bean’s brand new blogging site.  As an 25 year anniversary present, I thought what better way to celebrate this point in our marriage, where we finally get more time to ourselves, to give Bean her own special stage to share her Kayaking adventures with family, friends and followers.

The story begins Christmas 1992.

Bean and Stewart had been dating for just over a half a year and with the engagement on, wedding day set, discussions fell to what are we going to do with our lives together. We talked about many things the last part of 1992. It had to be something that they both could do with bum knees.  With no real idea how the silly idea came to Stewart to buy Bean a paddle for a Kayak.  Not thinking much about it, other than we lived at the Beach in White Rock and something to do with the water might make a great Christmas present. If the idea of a paddle took off then maybe a kayak for her spring birthday would be in order. If Bean did not like the idea, not too much money wasted!

Great Idea huh!! Yah Right, you should have seen Bean’s face when she opened the present. A large full wood Kayak paddle, heavy as can be, a beast of a paddle. I could read “what the heck is this and where is my real present?” A toaster would have got a better reaction. Well after a little discussion and some research I ended up convincing Bean that a kayak for life by the beach would not be such a bad idea. So later that spring without knowing much of anything we went to the best place to buy a kayak. We looked around and it was Western Canoe and Kayaking in Abbotsford. So for Bean’s birthday in we go, ask a few questions, and there we see a brand new Blue Solander Plus. A new model out of Nimbus Kayaks. A sleek looking craft, which was a well designed shiny object ( I am pretending I know a lot about Kayaks but know absolutely nothing). We did find out it was Kevlar, light weight and a great boat for a beginner paddler, that could also be used for touring. Turns out it was a great boat and we were not disappointed. We also loaded up on items we need to make it safe to paddle and loaded the boat up and home we went.

No lessons nothing, straight to the water. Safety, what safety? Yes we knew a life jacket is needed, had a paddle float and spray skirt. Bean went into the water on east Beach in White Rock. Scared stiff of drowning, (she is a good swimmer) she paddled around in the shallow depths of Semiahmoo bay.  Getting braver she sees something out in the Bay, Bean decides to go out an see what that thing is way out in the water. Off she goes to paddle out into the Bay. As she gets closer she realizes it is a kid wading up to their knees in the shallows of the Bay. Who knew it was only that deep way out here. So Bean keeps her brave face on and paddles on some more. One day while paddling in the Bay, always looking down to make sure she can see bottom and not going too deep, (fear of Dying) she sees something move in the water. It scares the crap out of her and now she races out to deeper water so she cannot see anything that actually lives in the water. Now there is a dilemma. how do you get close to shore without seeing things in the water. That went on for a while.

Well we only had one boat. Not much paddling together. We buy a dingy ( the cheap blow up kind) and decide the best way to enjoy the boat is to tow someone behind. Well this was fun but really hard work for the other person. Other than myself, The first person to join Bean on the water was my sister Yvonne. I still remember them launching from Semiahmoo Park in the little Campbell river to head out to Semiahmoo Bay as has been done before with just the Kayak. Promptly Bean begins to tow Yvonne behind. Low and behold the hidden dangers of the Little Campbell will come to bear. Those little sticks that are poking up from the mud in the dark and brackish water of the river have little barnacles on them. Who would know that these little guys would rip the bottom f the dingy and nearly sink Yvonne. I wonder why she ever paddled with us again.

That Summer we moved to our new house on the West Beach area of Marine Drive in White Rock. Turn out the new “shitty shack” as we called it was right across the street from the Kayak Boat Launch. What a great place to begin our career of Kayaking. It fit right in and with a lot of luck it really kicked off our adventures. That summer as we settled in, I was at work (Troll’s on Marine Drive) I saw my first kayak other than our’s on the rack on the top of a pick up truck. They were driving back and forth across the beach, every so often. I noticed a sign on the side of the Truck. Natural West Coast Adventures. Quickly running close to the street so I could scribble the number down, it took a couple of passes but I finally got it right. Going home that night I let Bean know that I had found this company that rented Kayaks. We did not have a second boat so this was an extremely good find. I am sure it was that next weekend that Bean and my sister had called up the kayak company to rent a boat. Now 2 people could paddle together at the same time. Oh what fun. Turns out Yvonne was their first rental customer as they were just starting out. This turned into a 25 year friendship with Howard and Jeannie that continues on today.

Our house was in a strategic location for the boat launch and with pay parking in the summer being instituted in White Rock we quickly adopted Howard and Jeannie so they could park in the yard at the front of our house. This gave us unlimited access to kayaks and experienced Kayakers. In fact we even marked a spot in our front yard as Howard’s spot so that he always had a place to park during the summer. Yes the little “shitty shack” became a place to be known for kayaking and most people thought it was Howard’s house because he was parked there so much. This went on all summer and we got to meet a few of Howard’s first client’s and people learning how to Kayak. Out of this group of people we did not even know, we found a common love for paddling and quickly the kayaking in White Rock grew. We did get to know so much more about paddling and that led to the decision to buy another boat and we started to think about kayak touring.

I had done some camping as a kid through my teens with the Air Cadets and Outward Bound. Bean was game to try. but I really do think that she was not imagining the places we would visit over our paddling career. So begins Bean’s Kayaking Blog. Look forward to old tales of trips in the past as Bean adds them in. I know we will have many more stories to write and places to visit. I hope you enjoy and if you ever want to paddle an area that we have BeanKayaking,  we would be happy to share our experiences and adventures with you. Have a fun time reading.