Happy new year! I'm back in the saddle after a couple of weeks on a much warmer Pacific Island...Maui.

Apparently I've missed a fair amount, including a record setting Pineapple Express which has been blowing for something like a month and has thawed out most of Canada, let alone the west coast. We're are on track to set a new consecutive rainy days record, clocking in at 25 or so with this morning's downpour. If all goes according to plan, we'll easily break the record by Monday.

And the stormy weather has been experienced first hand by my friend Sue Schoegl who got dangerously trapped by a Squamish AND the Pineapple Express while out kayaking a couple of weeks ago. Her account is harrowing in it's description of what the ocean and the wind can do to you, and she is no mere weekend paddler, having won the women's division in the Round Bowen race last year. It's great to see her safe and sound and blogging again.