Vancouver is a large coastal city in Western Canada, located at the Southwest corner of British Columbia. The city and its nearby communities hosts a thriving bunch of paddlers who participate in a variety of paddling disciplines.

Downwind

• Bowen Island video
• English Bay/Jericho video, video2
  • Spanish Banks Beach to Burrard Civic Marina (Vanier Park) approx. 6 km - if you can paddle upwind from Spanish Banks you can add to your downwind distance video
• Ambleside
  • Ambleside Park Laps
  • Burrard Inlet Run - Ambleside/Hollyburn Sailing Club - Caulfeild Cove Burrard Inlet 7.6 km Downwindfun
  • Lighthouse Park to Ambleside - 8 km
  • Eagle Harbour to Ambleside - 12 km video
  • Passage Island to Ambleside (approx 14.5 km) W wind, launch Eagle Harbour, paddle out south in protection of Passage Island then turn east and downwind video, video2
• Gibsons, Howe Sound - See Sunshine Coast

Tidal Races

• Ambleside Park Laps A great place to surf laps in the city. After surfing up the current, turn around and go even faster back into the waves and surf down again!

Other Paddling

• Admiralty Point Distances & Map

Video

• Vancouver Downwind Videos

Conditions

Races

• Race Websites
• Race Results

Clubs and Groups

• Burnaby Canoe and Kayak Sprint Canoe & Kayak
• Dragon Zone Paddling Club Dragon Boats
• False Creek Racing Canoe Club Sprint Canoe & Kayak, OC, Surfski, Dragon Boat
• Jericho
  • Club Locarno SUP, Row, Kayak, Surfski, Sail, Windsurf
  • Jericho Paddling Club OC, Surfski, SUP
• Pitt Meadows Paddling Club OC, Dragon Boat, Voyageur Canoe…
• Squamish Paddling Club
• Canadian Canoe/Kayak Club Finder enter your city or town in the address search box

Rentals

Vancouver is actually one of the better locations for surfski rental. General advice about surfski rental.

• Jericho Beach Kayak Centre
• Deep Cove Kayak Centre (Webcam)
• Western Canoe/Kayak - Sea kayaks, sit on top kayaks, Tandem Canoes (including racing canoes for Ski to Sea Race), SUPs (unfortunately no surfskis)

Local Coaching

Injury and Recovery

• Greg Redman http://wavephysio.ca/
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Dealers

• Coast Outdoors These folks (along with their waterside rental and training facility at Deep Cove) are long time supporters of the PNW paddling community. They can be a very good source of information about paddle sports and paddling in the Vancouver area. And they run the annual Tuesday Night Races at Deep Cove and used to run the Canadian Downwind Championships in Howe Sound.
• Pacific Boarder wetsuits
• Think Surfskis (Vancouver, BC based manufacturer)
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Repair

• Deep Cove/Coast Outdoors
• Vancouver has many boat repair companies (examples Nordmänner Marine Services, MRV Marine Services) who can probably perform simple patch jobs very well (if your job isn't too small for them), but you might want to go with a dedicated small boat shop for major structural repairs? Or one of these locals may be completely capable of major structural repairs on carbon with good paint matching etc. Do your own due diligent research and please let us know if you find someone good.
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Resources

• Bob Putnam
• Paddle Sport BC Facebook