Stand Up Paddling is the fastest growing sport in the world and the Jericho Sailing Centre is home port to one of the world's top SUP competitors. A longtime Vancouver Beach Lifeguard who has competed in World Lifesaving Championships, Shannon Bell developed her paddling skills with the JSCA affiliated Jericho Outrigger Canoe Club (recently renamed Jericho Paddling Club ) enjoying success as a member of the ladies OC6 (6 person outrigger) team, OC1's & OC2's, and surf skis. Shannon is now rising through the international ranks to become one of the top competitors on the women's SUP racing circuit. Among her many successful SUP events, Shannon won Bronze at the International Surfing Association Championships in 2013, won the Canadian Championship that same year; won the Northern California Women's Championship, San Francisco's Battle of the Bay and Vancouver SUP Challenge in 2014; and just this past weekend, came in 10th at the Carolina Cup, propelling her into the top 10 in the world SUP rankings. Shannon is a member of Team Canada for the upcoming International Surfing Association World Championships in Mexico, May 10-17th. On top of all of this, Shannon is one of the nicest people you will ever meet at sea level, always quick to share a smile or a paddling tip. When Shannon is not competing, guarding Vancouver beaches or paddling for pure enjoyment she instructs first aid & CPR. Shannon is mother to two more up and coming SUPer stars; sons, Ocean & Sky, and is married to another Vancouver Beach Lifeguard & SUP competitor, Mr. Shannon Bell, aka Gary Parsons, Head Guard at Jericho Beach.

Look for Shannon and her entire family to be competing at the Jericho Sailing Centre for the

2015 Vancouver SUP Challenge on August 15.

Shannon with her Family fresh after becoming the Queen of Kalamalka Women's SUP Champion

Follow international SUP racing at:

http://www.supracer.com/ 

Many thanks to Lech Dolecki for the use of the photo above & our cover photo. Check out more of Lech's outstanding work on:

Lech's SUPer Images 

Shannon is actively seeking sponsors to help support her phenominal racing career. Anyone interested in finding out more can stroke over to:

Sponsor Shannon 

Discovery Street, the road coming in to the Jericho Sailing Centre, will be closed to vehicle traffic between 0930H-1230H on Sunday, May 3. Many other routes that Jericho users use to get to the centre will also be closed for a portion of that day. For a complete list of road closures and times, jog over to: 

http://www.bmovanmarathon.ca/community/road-closures/

Thanks to Frank Wen for the use of this photo. Check out more on Frank's Flickr Gallery!

This tour, on Sunday, May 3 at 1400H, unearths the history of Habitat Forum, a major public event at Jericho Beach that was part of the UN Habitat Conference on Human Settlements held in Vancouver in 1976. This was the largest UN conference that had ever been held, and it was the founding conference of UN Habitat. The Forum was the NGO and public component, and it attracted a who's who of international thinkers on cities and society including Margaret Mead, Buckminster Fuller, Paolo Soleri, Pierre and Margaret Trudeau and many others. 5 vintage WWI-era seaplane hangars (which were once situated adjacent to the building now housing the Jericho Sailing Centre) had been beautifully refurbished for the Forum by thousands of volunteers, architects and craftspeople, providing beautiful conference amphitheatres, meeting rooms and social spaces. Despite public outcry, all of the hangars were burned down or demolished by 1980. This walking tour is therefore a tour of nothing, though traces of Habitat Forum remain if you know where to look. During a meandering walk around the site, the talk will also briefly touch on the fascinating history of the old seaplane base. For more information see. http://habitat76.ca 

The English Bay Safety Seminar was developed for users of the Jericho Sailing Centre to help keep them safe at play on the waters of English Bay. The seminar covers basic water safety fundamentals along with user specific information drawn from the logs of the Jericho Rescue Team who have intervened in thousands of potential "sea disasters" over the past 41 years.

Ocean kayakers, rowers, stand-up paddlers, and outrigger canoeists. Dinghy sailors, cat sailors, windsurfers and sailing canoers. The Jericho Sailing Centre has released countless schools of Vancouver sea mammals from landlubber captivity into English Bay, over the past 41 years. Millions of low cost, highly accessible, non-taxpayer funded, recycled military facility, launches from Jericho Beach by the dwellers of this city named after a prominent seafarer: it's a local sea mammal tradition that goes back thousands of years, to the first inhabitants of this area.

The first sail past launched from Jericho Beach may have taken place almost three thousand years ago when original inhabitants of this area set their canoes into the Salish sea and left their village behind to discover, hunt, trade and/or pillage.

The next sail past from Jericho Beach will be on Saturday, May 9, 2015. All JSCA members are invited to carry on this longstanding tradition. Sail, paddle, windsurf, row - whatever you like to do here, come out and do it on Saturday, May 9 between 1300H and 1400H.

The SOS is important to you to ensure that all of your ocean excursions this season are blessed with favourable weather. The SOS is also an important part of the Jericho OPEN HOUSE as it gives our visiting landlubbers an opportunity to see the Jericho Sailing Centre's resident sea mammal population (kayakers, sailors, windsurfers, rowers, dinghy sailors, SUP'er and other assorted paddlers) in their natural environment.