Sea Kayak Specialists Blog

I got quite a bit of practice with a variety of navigation techniques while on my recent trip to Maine. Much of it encompasses universal skills - but the Maine location offered some differences from what I need to consider in Lake Superior.

First is the magnetic variation in this area. Unfortunately, a magnetic compass does not point to true North - the North on a map, but to magnetic North. The difference between true and magnetic north depends on where you are in the world. I am spoiled around here, with a variation of only a few degrees. There are places on Lake Superior where the variation is zero. In Maine it is nearly 20 degrees… enough to get severely lost if you don’t do your homework correctly!

Second is the tides - which create currents as the water flows in and out around the islands and headlands. The currents where I was aren’t major currents - and I had been told I didn’t need to worry about them. But, they certainly are significant. When making crossings, I nearly always had set a ferry angle - make a significant correction to my heading (the direction my boat was facing) so I would stay on course (going in the direction I wanted to go).

Third is the boat traffic. There is boat traffic in some areas of Lake Superior - but not much around Marquette. Maine has quite a bit more traffic - in terms of working boats (ferries and fishing boats) as well as recreational traffic - mostly sailboats - some yachts. Most significant where I was paddling in Maine was the lobster boat traffic. I am not sure how boats avoid all the buoys (marking lobster traps) littered nearly every where. It seems props would be tangled up in no time - especially if navigating at night or in the fog. Not an issue for me - the buoys made great range markers so I could tell if I was staying on course during a crossing.

Universally, I have to deal with fog and limited visibility. Complicated in Maine by the tidal currents and boat traffic. The last day of paddling it was foggy most of the day. Sometimes visibility was only a couple hundred feet. But, it was ever changing. Which really messed with my perspective at first - trying to figure out how close the island I was seeing was… did it just look far away because of the fog? With all those islands, I had to be careful.

At one point, I got momentarily disoriented - I could see tons of islands - and boats - at the water level but the fog was thick as pea soup. Thing was, the fog stopped 10 feet above the water in a very clean line - but without much contrast between the water and the fog it was hard to tell at first. As it was, all the tops of the islands were hidden- I just saw slivers all around. Kind of cool. Then, as the fog changed, the island I was approaching was magical - I could see the top and bottom of the island, with a hazy foggy band - a ribbon blowing softly in the wind - around it’s middle. I love fog paddling - always creating ethereal visions.

I made one mistake in all these foggy crossings - and was lucky. I was making a series of crossings - island to island to island. At one point, when studying the chart to set up the next crossing, I looked at the wrong island for the starting point. Luckily, my course took me in the direction I wanted to go - just to a different island (not to nowhere). Though confused for a bit, I figured out what I had done and re-oriented myself. A lesson to check and double check and triple check….. But, I made it back safely!

Nancy

Being a Great Lakes Paddler, I don’t have to deal with tides (or tidal currents) in my home waters. I have paddled in tidal regions several times in the past, but doing so as a solo paddler for an 11 day trip in Maine was a new experience. I set out along the Maine Coast on July 15th with some trepidation, not knowing exactly what I would find for landings. The tidal range is about 10 feet, and I wondered how I would be able to manage dragging my boat up and down with the tide. I had along a set of small wheels (on loan from Sam), not sure if I would be able to use them.

They did come in handy right at the launch - a natural smooth stone entry. I headed out and camped my first night at Harbor Island. I landed at low tide, unloaded gear and hoped the tide would bring my boat up. I wasn’t sure how it would work, as the landing wasn’t great. A couple sailors arrived, and helped me move the boat. It was not convenient to my campsite, but above high tide and a better bet for launching the next morning. In the evening I walked around the island. The tide had risen enough to cover some big boulders in another area, leaving a smooth, stone ramp between the island and the ocean. I knew I could land and launch there except at the very lowest of tides, so I moved my boat again (and the wheels came in quite handy!)

From there on, I became better at scouting and calculating how the tides would effect my launching. Timing is everything - when I left in the morning depended more on the tides than on anything. The next several nights I spent at Kimball Island with a great cobble beach that acted like ball bearings - pretty easy to move the boat. The first morning, I was launching at low tide, and the boat was up high. I gave a little push, figuring it would go part way and I could push again. But, it rolled all the way to the ocean. Some other kayakers were there, and I am sure they thought I was nuts as I ran behind the boat, catching it before it launched without me!

At one campsite (Ram Island, in Hurricane Sound) there were 2 hours on either side of low that would make any launch inconvenient, and a solo launch very difficult (if not quite impossible). I used the wheels again here, to get my boat on and off a big flat rock where it would be safe overnight - though could only do so for an hour or so on either side of high water. I had to get up at 5:00 a.m. so I could make it work.

I decided traveling with someone else in tidal regions makes life much easier - especially where access is already quite limited by geography and lots of private land.

Nancy

I recently spent 11 days kayaking along part of the Maine Coast - with a little trip planning help from Dave Mention of the Maine Island Trail Association and Nancy Moore, a paddling instructor from Madison area with family ties to Maine. My intent is to post several entries highlighting parts of the trip. Though, I often have great intentions that don’t always pan out!

I launched from Old Quarry Ocean Adventures on Deer Isle (near Stonington) and headed out into gorgeous, sunny weather without much wind. Old Quarry is in a great little spot on Webb Cove. They have a small store, some great campsites and, of course, a good all-tides launching area with a place to park my car for an extended time. They rent kayaks and do tours, and also have sailing, cruises, and hike and bike activities on some of the surrounding islands. A great business.

I spent several days in the Merchant Row area, the highlight of which was paddling around Isle au Haut. A large portion of this island is part of Acadia National Park. The southern part is exposed, and was really the only open ocean paddling I did - otherwise I was in waters offering at least some protection from the ocean swell. The scenery here reminded me of parts of the North Shore of Lake Superior. In fact, I bet if I swapped pictures between groups of slides, no one would no the difference! There are boreal forests on most of these islands - as on the North Shore of Superior. I also did a day of hiking on Isle au Haut, disappointed because where I hiked offered limited (or no) views of the surrounding ocean and islands. But, pretty none-the-less.

Stopped back at Old Quarry to drop off garbage and take a shower before heading out again, going counter clockwise around Deer Isle, through Eggemogin Reach and spending several days exploring areas East of Deer Isle.

I had great, sunny weather the first 1/2 of the trip. Then, some rained mixed in later on. But, mostly at night and always after I had camp set up, so that was OK. The last 2 days offered classic foggy Maine paddling - good thing, or I wouldn’t have felt like I was in Maine!

Overall, it was nice to see a new area. Good practice with fog and navigation and tide charts etc. Best part is just getting away from the hubbub of the modern world for a few days. Paying attention to the world - sunrise and sunset, the phases of the moon, the times of the tide, the sounds of the birds and the wind and the rain on my tent, the height of the swell, the feel of the currents. All narrowing my focus to appreciate the world in my immediate vicinity - while simultaneously giving me time to read and relax and let my mind wander and ponder anything at all.

Nancy

I haven’t heard much from Nancy with everything going on. She posted the following on the local paddling groups email list but otherwise my assumption is she is paddling around with a rocket tube on the Maine coast.

sam

I am visiting my parents in Tonawanda NY, between Buffalo and Niagara Falls. Though I was in a canoe on the Niagara with my Dad as a kid, I have never kayaked there. So, I took the opportunity the other day to do a 13 mile stretch from Downtown Buffalo (beginning on Lake Erie), ending in Tonawanda. I, of course, stayed well above the falls! Below is a link to the map of the river. It is not recommended to go North of Grand Island / Navy Island (the small island to the northwest of Grand Island) in any kind of boat. http://www.niagaraparks.com/images2/niag-map.JPG”

I haven’t found an official report on river currents in the area where I started the paddle. Somewhere said 15 Knots, another place 7 to 12 mph. The latter seems correct. The river widens around Grand Island, and the currents are less, though still very significant. Here is a quote which tells a bit of why… “Although only about 34 miles long, unlike most other rivers which begin as tiny streams, the mighty Niagara is created when a tremendous volume of water draining from the upper great lakes is squeezed into the narrow one-half mile wide river bed and begins its rush toward the Falls and Lake Ontario.” Not to mention a drop of well over 300 feet along the course of the river (mostly at the falls). The currents and eddies around the peace bridge and international railroad bridge are pretty wicked. Below is a link to a video of this area (not mine).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqL9n2d9REg

It took me 2 1/2 hours to go 13 miles - with not very hard paddling! I also had a nice tail wind. I wished I had timed myself between the 2 bridges, where the current it fastest - but I did the 2 1/4 miles in less than 20 minutes. Not a bad pace! I turned to pace upstream at one point, but it is very disorienting for me in those currents, and I was afraid of getting motion sick, and since by myself didn’t play very long.

Anyway… happy paddling back in the UP!

Nancy

Well it has been a while, much has happened and our blog went dark.

First off I got waylaid by some sort of virus that canceled about half of the Bay Cliff kayak program by keeping me flattened for a week. Still recovering with about 70-80% energy. Worse is a pretty challenging bad attitude. Summer just is not a time to be sick…

Workload has been heavy making free time scarce. Worked the Door County Symposium and the Grand Marais symposium in addition to classes, private lessons and massages. Today is the first day since June 22 that is a full day off without being a sick day.

Then we got hit by some hackers that took down all our online stuff with the photo gallery is still offline. Looks like they came in thru our website host.

Needless to say I’ve canceled my trip from Terrace Bay to Wawa. My fitness isn’t back to do a trip of that length. Looks like I will be doing some time around the Keweenaw Peninsula. Right now a remote wilderness campsite where I can sit, have an evening campfire and do some low key paddling and hiking sounds right. I do need to build myself back up for the fall course of workshops and of course shake off this bad attitude, no matter how much fun it brings being crabby!

sam

After paddling with the Rutabaga and WI gang, I headed further west to visit friends in Richmond Center. When listening to all the news recently about the mid-west floods, my brain didn’t connect this part of Wisconsin with the floods. But, indeed, all the rivers in the area flooded, including the Kickapoo River, where we chose to paddle. Click here for a CNN story. My friends, thankfully, live on very high ground and were not effected - though Rachel’s garden compost was washed down the hill several times before she actually got the compost to stay and the plants in the ground!

On Monday, Rachel and I took the canoe and the kids and headed to the Kickapoo Valley Reserve (click for photos of the flooded river) to paddle from bridge 7 to 10. In contrast to the cold, windy, threatening weather of Sunday, it was sunny and calm. A perfect day to paddle. As we drove, we went over roads and bridges that, not long ago, had been under water. Hard to imagine this little river flooding such a huge area. But, the signs of debris way up in the trees was hard to miss.

The Kickapoo is a gorgeous valley with areas of steep cliffs, a few small caves, and lots of mud. This section of the river had been cleared of major debris so it was safe to paddle, though other parts of the river remained impassible. I realized I am not as proficient in the stern of a canoe in current as I would like to be… it is different steering from the back of the boat, and having a blade only on one side. I have a much better idea of how a boat responds when I am in the middle… and can switch sides a bit easier. If I ever wanted to do river canoing, I sure could use some lessons! Overall, a very fun day.

Nancy

I spent the weekend in Madison, Wisconsin helping with an open house sponsored jointly by Rutabaga and Wilderness Inquiry (WI). The open house was geared toward helping folks with disabilities explore the possibilities paddling offers. Rutabaga is not only a large paddlesports shop, but has a huge instructional program and in recent years has been actively promoting paddlesports for people of all abilities. Wilderness Inquiry has been around for several decades, promoting adventure travel for all ages and abilities. They began with paddling trips in the boundry waters, and have expanded to 4 seasons of trips all around the world.

Rutabaga brought a huge trailer full of canoes and kayaks, while WI brought three voyager canoes. Despite a cool, overcast and very windy day with threats of rain, over 75 people came out to paddle. I was pretty impressed. I am sure more would have come had it been a nice day. But, I figure any weekend where folks are introduced to paddling is a good weekend! For more photos, click here.

Nancy

As Sam noted, I have been helping out at Bay Cliff a bit the last couple weeks. Initially with staff training, and this week with the first pool sessions. Bay Cliff is my home away from home; the place that brought me to the UP 20 years ago to spend my first summer on the shores of Superior. I remember one of my days off that summer - I went hiking with friends along Pictured Rocks. And I saw a kayaker below. I knew that was where I wanted to be!

Four years later, I moved to the UP - and in the spring I started looking for - and purchased - a kayak. Coincidentally, about that same time our camp director met Janet Zellar, then president of the American Canoe Association (ACA) and founder of the ACA’s adaptive paddling program. Thus began my kayaking journey… always a blend of personal growth and skill development and the development of a kayaking program at Bay Cliff. First for the adult camp session, then for the kids camp.

All the campers at these sessions have some form of disability - a physical, vision, hearing or speech impairment. The kids program includes therapy and formal goals to reach new levels of independence. For me, combining my background as a Physical Therapist with those of a developing kayaking instructor was a natural. The payoff is seeing kids set new goals… to be able to hold their breath under water so they can do a wet exit; to perform an independent wet exit; to be able to paddle a boat out on the lake; to be able to do a T-rescue; to have a water war. Yeah, water wars on warm, sunny days are a big part of camp. The program keeps evolving with new equipment, ideas and challenges always emerging.

As kayaking has evolved, so has off the shelf equipment. Much of what we use for “adaptations” these days are used by lots of folks - including myself. Basically, it is outfitting and customizing a boat to maximize performance. For some folks, more extensive postural support is required. Last year and this year, we have had a huge breakthrough with the availability of the Universal Paddling Seat. This year, the developer Kevin Carr, has continued to update the product and made a smaller (and more colorful version!) for Bay Cliff. These seats have made a huge difference in the ease and success of paddling for our campers that need additional trunk support. They are awesome. However, last year the kids and I decided “universal paddling seat” was too much of a mouthful. So, we call it the Cadillac back - because it is such a delux, top of the line model!

Kayaking is underway for the teens at Bay Cliff Health Camp (click here). I’ll be there for a total of 8 days and Nancy has been able to assist with the first 2 days. Camp is crazy but the reason for all the hard work is the kids. So far we’ve had 4 kids do independent wet exits with 3 of those doing their first ones. One remarks every time she sees me how fun it was and how much she cannot wait to get out to Lake Independence and paddle. Two other kids are working on their water comfort and have made incredible progress.

Tomorrow is a big day with a lot of kids coming to the pool to learn to kayak, many of them will be attempting their first wet exit. Sunday is our first sessions on Lake Independence where the focus is on paddling, the reward for all the hard work leading to the wet exits.

sam

Funny names these. Not very well know either. Thats good as there is some great kayaking between these two southern Ontario towns. Everybody has asked after circumnavigating Ireland, whats next? After contemplating some different locations, it ended up in being the place I thought of when in Ireland. Why? For one thing, no tides, for another trees. Campsites in Ireland are chosen more for practical reasons, campsites in this region are chosen for aesthetics. Another reason is close to home and a trip for two weeks. Both important given it is Nancy’s turn to go off this summer.

The chart section shows the shoreline. If weather allows, I will be making the crossing out to the Slate Islands as well as Michpicoten Island. In between is Puksakwa. No thats not a typo but a Canadian national park on Lake Superior (click here) and one of the prime paddling wilderness areas on the Lake.

Altogether it will be two weeks long and 200 miles. It will be a point to point trip instead of a loop thanks to the good people at Naturally Superior Adventures in Wawa (click here) who will shuttle my car. They are one of the top outfitters on the Lake and sit on one of the best pieces of real estate I have seen. This will be my third trip that ends at their hospitable environs.

sam