Archive for May, 2008

« Older Entries

Securing the Boat

Saturday, May 31st, 2008

Securing a boat over night is one of the key activities for me after camp is setup and dinner is done. There are many steps, most involved in getting ready for the next day to minimize time between waking and launching. Tasks such as refilling the hydration pack, making sure snacks & sport bars are restocked and any packing that can be done is done (ie stow the dinner bag, fuel bottle, etc.).

Below is a photo with the boat secured for night.

Note hatch covers are closed, paddle secured to the boat along with the spare paddle and a cockpit cover is used. In the cockpit the PFD, sprayskirt, booties, wetsuit and paddling clothes are stored over night.

Why am I concerned about securing gear? Several things, high winds will scatter it possibly causing it to be lost – not all high winds get forecasted. In the middle of the night, if the seas and/or tides come up and you misjudged where the high water mark is, you can quickly move everything. Finally, animals. In the Pukaskwa I encountered Porcupines, famous for eating the latrines for the salt from the urine as well as in the glue in the plywood. They also liked to sample items touched by sweaty hands. One glance with a flashlight will tell you if anything is near your boat. Nancy had one eat her water bottle top and sample her hatch covers. The water bottle top was done for, fortunately the hatch covers only had teeth marks.

Finally, when possible, I like to use my tow rope and secure the boat to a tree. (The above photo was take in Ireland and there wasn’t any trees nearby). Below is a thumb from another trip where you can see the blue tow rope going out of picture to a tree.

Why is that important? Obvious I like to think but here is a photo taken in Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands) to make the point.

Yep that’s our boats floating and tied to the dock post. Thing is, we carried them up there at low tide for a LONG way and then ran to the ranger station to get our permit. We misjudged the tide and the time to get the permit. By securing the boats and all the gear, retrieved the boats instead of spending the first morning trying to track down our boats and/or gear.

Still think it is extreme? Here is a photo from Garnish, a small villiage in the west of Ireland.

I encountered some of the strongest winds of the trip here. There is no way I could move that row boat by myself, yet it is tied with two ropes to the sign and the oars are secured inside.

Think winds that strong don’t happen here? Think again, I’ve seen empty kayaks in the wind move several hundred feet along the beach at the symposium in Grand Marais, MI. I’ve heard of a double getting picked up by the wind in Lake Superior Provincial Park and thrown onto it’s paddlers who landed because of the building winds.

Securing the boat right now is a habit, I don’t even think about doing it anymore.

sam

Posted in Gear, Informational | No Comments »

Going to Mad Town

Thursday, May 29th, 2008

Heading to Madison, WI to run a series of instructor workshops at Rutabaga (click here). I lived in Madison from ’86-’89 working as an engineer but never discovered Rutabaga. It wasn’t until my IDW (instructor development workshop) in ’95 that I met folks from Rutabaga and eventually found my way to the store. Since then friendships have formed and going there is like walking into the house you grew up in, its familiar in many ways but more importantly with the people there, you fit in and are immediately comfortable, just like family.

sam

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Camping Without Tent Pegs

Wednesday, May 28th, 2008

There have been many times setting up a tent where it is not possible to secure it via pegs for several reasons, for example camping on rock or in sand. There are also other reasons, wanting additional security even when using tent pegs, for example in high winds. Below are some photos that demonstrate a way to do that.

Here is a tent setup on a island that effectively is rock. Click on the thumbnails below to see a bigger photo.

Rocks secure the tent without pegs. Below shows the rocks at the corners.

How that works is to have some rope tied to the corner. Take the rope and loop it around a smaller rock.

Place a larger rock on the rope between the tent and the smaller rock.

In this case, these rocks provide additional security to tent pegs.

Can this be used in sand? Sure, tent pegs don’t work at all in sand. See in the photo below the tent is on a sand beach with rocks at the tent corners.

So how does it work? In the first two photos wind were around 20 knots. In the tent on the grass, winds reached over 50 knots. The tent on the beach had wind gusts reached to 20-25 knots. In all cases, the tent stayed put.

sam

Posted in Camping, Informational | No Comments »

Garden Paddling

Monday, May 26th, 2008

The paddle to the Garden Peninsula went well. Made it to Door County and rounded Rock Island before heading back to the UP. On the right is the boat house on Rock, click here to see the photo gallery and more photos. Pulled out on sunday with the threat of a thunder storm bringing in 60 mph winds and golf ball size hail. Actually it was the prospect of dealing with south winds that caused me to leave. This time of year south winds are very cold coming off of the lake. Since campsites are on the shoreline, it is tough to find a comfortable place with a hard blowing south wind.

The theme for this trip was birds. Yes Cormorants were abundant (unless it was just a few doing laps around me!), Saw Eagles in several places, ducks everywhere and was drowned out by bird song in the evenings. But on St Martin Islands got to see Blue Jays, a couple hundred of them, doing funny things. No they weren’t doing comedy. They were flocked together in the woods and altogether would fly out over the water 1-300′ up. Flying may be a generous word, for all the flapping they were doing they were almost hovering. After 5-10 minutes of this they would all dive back towards the trees making a loud swooshing sound. This occurred about 6 times over a couple of hours. Didn’t see Blue Jays on any other island.

Also got to see the extremes of lighthouse maintenance. The Pottawatomie Lighthouse (click here) on Rock Island is maintained by the Wisconsin DNR. Open for tours, one could see it was maintained very well. At the other extreme is the Poverty Island Lighthouse (click here). Vandalized, holes in the roof and the light room removed, even though I’ve seen it years ago in roughly the same shape, it is sadly amazing to see a structure abandoned and falling apart like this. Only in a remote location could a lighthouse fall into such a state given their popularity nowadays.

Another odd thing about the trip was the bugs. Usually this time of year, they are aggressive and one comes back slightly anemic from the loss of blood. I can truthfully report that no bug bit me. It doesn’t mean there weren’t any bugs, its just the bugs there were the friendly kind. All they wanted to do was hang out. Since there were swarms of them, that did cause a bit of a problem, but a much better one than the usual shock troops of the bug world, Black Flies.

But I found once again the Garden Peninsula, with all the land around it so low and islands stretched apart, gives you an ‘out there’ kinda feeling. On the last day south winds built to 15-20 knots under an overcast sky. I just wanted to get to shore and off the water, but that takes a while and one settles in for a grind. But there were times when paddling miles from land in sunny, calm conditions, one could revel in the solitude with the only sound being Gulls, other birds and one’s paddling. Its the same peacefulness that one finds when watching a colorful sunset.

sam

Posted in Personal trips | No Comments »

Peninsula to Peninsula

Thursday, May 22nd, 2008

In the Midwest, everybody has heard of the Door County and the Door Peninsula in northeastern Wisconsin. Few have heard of the Garden Peninsula in the UP. This weekend the goal is to finally make the crossing between them. With a calm weather forecast for the early part of the weekend, it looks good to make the crossing.

The peninsula’s names are as different as the peninsulas. Door means ‘death’s door’, named that way after a storm centuries ago wrecked a Native American war party paddling in canoes and scattering the warrior’s bodies all over the area’s shoreline. The resident population is around 27,000 and the summer population, swollen by tourists and summer residents, rises as high as 250,000. It is a popular summer destination for Green Bay, Milwaukee, Madison and Illinois.

Garden is quite the opposite. Garden is named for a climate that results in a longer growing season than most of the UP (Door has the same climate). A rural place, some residents wave as you drive past. It is also an economic backwater with artists sprinkled among the locals taking advantage of the low cost of living. Tourists rarely visit south of Fayette State Park, there is nothing for them to see or do.

The western end of the Niagara Escarpment (click here) forms these peninsulas. But with so little in common and so many differences, it makes me wonder if going from peninsula to peninsula one crosses something more than a state line.

sam

Posted in Personal trips | No Comments »

Tandem Rescues

Wednesday, May 21st, 2008

Here are some photos from the Big Bay IDW where tandem rescues were demonstrated. They are thumbs so click on them to see them enlarged. Tandem paddlers are Lukas from Minnesota and Andrew from Ishpeming.

First, a self rescue:

The wet exit

Flip the boat over


One paddler stabilizes the boat on one side while the other reenters on the opposite side

Then the roles are reversed. As the paddler reenters, the rear paddle sculls to stabilize the boat

\

What is not shown is the pumping out of all the water in the cockpits.

Now an assisted rescue with Pat from Duluth and Richard from Marquette in the solos.

Wet exit

The rescuer is in place, the other solo comes in to stabilize the rescuer

With the rear swimmer pushing down and the rescuer lifting along with the other swimmer, the bow is up on the rescuers cockpit.

Now the tandem is brought over the two solo boats to empty out the water

With the tandem slid back into the water, a raft is formed

The first swimmer reenters

Now the second swimmer reenters.

The advantage of the assisted rescue is there is no pumping.

Think I’ll stay in my solo! :)

sam

Posted in Informational, Skills | No Comments »

Michigan in May

Tuesday, May 20th, 2008

Here is the crew from the Big Bay IDW (instructor development workshop), a hardworking dedicated one. Having the workshop in May once again helped to produce great teaching conditions that they were able to experience and the staff could teach in. Having it in May had every person there being a professional as all were working either for outfitters to guide trips and/or teach classes. Needless to say, after three days of long hours and work in taking advantage of teaching moments offered by the weather and other events, I am still pretty worn out.

One of the participants related how he told friends he was going to Michigan in May to do a kayaking workshop. Why don’t you go to Florida where it is warmer they asked. He laughed and said Lake Superior is the place for him.

Thinking about that comment, it made me realize how much kayaking on the Great Lakes is different. Hypothermia from immersion in the cold water is the biggest danger in northern climates, yet many people don’t know how to safely address that risk.

A New Years Day paddle downstate ended with an ambulance ride to the hospital because of a capsize and a botched rescue. Instead of getting the paddler back into their boat, the rescuer towed her through the water for 20+ minutes to reach shore. Even with a drysuit, she became hypothermic enough to go to the hospital.

Teaching an instructor workshop on an inland lake in June down south, people said the water was cold (it was hard not to laugh). Despite this nobody wore a wetsuit. Nobody was in a hurry either when doing a rescue.

An expedition to Alaska by two drysuit wearing southerners nearly turns fatal as hypothermia induced by the cold environment slowly clouds their judgment. They paddle into a significant tidal race and get separated. One of them ends up rolling 6-8 times. It takes 12+ hours before they meet up with each other.

Cold water is not pleasant but it is a reality Great Lake paddlers face if we capsize. Doing rescues during the summer reminds me of that. But what is the purpose of the gear so many obsess over? Having the right gear, using it properly and knowing how it works is a key piece to being safe. Doing a quick rescue is also key. I learned that while wearing a 3 mil neoprene wetsuit in my IDW in Bayfield in May ’95, a week after the ice went out.

The best thing in all of this was the people in this weeks IDW. They came away with a first hand experience of cold water, how their gear works in it and why it is important to quickly do a rescue.

Who would you want to learn from, one of them or some Floridian?

sam

Posted in Classes/Workshops, Story, Muse & Rambles | No Comments »

Big Bay IDW

Wednesday, May 14th, 2008

This is something we’ve been planning and thinking about for a while. No its not a mis-typing of DWI, but IDW is Instructor Development Workshop, a training for people wanting to become an American Canoe Association certified instructor. Held the weekend before Memorial Day at Bay Cliff Health Camp, this workshop gives professional guides and instructors a chance to receive some high level training.

Looks like we got some good conditions coming in for it as well. Here is an excerpt from the wednesday off shore forecast:

.FRIDAY...NORTHWEST WINDS 5 TO 15 KNOTS BECOMING EAST LESS THAN
10 KNOTS IN THE AFTERNOON. A CHANCE OF RAIN SHOWERS. WAVES CALM
TO 2 FEET.
.FRIDAY NIGHT...SOUTHWEST WINDS 5 TO 15 KNOTS BECOMING WEST 10 TO
20 KNOTS AFTER MIDNIGHT. A CHANCE OF RAIN SHOWERS. WAVES BUILDING
TO 1 TO 3 FEET.
.SATURDAY...NORTHWEST WINDS 15 TO 25 KNOTS. A CHANCE OF RAIN SHOWERS.
WAVES BUILDING TO 3 TO 5 FEET.
.SUNDAY...NORTHWEST WINDS 10 TO 20 KNOTS. WAVES SUBSIDING TO 2 TO
4 FEET.

Good stuff given the protected harbor in Big Bay we can pick and chose when to be in those conditions. It is a level 1-4 workshop with level 4 being able to instruct in winds to 15 knots, seas to 3-5′ and surf to 3′. The photo thumb to the right is a surf session from a few years ago in Big Bay during another IDW.

We’ve got folks from several outfitters in the UP, three in Minnesota and one from Wisconsin. Additionally, there are two instructor trainer candidates assisting me as they work towards becoming Instructor Trainers.

Fun stuff to be hanging out with all these paddling people!

sam

Posted in Classes/Workshops | No Comments »

Troll Paddling

Monday, May 12th, 2008

Paddling under the Mackinac Bridge

Thats what it looks like under the Mackinac Bridge and I-75. Having traveled over the bridge many times, I was surprised by the view from underneath it. The five mile long bridge, 200′ over the water and the towers, 552′ tall, is the largest man made object I’ve paddled around and under. More photos from the days paddle are in our gallery – click here.

Paddling by something this big often makes one feel insignificant. But this time, I noticed a big sky feeling like Montana. The land here is low with elevations just a few hundred feet over the water. What is big here, is the water and the sky, it makes you search in the distance for the horizon and everything in between shrinks no matter how big it is. Paddling up close to the bridge, it dominates your attention and draws your gaze away from the horizon and upwards but it never blocks the horizon. You feel you are somewhere, next to something big. But something strange happens when you look away. In an instant you realize you are out there, far away from everything. Quickly switching between looking at the horizon and back at the bridge, I felt a form of vertigo except in the horizontal plane. Perhaps it was hortigo? or horigo, horizigo?

Well in any case, it was mildly disorientating.

—-

The Edgar Speer passing by in the Mackinac StraitsThe Straits this time of year is an interesting place to paddle. As seen in the photos, we caught a beautiful day with the winds decreasing in the afternoon creating some ideal spring paddling. Boat traffic was light for the area. The ferries that run out to Mackinac Island were only running every 30 minutes instead of the usual summertime schedule of every few minutes. Outside of ourselves, we didn’t see any recreational boat traffic. We did see commercial traffic (click on the thumb to see the Edgar Speer ore boat going by, for more information on the Edgar Speer – click here).

—-

It was good to paddle with Core 4 again as it had been 5 years since the last Core 4 paddling trip which was in Washington State’s San Juan Islands (click here). For once, all four of us were all troll paddlers, thanks to paddling under the bridge.

sam

Posted in Personal trips, Story, Muse & Rambles | No Comments »

Dry at Last!

Sunday, May 11th, 2008

I got to use my new Seals (Pro Shocker) sprayskirt for our paddle under the Mackinac Bridge yesterday – and will report the driest cockpit I have ever experienced. I believe the only water that got into the cockpit was from my boots dripping, and the little wave that splashed in when I landed. I am looking forward to my expedition to Newfoundland this summer – sitting in a dry seat at last!

Nancy

Posted in Expeditions, Gear, Informational, Newfoundland | No Comments »

« Older Entries