Continued from Days One and Two

Day Three

We suited up to work on doing open water rescues. We headed out of the channel with around 8 students. We teamed up to do t-rescues. The swells were gentle and slow, but fairly sizeable for the Great Lakes 3-5 feet. Only sizeable in that they weren’t breaking. I teamed up with Louis from Montreal. He had a beautiful Skin on Frame kayak he built. The kayak had flotation fore and aft. Louis exited and he and I worked together to empty it, and get him back in. Louis aided me by holding on to my boat and helping to pull it over my lap. From there I emptied the kayak by rotating the kayak towards me. After that it was a pretty standard re-entry. We rafted up with the group and I taught Louis to rescue me. His job was substantially easier with my hardshell Silhouette. As a surf kayaker I don’t have any particular problem with craft that have no bulkheads. Sometimes they just don’t make sense. A skin on frame kayak is a very elegant craft that can be very sea worthy when paddled by a very competent paddler. Swimming doesn’t have to be catastrophic. If the paddler is skilled and stays in the kayak really there is no problem other than holing the kayak. But some of the same problems exist for a hardshell kayak when it is holed. However it is easier and quicker to rescue a hardshell boat with bulkheads.

This is when things got interesting. One of the students became sea sick while we were bobbing up and down on the swell. Doug quickly made the decision to tow her in. Bonnie rafted up with the victim and Doug started to paddle for the channel. I was ignorant of whether or not this was a real emergency or an exercise so luckily I treated it as if it was real. I was left to guide six students through the surf in the channel. I would be lying if I said I was completely calm in guiding students through a surf landing. There were several students who felt very uneasy coming through the channel. One was to my left and the rest were to my right. I was firmly indicating to the one on my left to keep off the rocks as the waves rolled in. She hadn’t developed the coordination to look over her shoulder and brace at the same time yet. So I was giving her the signal on when to backpedal and when to sprint to avoid getting munched. The other students were perilously close to the crib light and it’s rock. Waves were coming in that could have swallowed them whole. I gave some simple guidance to paddle hard, back paddle, or change direction to avoid the crib light dumpers. One student should never know how close he came to getting swallowed whole. I saw his stern lift, and I shouted for him to back paddle. He dug in and came off the crest and onto the back beautifully. I gave him some encouragement to paddle for all he was worth. He sprinted ahead and the next wave washed him into the channel, thankfully upright and intact.

Afterwards we found out that it was indeed a real rescue with a sea sick victim. While Doug and Bonnie got the heroic high fives for performing the assisted tow, I thought about the ducklings I just brought through the jaws of the beast. It is great to see students developing the skills they need to work up to navigating open water and surf. I certainly would have done things a little differently in retrospect. I probably would have gone through first to show them the line, and then given them signals to paddle left or right, backwards, forwards. Instead of having them go through all at once. If nothing else then for my nerves.

We then went through a few more rescues before everyone started to pack up. Again this is where things get really interesting. Louis wanted to go back out. We paddled back to the mouth and discussed which way to go. I voiced the option to go for the deep water between the crib light and the rocks and to stay off the spilling surf over the sand bar. It seemed everyone agreed. We all started paddling and then I looked over and I was the only one going through the deep water. I look over and Louis is over and out of his kayak. I paddle over and Doug is getting him back in. I have my towline ready to clip in and tow Doug and Louis out of the spilling surf. Suddenly my kayak is lifted and almost parked on top of Doug’s Valkyrie. I back off and then come back in. By this time Bonnie has them towed to deeper water. This is when I notice Doug’s nose bleeding. I was terrified that I had clipped him with my boat. As it turns out that same wave punched Louis bow into his nose as he tried to empty the boat. Doug put Louis back in in short order. Bonnie gave Doug a sterile bandage from her life vest first aid kit, (endlessly useful item as it turns out). We agree to head back in. This time we agree to let me pick a line and we will all follow me in. I pick the deep water channel again and jet through. Louis makes his run beautifully, but in the turbulent water on the inside he misses a low brace and goes over. We are literally 300 yards from flat water. I put Louis at my bow empty his boat as much as I can and tell him to climb on. Bonnie clipped and begins towing me. Louis is on his back deck. Doug then clips in for a linked tow and we are moving pretty well. Unfortunately this is where that useless OPP boat comes into the story again. The OPP patrol boat comes through at twenty knots and forces Doug further in towards the rocks. Louis gets washed up on the rocks and it looks like I am going to be next. His bow is wedged. I tell Louis to let go so I can grab is bow and free him. He doesn’t know what’s on my mind though and gives me a panicky, “Please don’t let go!” I tell him it’s ok “I won’t leave you”. It was all very cinematic and could have been a line from the terrible Into Thin Air made for TV Movie. Luckily he let go, I jetted forward, and grabbed his bow and pulled him off. Bonnie and Doug towed us back into the beach.

Doug got an icepack for his face. I still haven’t found out how bad the injury was. He didn’t break his glasses, but he might have gotten a couple of black eyes. We had a good laugh over lunch. All in all this was the most fun I’ve ever had at a symposium! Action packed baby! I can’t wait to go back next year!!! The kids and Laura had great time watching the band playing in the river and Lake Superior. Vince in addition to rescuing fisherman also made a horde of delicious food. I hope the surf is up next year. Gabe even got a Wawa Salmon Derby Baseball Cap from the Search and Rescue team!!

Sand River Falls

The whole family decided to do the Circle Tour of Lake Superior for our end of summer vacation. We loaded up the van with all our gear, four kayaks, (alas and ironically no room for the mega maverick) and drove up to Wawa. We made a quick stop over at the Sand River Falls. We hiked with Gabriel and Isabella up to the falls. The kids scrambled over the rocks and oohed and aaahed over the falls. Sand River Falls come very close to highway 17 and allow easy access to their beauty to kids who normally aren’t real keen on hoofing it for hours to see a bunch of rocks. We ate a bizarre lunch of crackers, salami and peanut butter.

Day One at Rock Island Lodge

We arrived at Rock Island Lodge to building weather. The wind was beginning to howl, white caps were visible across Michipicoten Bay. We went paddling in the Michipicoten river with the kids. Kids are amazing, funny creatures. One can never tell what they will be interested in or want to do. Gabriel and Isabella immediately paddled across the river to the sand bar and began running up and down the steep bank, collecting driftwood and rocks. Then Gabe got the idea to start jumping in the river from the bank, Isabella quickly followed suit. Laura pulled her kayak over and began rock hunting. No one was going anywhere. So I headed out to play in the waves.

The Michipicoten River mouth is not unlike the areas where tidal races form. The river which is dam controlled pushes water out that stacks up against waves directed across Lake Superior by wind. If the wind is strong, the waves begin to form in deep water. This makes for a fairly fun, safe, and invigorating surfing environment. The waves were becoming steep beyond the crib light in a wide triangle. Doug Van Doren and I headed out to surf the triangle.

2008 Wawa Salmon Derby 2008

This is where the Wawa Salmon Derby comes into play. Fishermen competing in the 2008 Wawa Salmon derby were heading out to catch fish near the river mouth where the surf was becoming interesting. The salmon fisherman were starting to come back through the channel as the surf was really beginning to build. The channel is not entirely straight forward for a motor boat. The sandbar to the south side of the channel makes the surf dump. The north side is a narrow deep water run by the crib light and the rocks where Rock Island Lodge is situated. The motor boats typically pick up speed and try to jet through the deep water section by the rocks. Most of the boats made it except for the boat pictured below. The Ontario Provincial Police boat was seemingly nowhere to be found that was helpful. The OPP boat was really to big to be of any use. The full Wawa news report is available online.

Ray, a guide for Naturally Superior and Jean-Fillipe a participant from Montreal aided the fisherman who failed to navigate the channel by pushing them off the rocks into deeper water. All of this ironically happened while I was getting cleaned up for dinner. A rare event took place where the surf continued to build. I managed to recruit Doug, Ray, Conor, owner David Wells, and a few others to head back out to surf after dinner. We made a few runs out and back trying to avoid the fishermen jetting through the channel at 20 knots.

Doug and I had one of our now infamous near collisions in surf. Doug was surfing the center section of the triangle where it was steepest. Doug dropped into the trough ahead of me, started carving diagonally towards the lodge and then the wave closed out on him. I was perched right at the peak of a fairly good sized wave that had substantial power to it to surf me right over Doug. I back pedalled furiously as Doug was munched by the wave. His boat was held almost in place by the contradicting forces of river current and the waves washing in from the open lake. His first roll attempt failed as another wave broke on him. He valiantly submerged fully and set up carefully to roll up successfully into the incoming face of the second wave. I managed to side slip past him on a down wave run.

As a side note about safety. Doug had right of way on the wave as he caught it, I was responsible for my path as he was down wave. Also I can’t stress the importance of helmets enough in these conditions as boats colliding is way, way more likely than hitting your head on something.

I caught several beautiful slicing diagonal rides from the middle section where my Foster Silhouette carved at what seemed to be about 15 knots towards the rocks. Ray who said he was just getting comfortable with his roll in surf, was on fire! Everytime I looked over to see his white Valley Aquanaut he was blazing a furious down wave path, or rolling up from having had a nasty close-out munch him and drag him onto the sand bar on the south side of the river.

Normally I prefer to surf in a small surf kayak, but the conditions in the river mouth were actually perfect for long kayaks. If timed just right, a very long stable ride could be caught in the center of the channel right by the rocks. It is however a little perilous due to the giant table rock the crib light sits on. The waves tend to break and close out on this spot.

Day Two

We divided the students up into smaller groups. I took a small group of three students, Wally, Dorothy and Jean-Fillipe. We worked through a progression of forward stroke technique for torso rotation I’ve been using. In this progression the forward stroke is broken down into it’s three parts, reach and catch, rotation, and release. I have the students experiment with differing postures, (slouched and upright), allowing them to discover how much further they can reach with good posture vs slouched. We also experiment with a shallow plant vs a deep plant and see what happens. Then we begin to work through some rotation exercises. These are a particular favorite of mine. I have students experiment with doing rock-em-sockem robot arms, (locked elbows) paddling where you have to figure out how to get the paddle in the water and rotate without using your elbows at all. This usually gets a few chuckles. But pretty quickly paddlers are rotating their torsos to reach the water. Often students have no prior experience with the use of the muscle groups needed to paddle efficiently. There is no direct biometric result for a correct rotation. So by removing the elbows, (the bendy part that primarily allows arm paddling) the student gets a feel for what it feels like to paddle with their torso. The next step is to remove the arms almost entirely. I then have the students do T-rex, (picture the tiny little arms) paddling. With elbows locked in at the side completely the students paddle by rotating their torso to reach the water. These exercises are somewhat silly, but they do give the idea of how to get the body working properly.

After lunch the students headed out and began surfing the waves that managed to make their way into the river. The students did surprisingly well. All of them demonstrated elementary ruddering and bracing while their hulls planed out. It is great fun to see folks who are newer to the sport surf. Their faces light up like christmas trees when they gain speed and start to really carve. When you see someone surf for the first time, you get really stoked and feel like it is your first ride too. You can tell how much people enjoy it because they come back to the beach and are telling tall tales about how fast they were going, how long their ride was, and how many times they wiped out. For my part I encourage them to exaggerate, elaborate and enjoy. The three e’s of kayak surfing.

Continued in Day Three

Is the Euro Paddle the power of the Dark Side?

I am going to try using a euro paddle for some of my day trips and maybe even longer trips to see how I do. Is this the power of the darkside at work? I am not going to make any grand predictions. My experience with the towing demonstration at the WMCKA Symposium 2008 has shaken my belief that the two paddles are really equal in all things. I love using a Greenland style paddle. I love the simplicity, the natural ergonomic weight of it, the symmetry, and of course the natural buoyancy. I really enjoy working on the rolls, and all of my strokes with the traditional blade. But after three years kayak surfing, and using a white water blade, first a Double torque Lendal XTI 194cm, and now a Werner Sidekick 194cm straight shaft, I am finding I like the quick application of power the really big spoons provide. The Iggy and the Stooges Raw Power.

I will share one anecdote about one tight spot I was in about 3 years ago in a sea kayak that might demonstrate what the key differences are between the paddles. Jason Roon and I were out kayak surfing in long boats on Lake Michigan in summer in 2005. It was a rip roaring day with steep vertical faces. Wind was around 15-20 knots. Waves were 3-5 feet. I was surfing my Nigel Foster Silhouette using a home made western red cedar traditional paddle. Jason was in a P&H Sirius with a Lendal Kinetic Crank Shaft 210cm paddle. Near Deer Lick south of South Haven there is a small cove built out of truck tires and concrete pilings, rebar and a bunch of other lake refuse. As nasty as it sounds, this is an excellent place to surf because of the depth and the reflection waves. It’s a good play area. The only danger is getting caught on the inside because if you swim or get surfed in you are on the rebar and concrete.


Jason and I surfed in on the same wave but spread out by at least 50 yards. I surfed about twenty yards and pitchpoled my sea kayak. (There were no board surfers in sight and Jason was 50-60 yards away). I surfed in upside down the rest of the way, and then rolled up. I edged my kayak and turned around. In this process I managed to capsize again. I rolled up again. Now that I was pointed the right way. I tried to break out. The reflection waves and the pounding that cove was taking kept knocking me sideways and back. I was coming dangerously close to the concrete and rebar sticking into Lake Michigan. Each time I was ready to punch through I’d get knocked back and over again. I’d roll up each time and be forced to start over. Jason had already broken out, and was contemplating coming in to tow me out. Finally I started using a sliding stroke and used every ounce of strength I possessed to punch out.

In summary Jason and I are fairly equal in paddling skill and strength, but he managed to break out, where I was struggling. I think a bigger spoon blade might have allowed me to break out at least on the second try.

I have not really used a Euro blade to do any serious distances since about 2001. So I might be in for a real eye opener there. The traditional paddle is something I have likened to granny gear on a bicycle, high cadence, or high rotation of strokes with continual movement. The paddler does not have to lift their arms very high, and can sink the blade deep with minimal effort repeatedly. I think this is really the benefit of the paddle. You can go all day at high repetition with minimal effort.

I’ve been using a 85” Superior Carbon Fiber for about three years now. I think it is a really excellent paddle. It is scary light, super stiff, and very buoyant. My only complaint is the sound of loose foam rattling around inside from my abuse of the paddle over three years on Lake Michigan and Superior.

I’ve selected a 205 cm Carbon Crank shaft Werner Ikelos for a trial run, it is the big spoon of Werner’s Touring Line and I hope to give it a spin in the near future to see if I can put it through it’s paces. I think the real test will be over distances if the higher angle stroke with more catch can be sustained.

I have not fallen out of love with traditional paddling by any means. But I have had more experience using both now that I have been surfing with one and touring with the other. I would like to give the euro paddle a try again on some longer trips and see which is right for me. Curiosity and continuous discovery are important. Questioning what you know, and what you believe are always good things. These questions lead you somewhere, and for me I think these questions like a lot of searches may only lead to more questions, but that’s ok. Being able to teach effectively with both I think is also crucial. Not having a bias may provide some of my guinea pigs with a little perspective.

Also I’ve been practicing all of my Greenland competition rolls with my surf paddle and I think it works pretty well. Storm rolls, reverse low brace, shotgun, and even spine rolls do work with the modern blade. Zero feather angle is really important.

Managing Inexperienced Paddlers on the Water

In 2006 I led a Sea Kayaking trip in the Apostle Islands on Lake Superior. To say that I led the trip is a stretch. I will say it was a great experience to learn how to lead a trip.

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Myself and Jim Svensson took two more inexperienced paddlers to paddle through the islands in July of 2005. I won’t give a blow by blow of the account. But I will offer some advice for other sea kayakers who are thinking of taking less experienced paddlers on a trip.

Jim Svensson and I are both BCU 4 Star Paddlers with thousands of miles under our hulls. We have done many trips together on Lake Superior, we have both paddled Pukaskwa National Park in Canada, we also did the Silver Islet to Rossport trip together. I have many many hours surf kayaking on Lake Michigan and even a couple of trips to the Pacific to surf. I’ve done a lot of the islands on Lake Michigan and Huron. However each of these trips was done with paddlers of at least equal paddling skill, if not higher than our own skill level. This was our first trip with beginners.

I want to start with some things about the trip to give an idea of the plan, because believe it or not I did have a plan.

We wanted to do a loop from Sand Beach back to Bayfield. We had an outfitter drop us off at Sand Beach and we would paddle back to Bayfield. We wanted to hit Sand Island with all of the caves and cliffs, and especially Devil’s Island, we also wanted to circle out and see Outer Island. Maybe even circumnavigate Outer before heading back.

Planning and Preparation for the Sea Kayaking Trip

In the early part of the spring, I paddled with the two more inexperienced paddlers (a married couple) many times. Though one of them had a lot of obligations and was not able to do the training trips as often as what would be necessary.

I made a point of taking them out and doing rescues. We performed t-rescues, eskimo rescues, all-in rescues, and even a hand of god or two for fun. I wanted to get them comfortable with the idea that maybe not everything would go as planned. Also I wanted them to not freak out if someone swam, which I was predicting might happen if there were any clapotis waves near cliffs or caves. I also worked with one of them on developing a roll, directional strokes and some surfing.

I also took one of them out to Ludington to the WMCKA spring gathering. We paddled into 25 knot winds on Sunday afternoon and then surfed back to shore. Great fun, but also an eye opener in watching how little progress our duckling made.

They key thing is that one of our paddlers was really taking the trip quite seriously, and the other did not prepare.

The couple did however take my warnings about cold water, and possible cold weather seriously and bought a ton of gear before the trip. One bought a Goretex Meridian Drysuit, the other bought a really nice IR Drytop and a farmer jane wet suit. I felt that they were at least prepared from an equipment standpoint.

As the days wound down to the trip, our other paddler still engaged in work duties had not been out to paddle very much. I made a conscientious effort to talk with her about the challenges of the trip and to make sure she understood them.

This is really where I failed her. She could not understand the challenges of the trip, because she had no frame of reference for how strong the wind might be, how big the waves would be, or how unrelenting Lake Superior could be. I wanted everyone to have a good trip, so I allowed her to go. When really I should have just been a good friend and told her we would modify the trip plan to be less ambitious, or that she could not go.

I asked Doug Van Doren about leadership on the water. His take is that the strongest paddler will often naturally end up leading the other paddlers through an emergency, whether or not this person is designated as the leader or not.

With that in mind, I was committed whether I knew it or not.

Crossings into the Wind

Our troubles really began on the leg between Devil’s Island and South Twin. There is a long leg far from shore where there is no protection. One also has to go around Rock Island. The weather for most of the day around Devil’s Island had been ideal. It was very calm with no huge waves. I snaked my foster silhouette into every cave I could fit into. Once finished we ended up on the south east corner of the island looking at the crossing. The wind was getting up and we had to make a break for it.

Part of the problem with the Apostles is the designated campsites. Every paddling group must designate which campsite they will be staying at on what night. Under ideal conditions this is fine, but it unfortunately influences decisions with some of the more OCD folks. I am more of a free spirit in this regard. I feel that as long as it’s safe, and that I am low impact I am willing to bend a few rules. But others tend to take this quite literally to the point of jeopardizing safety, which I am OCD about. In this instance I should have been more vocal about making sure we were safe, rather than jeopardizing the groups safety in a crossing that one of us wasn’t read for.

About thirty minutes into the crossing the wind picked up to about 15 knots. To Jim and I this was a good thing, we despise flat conditions and would rather have a little texture to remind us of why we drove 14 hours to paddle. To our inexperienced paddlers it was an insurmountable obstacle. Our least prepared paddler began to waver, then fade, and finally to become unstable. I remember looking at the conditions and seeing how slowly she was moving, and I had clipped my tow carabiner to my life jacket prior to starting the crossing.

Jim and I began using the GPS as a gauge of how slowly we were going we started at three miles per hour, then two, then one.

I saw the first accidental dip of a vertical paddle and a quick low brace to recover. After she almost went into the drink, I made an instantaneous decision to tow her without asking her. I glided up to her bow and told her, “We’re going to do a little towing to get around the tip of Rock Island.” She looked almost relieved.

I began to haul ass for the northern tip of Rock Island right away. Pretty soon we were halfway, then three quarters of the way, and then Jim thankfully offered to take over for a bit. Our other inexperienced paddler seemed to be struggling, but making progress. Jim also really hauled it and pretty soon, we were discussing linked towing. So I clipped in on the lead to Jim’s Explorer’s bow and began to lead again. Once we did this we were really making good progress. Ironically once I had made it to the tip of Rock Island I had to pee like you wouldn’t believe. I can still remember two years later how bad I had to go. We were now with the wind, but I unclipped to pee on Rock Island. Jim led the tow the remaining half mile to South Twin.

In that 30 seconds I believe we corrected a very bad situation. The wind continued to grow the sky grew gray and the wind built eventually to about 25 knots. So quick and decisive decisions on the water tend to make for better feelings off the water, rather than worrying about someone’s feelings. I remember that look on her face when I clipped in to this day. Her face just said, “I surrender”. Also I can remember that feeling of relief for my own part as Rock Island quickly came into view. I got some serious satisfaction while I was towing to hear Jim report our speed from his deck GPS. I could barely hear him through the increasing howl in the wind, “3 miles per hour, four, four point five”.

We tried to quickly cover the distance before the weather built ahead of us. We might have had to consider turning and going with the wind, back to Devil’s Island. A quartering sea and that small slip on the south end would have been hard to hit dead on with the wind. The consequences for missing would have been catastrophic, because there is no land fall between Devil’s Island and Minnesota.

Lesson’s Learned from Tow #1

1. Quick Decision to tow based on decreasing speed and stability of the weaker paddler was a good decision.
2. Linked towing exerted far less energy than towing solo.
3. A Camelback full of gatorade does hydrate a paddler very well, but also makes them have to pee every 20 minutes.

Tow #2 From Cat Island to Outer Island

The next day we wound down around Ironwood Island and the southern tip of Cat Island for lunch.
The wind had begun to build again as we ate lunch. It was however a beautiful bright skied day. We started to head out to Outer Island with the intent of maybe seeing the light house on the north end.

Again I should stress that trip plans should have been changed by me to perhaps camp where we were, or to run with the wind until we were in the lee of the islands and then camp somewhere else. With the wind already beginning to make some beautiful blue green waves and foamy whitecaps, it would be tough going for our less experienced paddlers, but a fun day playing in the wind for Jim and myself.

However the first day turned out fine even with the towing, so I made a decision to go for it. We quickly ran into problems as the wind out of the north east was beginning to really build some nice swells. This made things very difficult for our least experienced paddler. She quickly slowed to around one mile an hour. She also became unsteady. I then quickly made another decision to clip in and tow her. Jim then clipped in and led the tow for about twenty minutes. It was tough going. We swapped spots on the lead twice. Finally the wind had begun to howl around the southern tip of Outer Island, which is a sand spit. It offered no protection. We knew the camp site was on the other side. So we struggled valiantly around the tip of the island for at least another twenty minutes.

I remember the white caps really beginning to pile over the deck of my kayak, digging my carbon fiber superior Greenland paddle into the water and torquing my torso with every once of strength I possessed. I don’t know how much strength I had left, but I remember thinking, wow! I really wish I could turn and sprint to catch that wave. (I think it is really I kind of mental illness to be thinking of surfing under those circumstances).

We were defeated as we rounded the sand spit. We started to wash onto the beach. Which was steep and cobbled. We began having the time honored catastrophic problem of using ropes in dangerous situations. The stronger paddler was being out paced by a side surfing sea kayak victim. I watched our weaker paddler side surf into the beach under tow, and Jim and I frantically trying to make a decision on what evil thing to do next. Either un-clip and let her go, or try to pull her back out to sea. I made the decision for myself. I quickly released my tow from the victim, as Jim was in the lead, but Jim did not. This led to some tangles and serious crashing on the beach with our two boats lined together. It was an ugly landing. Jim and I managed to bring the kayaks up the beach above the water line.

Tow #2 Lessons Learned

1. Linked towing when a landing is imminent has its limitations.
2. Communication between the two towing paddlers is crucial
3. Ropes and surf landings are always problematic.

In retrospect once we had rounded the tip of the island we should have dropped to a single tow so that one paddler could make a quick decision about when to drop the tow and just wait to pick up the pieces from the landing.

We managed to get everyone on dry land on Outer Island safely. So there were some good things about the day.

The next day we did an evaluation of the weather. It looked like the next day would have a twenty knot wind from the north east. And then would start to veer to due east. With all of the islands we had left to do, and the prospect of possibly more towing. We decided to make a break for it and run with the wind to get as close to Bayfield as we could with the twenty knot tail wind.

As I remember the outside of Stockton Island was quite beautiful. There were many sea stacks. As it turned out with the tail wind at 20 knots all day, we covered 21 miles in relatively short order. We decided to run all the way in to Bayfield that night. We had finally altered the trip to meet the group which was probably the best thing we did from a leadership perspective. Our two inexperienced paddlers were pretty toasted. But very happy to be on dry land.

I’ve included some of the gory details but not all. I think the main lessons to be learned from all of this is the following:

• Know the limitations of the paddling group and adjust the trip accordingly
• Be flexible and prepared to change the trip midstream to meet the needs of the weakest member
• Be prepared to tell someone they can’t come if the trip is not flexible.
• Be prepared to tow if the group begins to slow when performing an open crossing
• Watch the weather and know what the back-out plans were
• Be ready to make decisions quickly and to worry about hurt feelings later

Thankfully there have been no hurt feelings from this trip. But I still have some very serious nagging guilt for not being prepared to adjust course or say no when the trip preparation and training didn’t come together as I would’ve liked. In truth if our other inexperienced paddler had swum, needed a tow, or gotten sea sick, we could have been really hosed.

As with just about everything I do, I think there is a certain element of risk involved. The benefits certainly outweighed the risks for this trip. I wouldn’t advise someone not to do a trip based purely out of fear of the unknown. But having had a lot of practice in wind and waves, my BCU training, and being physically fit shape that perspective. I would really encourage folks with only one or two of these elements to seek out the training, and also to head out to play in conditions as much as they can within a margin of safety.

WMCKA Sea Kayak Symposium Memorial Day Weekend 2008

Our West Michigan Coastal Kayakers’ (WMCKA) Annual Sea Kayaking Symposium is fast approaching. Memorial day Weekend at Big Blue Lake North of Muskegon. We will be heading out to Big Blue Lake to endure the wind, the rain, and hopefully the sunshine. There will be three days of sea kayaking instruction, a full fledged kids program with kayak polo, harpoon throwing, and the best kayak rodeo in the United States. The WMCKA Symposium is famous for its family atmosphere, great instruction, fun and camaraderie. Also let’s not forget the Band!!! Betsie Baye and the Groove Engine will be making a return for dancing on Sunday Night.

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WMCKA is lucky enough to have two guest speakers this year.

Shawna Franklin will be one of our featured guest speakers and instructors. Shawna Franklin was the first woman to achieve the lofty BCU (British Canoe Union) 5 Star Sea Award. She and Leon Somme circumnavigated Iceland, and Queen Charlotte’s Island together, as well as being featured numerous times in Justine Curgenven’s now ubiquitous This is the Sea Videos.

Leon Somme will also be attending. From what I can gather so far, he will present a Wind and Waves slide show, but don’t hold me to that. Leon also holds the BCU 5 Star Sea award, the 4 Star Surf award, and the 4 Star Inland award.

Shawna and Leon got their start on the Great Lakes on Lake Superior in Minnesota, (I sure hope I have my facts right). So hopefully we can get out on Lake Michigan when it’s textured before their departure back to the San Juans in Washington State.

Shawna and Leon will also be hosting an instructor update, which if you missed instructor email missive and want to attend, add the event here. Please note: this is not part of the official WMCKA Symposium and is only open to the Symposium Instructor Staff.

Directions to Camp Pendalouan:

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Compulsory, like latin or greek to a traditional classic education, I went back to get my 3 star. I speak as if I did it with the thought I dropped something on the pavement and went back for it. Not sure.
I feel ready to take my next step towards my Coach 2. I It just seemed funny last night when I went through the hoops, because I already had my 4 star, and I had also taken my canoe safety test. Was it necessary? Maybe not, is a reverse figure of 8 really ever strictly necessary? No, but having done it, I can say I’ve passed the exam, no one can take it away from me, much like crossing the line (the equator in sailor speak). It is a rite of passage, and for me it is part of the experience.

Ron Smith made an excellent suggestion that I travel outside the midwest for my coach 2, to get some new perspectives on the whole thing, maybe hear some things from people out on the east, west, or some unknown foreign coast.

I agree. New perspectives are needed.

I picked Jon Turk up at the Kalamazoo airport on Friday after work. I’d heard that he wasn’t as chatty and vivacious as some of the younger pups we’d had to symposium over the last few years. Simon and Justine definitely are very fun and very very social, which is great. Jon Turk though is in a class all his own. We hit the road and he started talking almost immediately. Much to my surprise he is a listener as much as he is a speaker, or better yet a story teller.

I’m always interested in hearing about couples that have children young who have their adventures too. What sacrifices are made? What are the repercussions from those long periods of time away from home might have been. While I have ultimate respect for Simon and Justine, I have a deep affinity and respect for a man like Jon because he made hard choices in life. He had to choose to be away from home and family to do the things he needed to do, and he had to live with those choices. Further, his family had to live with them too.

Jon has done some amazing things in life, probably so grand that it boggles even his mind how he did it. He’s crossed the northwest passage, gone from Japan all the way to the Siberian straits, paddled in Greenland, climbed and mountain biked in Asia.

Our talk in the car circled around the inherent social dynamics of human beings, adventures, his children, and ultimately his dead wife Chris. We could talk about anything from UFO’s to paddling and Jon ultimately circled back to Chris. Her death clearly haunts him. How could it not. For the full story read this.

I remember listening to Cold Oceans Jon’s first book in the car when I was making a very difficult work commute to Detroit from Paw Paw. The book is about more than his monumental expeditions into the Arctic. It is also about the lifelong love affair with Chris, his children, and how long it really took to get the two of them together. It is written like Hemingway without the need for pointless machismo. It moved me, and his reading of it is phenomenal if you get a chance to buy it on tape, Jon reads it!

Jon’s talk at Symposium is on the topic of the Romantic vs the Pragmatist in man. It’s clearly not really a strictly paddling expedition talk. Which clearly sums up why most of us get into paddling. It certainly isn’t pragmatic to kayak at all, which is why Jet skis are so popular. There is a certain nobility and simplicity to paddling that makes it difficult to think of it in rational terms. I can say from my first time in a kayak it was like touching a dream. The kayak glided through the water effortlessly and my hands dipped into a mirror smooth lake on every stroke. The notion to get into a sport that costs thousands, is completely individual, and not at all practical was not something that made sense, I just did it because I caught the bug. Every paddler has that perfect moment they are searching for. It’s a lifelong quest. You never really get it. Or at least I hope I don’t, because then the trip is over. I keep going back out there because that dream is still out there, the dream of that perfect wave, or the perfect downwind ride in a sea kayak, that perfect moment in the wilderness where you see God.
We all know it’s out there somewhere, so we keep going. Jon’s talk based on the book, In the Wake of the Jomon
is based on the notion that people did not cross on a land bridge to North America from Asia, but perhaps paddled here in canoes and kayaks. This is based on the premise that at our hearts we are not pragmatists, but romantics. Or at the least, we are dreamers in addition to being pragmatists. The argument itself is poetic. And this Yeats Poem says it all:

Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

I think Jon Turk still has some expeditions left in him. When we were in the car, he even hinted he might have a few left to do by kayak. His talk smacked of the sort of lyricism that moves the soul, rather than cold details about what happened each day. Sure he had the usual death defying heroics we expect, but it was backed by a long life full of adventure, pain, beauty, and hard work; which is not something you get to hear everywhere. We were priveleged to have him. And he also cut the rug on Sunday night with Betsie and the band like a madman!

As usual the Symposium had a mix of weather, rain, sunshine and a little cold in the evening. The training and the classes were great. I got to play with the kids, and the adults a bit. I cough accidentally knocked a few students over. But managed to teach them something too. I got to learn from some students as usual!

I also managed not to disgrace myself in the rolling demo, for which I was thankful. I had to add a little sculling on my forward recovery handroll, but hey who’s counting?

The feelings I have for the WMCKA symposium can’t be taken out of context. Essentially whenever I think about WMCKA I see the cut-away version of the human anatomy. I see how colors are interpreted by the optic nerve, how pain is transferred from the nerves to the brain, how food is chewed and then digested. Serving on the board, and on the symposium committee has been a privilege. Most of the time it’s been great fun, but it also changes how I see things when it comes time to have fun. So when it came time to arrive on site Friday night, I had the distinct distaste of having seen how the sausages are made. Which let me know, it’s time to take a break.

I’ve heard from lots of folks it is one of the best run symposiums in the Midwest, so I trust my efforts and the efforts of the board have not gone unnoticed. I hope to attend next year and just stick to playing with the kids and knocking students in the water. Poor poor students

I just got word from Conor Mihell, the organizer of the Naturally Superiors Greenland Symposium that I will be assisting with traditional paddling instruction in Wawa Ontario for their 2nd Annual Traditional Paddling Symposium.

Naturally Superiors is situated right in the mouth of the Michipicoten River mouth, near Wawa Ontario on Lake Superior. The Rock Island lodge is the coolest place on Lake Superior I’ve ever seen. The site is a zen-rock garden for paddling. The first time I ever saw it I wanted to move-in for good. The pre-Cambrian granite on the lake shore crops up organically around the lodge which is seated high on the shore with a terrific view of the harbor. It is Valhalla and Shangri-la all rolled into one tidy package for paddlers who dare to seek her out.

Doug Van Doren and Bonnie Perry will be coming to instruct at the event. August 24-26th. I will strive to bring what I know to the symposium.

For details on how to sign up, I would mosey over to Naturally Superior’s Web site. Also you can download the .

If you’ve never been to Naturally Superior Adventures or the North Shore of Lake Superior you really have to see it. The instruction should be top notch and the lodge accommodations are amazing.

The Symposium Details:
August 24-26th
Rock Island Lodge-Naturally Superior Adventures, Wawa Ontario Canada

I am more accustomed to the smell of chlorine these last few weeks than the smell of fresh air. The lakes have finally started to freeze over. I am blessed with three pools to visit. Two of which allow kayaks, the third being the YMCA.

The WMCKA pool sessions are fun, but crowded. We are planning the 2007 Sea Kayaking Symposium in Grand Rapids. WMCKA is a very family oriented club with a lot of kids in the pool. Some of the kids are getting pretty skilled in their kayaks. I managed the kids program last year at the symposium which was a hoot. I look forward to working with the kids again this year.

I drove up to use the pool and got these shots of the kids in the pool. I also got a video of Margaret Fishback’s roll.

Her mother Barb worked with her in the pool to get her this far. I think it looks pretty solid.

Aidan Van Doren is also making progress on his balance brace as well. He has the same instructor I did for teaching Greenland skills, so I think he should be in fine shape!

Seeing the kids work on skills in the pool is pretty amazing. No telling what they will try. Or what they will be able to do unless they are turned loose. From my experience with Gabriel, some good some bad, I have to say that building their confidence is crucial. Believing you are capable of doing something is key. When they lose interest, you drop it and come back to it later.

This is a full size image of Andy for Paul!

There are so many reasons why this is probably only funny to me. But I’m posting it anyway.