"Wolfgang" wrote...

"Daniel-San" wrote...

"Wolfgang" wrote...

I know the marina......grew up in Kenosha. Haven't been down quite that
far in a while, but I've been paddling along much of the lakeshore from
near the state line to Manitowoc the last two years.

You are clearly a far more advanced paddler than I.

I doubt it. I've doing this for a bit less than two years.

Michelle and I toodle around slow rivers and small lakes in our little
kayaks, but I've never attempted to get out in actual water. I have a
feeling that would be an entertaining experience -- after the
defibrillator burns healed.

Lake Michigan can be a little spooky the first time you get out in a
decent swell.......um.....well, more than just a "little" spooky, I guess.


You should let me know when
you've got a free day some weekend. We can go out in kayaks and troll
along the shore.

Hmmmm.... would my little Dagger Zydeco suffice? (nine and a half footer)

Perfect! I've got a 9.5' Perfection Sundance.....essentially the same
boat. Sea kayaks are the vehicle of choice for most people, and they're
great for cruising, but they're cramped, much harder to enter, launch and
beach, and not as versatile. They DO offer one great advantage.....which
I'll get back to in a moment.

Is the Sundance the new "Swifty"? Michelle loves her Swifty. As simple a
boat as could be designed, I think, plus, it's pretty darned stable for the
rec. paddler.



I was pretty nervous the first time I went out and found out very quickly
that you MUST have a spray skirt out there. Unless there is a stiff
breeze the, surf zone, where the waves break close to shore, is your worst
problem. Both in launching and beaching you WILL ship water without the
skirt. The problem is that when a wave breaks the result is a mix of air
and water.....essentially a large mass of bubbles.....that won't float the
boat. As you sit on the beach, even a six inch high breaker will ride
right over the bow and into the cockpit. Same thing happens on the way
back in....with the added problem of the hydraulic surge pushing the stern
to one side or another if you don't stay perpendicular to its front
(parallel to its path) and rolling you over if it pushes you far enough
around. No big deal as you are necessarily in very shallow water, but you
will get soaked and have to drag your sorry ass out of the boat.....almost
certainly in front of a large and highly amused audience.

Story of much of my outdoors-skills learning life. I think I should sell
tickets to the first couple times I do something outside. I be a friggin'
millionaire.



Most of this is easily avoided with the spray
skirt and a little easy steering.

Of course, eveything gets much more potentially dangerous out on the open
water. The great DISadvantage of recreational boats is that if you dump,
you STAY dumped.....you can't roll yourself back up like you can in a
whitewater boat or a sea kayak.....its time to wade or swim. A mile from
shore this can be a real problem. Fortunately, the risk of dumping is
much lower than one might suppose.

Maybe, but it's even lower on a small, placid lil' lake. Or mebbe on a
meandering river.....

I've played in four to five foot waves in a
stiff breeze on a number of occasions (always within a couple hundred
yards of shore) and, after another initial bit of nervousness, never felt
the least bit of worry. I should add that I am emphatically NOT a close
to the edge thrill seeker!

As someone who was at one point a thrill seeker (I've done some **** that
still scares me), I feel that four-to-five foot waves on Lake Michigan in a
small kayak is almost the definition of the edge.

Of course, I'm now a total wuss(*), so that could be coloring my judgement a
bit.


I highly recommend playing under such
conditions....it's a hoot and a half.....especially surfing back in on the
wave fronts!

This part does sound like a hoot -- after managing to get out there.

In a galaxy far, far, away, I was a lifeguard at a condo complex on
Chicago's "Gold Coast". We used to walk to the beach on really windy days
with those goofy closed-cell foam sheets the kids were playing on in the
pool. Made for one hell of a fun lunch hour -- body surfing. We'd come back
to work late, exhausted, and with road rash on our chests. I imagine it'd be
at least as fun in a kayak.


I've also been as much as two miles off shore....on VERY calm
and virtually windless days. Wasn't worried then either. However, and
once again, emphatically, I do NOT recommend this for a solo paddler. The
probability may be very low, but something CAN happen, and a two mile swim
in Lake Michigan without support immediately available is no joke under
any circumstances. Even with a PFD (Wisconsin law requires that you have
one in the boat......but not that you must wear it) its a bad situation to
be in.

I think the law is the same here in Illernoise, but I find that the wuss
factor is decreased a bit with that bad boy on and buckled. I've been out
10-20 (?) miles with pops and have seen guys soloing in really long sea
kayaks. To each his/her own, I guess, but to me, that's nuts.



The thing that worries me most is wind. I was out on the south side of
Milwaukee once when a strong wind (maybe 20-25 mph) came up pretty quickly
out of the west. For those not familiar with the area, a look at a map
should reveal why this is a bad thing. I wasn't very far off shore and
wasn't particularly concerned about being able to get back in, although I
knew it would be a bit of work. But I made a mistake. I was on my way
toward the breakwater that surrounds much of the Milwaukee waterfront and
planned to skirt the inside of one of the jetties to circle around the
back side of the marina I started from, and decided to continue, thinking
that things would be better inside. Unfortunately, as I got closer to the
jetty I found that the break I was making for funneled the wind and
changed its direction so that I was heading directly in to it while
traveling north. To make matters considerably worse, there was a good
sized swell coming in off the lake, and now there was a conflicting set of
waves coming off shore because of the wind shift, and BOTH of them were
also reflecting off the jetty. I now had waves coming at me from every
direction....and meeting waves are additive. If two waves traveling in
opposite directions meet they will crest at a height equal to the sum of
their individual heights. I suddenly found myself among six to eight foot
waves. By this time I was starting to get pretty worried. Getting very
tired, I nevertheless made it around the end of the jetty only to discover
that the full force of the wind was now hitting me directly in the face.
Enough. I paddled to the jetty and bailed out....walked back to shore
pulling the boat with the bow rope.

From the sound of it, you made a wise decision. In a (motorized) fishing
boat, those additive waves can get awfully interesting as you get closer to
the various breaks/jettys/harbor mouths. I imagine that in a kayak, it would
be downright terrifying.



I've been much more closely attuned to wind since then.

There ARE fish to be caught that way. I was much surprised, at
first, to see quite a few trout and salmon while out paddling. It's not
my favorite way to fish either, but what the hell.....if I'm out there
anyway.

Makes sense.

Give it some thought. I promise that we won't get into a situation like
the one described above.


Hmmmm... 'promise'? ;-)

Have to be later in the year -- we just bought a house and it's gonna be a
little nuts for a while.



Wolfgang
and thus begins yet another journey on the road to deportation to
canada.

"Curdistan", "Canuckistan" what's the difference? :-)

Gets cold up nort, eh? They got electricity yet?


I heard that new-fangled electricity reaches as far north as Houghton.
Len told me.

...indoor plumbing, on the other hand.... ;-)

Still got gas lights and an outhouse at my friends' cabin near
Painesville.

Sounds like a helluva good place.

Dan

(*) wuss brought about by witnessing/knowing of a few nasty climbing
accidents... one fatal.