Dress for immersion

Dress for immersion is the mantra of the Lake Superior paddler. If you are expecting me to rip the young lady in the image above you are wrong. On that particular day the water temp at Little Sand Bay, where the image was taken, was in the 70F range. I'm going to ignore the lack of a spray skirt and the life jacket bungeed on the front deck for now. If you look closely at the lead image from the last post you will see her paddling off along the shore as we middle aged warriors in our Hydroskin, neoprene, and even a stray dry suit, prepare to launch for some island hopping. Many of us actually went swimming that same day on the Raspberry spit and not just for a quick dip. It was luxurious floating and swimming in the balmy water after stripping off the malodorous neoprene that we all wore out of force of habit on the big lake. The question however, is how do we know what the water temperature is on Gitchee Gummee and what it will be in a few hours or the next day?

I made a little change in how the links on the right of the blog page are organized. I broke out the Lake Superior resources and called it trip planning. The realtime wave height, nearshore, mainland sea caves wave tool, and mid lake and Devils Island weather stations are all in one convenient spot. So is the critical real time satellite water temp chart. On the day we launched the wind was minimal and the water temp all around the islands was consistently in the high 60's to low 70'sF. That was not the case this morning. Click on the water temp map below and take a closer look.


The wild card on Lake Superior is the wind. In a 1,300' deep lake with a summer that pretty much goes from the 4th of July until Labor Day, there is always cold water lurking around somewhere. Its the wind that can move it to where its least expected. On shore winds typically blow warm surface water into bowl shaped bays and other sheltered areas and there is some mighty fine swimming in the waters around the Apostles this time of year. Look closely at the image above. I know, I know, the map sucks with missing and misplaced islands but we all can get the general idea. That warm water is still around in the Stockton Island area and deeper into Chequamagon Bay. But look at Point Detour at the tip of the Bayfield peninsula. Roughly two miles apart we see 48F water and 65F water. Check out that 36F off the north end of Sand Island. Off shore winds blow that warm water out into the lake and the colder, deeper stuff wells up. A rough gauge of what to wear on the water has been the Rule of 120. This states that if the combination of the air and water temperature (Fahrenheit) is over 120 you should be good without protective gear. This satellite image pretty much debunks that theory. It's been in the mid 80's recently. If a person went over off Pt Detour today, the rule of 120 would say you are good; 80F + 48F = 128. If you go over in 48F water and aren't wearing a wet or dry suit however, you can kiss your ass goodbye in a relatively short time. How long of a time? In 30-60 minutes you would be unconscious and in under 3 hours you are deceased.

Our attractive paddler above was good to go last Sunday. Today she is risking her life, especially because there was no paddle float or bilge pump to be seen. This time of year I would have to say a paddler needs a minimum of Hydroskin gear. I paddled solo back to LSB from the Bear Spit on Monday after wishing the rest of the Tri State paddlers the best of luck. The day before with 9 other paddlers I had my Hydroskin on. For the solo trip I had on the shorty wetsuit. I had a radio, phone, map, gps, and a pretty decent roll. The air and water were warm. In my mental risk evaluation run through I was looking pretty good. Wear your gear on Lake Superior. It just makes it that much more refreshing and even sensual as you peel off that smelly garment and slip into the cool, clear waters of the worlds largest lake. Just make damn sure its in the 68F part. That 46F stuff can definitely result in shrinkage!

Deicsions, decisions.........

As I mentioned in yesterdays post, our Tri State (IA, MN, NE) Apostles expedition got off to an unexpected start when a line of thunderstorms appeared to be heading in our direction on Saturday afternoon. I was at Red Cliff with my boat loaded, heading up to the casino to pay my launch fee, when I got a call from DocL. The crew had made it about 100 yds off shore when ProfLichen heard the thunderstom alert on the radio. They paddled back to LSB, looked at the radar in the ranger station, and decided to wait. By the time I showed up it was 3pm and the 16 mile hump to Quarry Bay on Stockton seemed like quite a stretch before dark and we would have to make supper and set up camp as well. We booked a couple sites at the Town of Russell and I drew upon local knowledge to steer the group to the Village Inn in Cornucopia for incredibly fresh grilled whitefish and the equally fresh South Shore Nut Brown Ale.

The go vs. stay put discussion is always interesting, even more so with 9 personalities and skill levels in the group. The basic concept is the 'weakest link' rule. If someone in the party does not want to go and feels uncomfortable, the group stays put. In reality peer group pressure can alter this dynamic and strong personalities can influence the others with the 'oh hell, lets give it a shot'mentality. Also, if a person feels uncomfortable speaking up or doesn't want to hold the group back it can result in trouble if and when the defecation hits the rotation on the water. Given the collective experience of the paddling group, their experience with the big lake, and the lack of any shrinking violets in the group, I have to believe the decision was arrived at in a thoughtful, rational, and collective fashion.

Back to me, strolling into the casino with a twenty dollar bill in my hand, still in street clothes but with my boat fully packed and ready to rock at the marina beach. I'm assuming I'll rendezvous with the group in the Basswood Triangle, probably off the southeast tip of Oak Island. The forecast that I heard called for a line of thunderstorms, mainly to the south of the lake, with thirty mph wind gusts. Unlike the NOAA report we heard on the 4th of July, there were no reports of trees down, cloud to ground lightning, or a storm plot that named towns in the path that had been or were going to be hit. I was geared up for solo paddling with safety gear, radio, shorty wetsuit (water temp was 69F), route plan with several bail points including Basswood, Hermit, maybe Oak, and no crossing longer than about 45 minutes. Four other folks were setting out and we chatted about the forecast and possible routes. I had pretty much decided to go when Doc's call came in.
More input is good most of the time in the decision making process. I quickly unloaded the boat and headed over to LSB. We had a fine time and an even better paddle the next morning. A trip to the Sand Island sea caves on Swallow Point, crossings to York and Raspberry where the light was toured, and then over to Oak. We were disappointed to not have made it to Quarry Bay but that was quickly forgotten as the paddles hit Gitchee Gumee on Sunday morning. Half of us were at Oak 4 and the others at Oak 6. I don't know how the evening went for the guys on 6 but the sunset on 4 made it well worth the price of admission. It was fun to hear that a couple of paddlers new to Lake Superior had crested the hill in Duluth on the way up, looked at the vast expanse of lake, and commented, "And we're going to paddle in that!?". In the end not making it to Quarry Bay did not make one whit of difference in the overall scheme of things. Which is how we need to look at that paddle or no paddle decision. There are always alternatives and in the end things seem to work out. Those with the gung ho mindset need to remember that or risk having "the waves turn the minutes to hours" if they choose incorrectly.

Point to LaPointe 2011

I will admit to a bit of trepidation before the start of this years 2 mile open water swim from Bayfield to Madeline Island. I noticed roughly the same number of safety boaters but that the field has swelled to 400 swimmers, double what it had been last year. Last year there had been a bit of a chop out of the northeast and keeping the swimmers heading to LaPointe on Madeline Island was like herding cats. This year there was not a breath of wind at the beginning of the race and that made all the difference.
It could not have been a more perfect day. The air was still and the lake looked like liquid mercury. Large pyramid shaped buoys marked the course across the lake and the safety boaters were divided up into 6 groups, each with a leader. The safety boaters would 'accordion out', with the group near the finish line paddling with the line of leaders and the other groups forming a picket line of sorts to keep swimmers aimed in the general direction of Madeline. Swimmers, like kayakers and people lost in the woods, tend to move in a circle if they don't have a point to orient on. Since efficient swimmers have their heads in the water most of the time it can be tough to go straight. When they start heading for Washburn or Basswood Island our job as safety boaters is to get their attention and help them back on course. This is more easily said than done due to heads in the water and swim caps over their ears. Yelling when they come up to breathe and sometimes a touch with the paddle is needed. With 400 swimmers and roughly 35 safety boaters that gave each of us roughly a dozen swimmers that we were responsible for. I did not like those odds but my concerns were unfounded. The race came off like clockwork. Everyone had fun and many personal best's were recorded, including the lovely woman and her homely companion in the image to the left.

Flat water and minimal current seemed to be the main reason that people stayed on course. In addition to the picket line of kayakers there were power boaters, the Coast Guard Auxiliary, and USCG boats as well, many with EMT's on board. We were armed with little orange flags and many of us had radios. If a swimmer looked like they were in trouble we were to assess their condition. Questions that made them think such as their complete street address, middle name, or who is the vice president (no kidding that was on the instruction sheet!) needed to be asked and if they appeared as though they were going to boink we were to key channel 22A on the radio or frantically wave the orange flag. Again, to my knowledge no flags were waved and I did not hear any distress calls on the radio. It was the best day for the swim in my years of safety boating. I even got to bond with two of my former kayaks, the Gulfstream and Solstice GTS HV, Kathy's CD Storm, and my former VW Passat. All were in one spot in the image right.

I headed back to Bayfield with KleanDeckKate while the rest of the usual suspects enjoyed the complementary breakfast on the island. I needed to rendezvous with an Iowa/Nebraska contingent and head for Quarry Bay and a 3 day paddle in the Apostles. A few stops in Bayfield and I was at Red Cliff, where once again (to my mild surprise) a kayak can be launched as the big new casino goes up. The boys were heading out of Little Sand Bay but just as I was about to launch to meet them, boat all loaded and geared up, I got the call that they had aborted the launch. A line of nasty thunderstorms was on the radar and heading our way. NOAA had issued small craft and lightning warnings on the radio and they prudently turned around after a solid 100 yards or so of paddling. In the end it was much ado about nothing because the storm moved well to the south. Once again I wound up setting up my tent in the Town of Russell campground. This time however I persuaded the crew to head into Cornie for whitefish dinners and pitchers of South Shore Nut Brown at the Village Inn. This was followed by ice cream at Ehlers Store, a spot where I once purchased eye bolts, chicken, a box of .22 Long Rifle shells, and two six packs of beer all in one stop. We were all disappointed that we didn't launch but cajun broiled whitefish definitely trumped jet boil dehydrated lasagna for most of the crew. The next morning we were launched by 9am and off to Oak 4 & 6 via Sand, York, and Raspberry Islands. Life is indeed good.

A new life jacket

For a number of years I've worn what smart assed paddling associates have referred to as 'the Wonderbra' (above), I've pulled the trigger on a new life jacket. I looked around for a month or so before I settled on a Stohlquist TowMotion. I've really liked my two Lotus Designs life jackets but Patagonia pretty much eviscerated the brand since they acquired it and now apparently are getting out of the paddlesport business completely. I can't say I actually shopped around unless you call 2 minutes each in Midwest Mountaineering and Hoigaards shopping. Our little slice of the paddlesports business is so small and specialized that I did not expect to find a higher end sea kayaking life jacket with ample pockets, tow rig ready, and multiple attachment points on the shelf anywhere locally and my expectations were correct. I special ordered it from Doc at Hoigaards and made a multi tasking, gas (diesel actually) saving trip to St Louis Park to picked up the life jacket, a beer bottle drying tree for Podman, and a cold pint at Bunny's Bar. The first real on water test will be up in the Apostles this weekend.

I have a dirty little confession to make though. I've always hated and still hate wearing life jackets. We spent a lot of time fishing when I was a kid and it was constant debate and argument with the old man on whether or not I had to wear a life jacket in the boat. The boat was a 14' standard Crestliner fishing boat with a 7 1/2 horse Johnson motor. No live well, trolling motor, or swivel captain chairs here, just wooden bench seats and a couple anchors that were plopped over the side. One of the motivating factors to take swimming lessons as a young boy was the potential for decreased life jacket time. After passing my Red Cross swimming test, I was allowed to take off the life jacket when the boat was not moving, an act that was performed slowly and deliberately, almost like a striptease, for the benefit of my younger sister, who was cocooned in her life jacket even if it was 90 degrees out. The life jackets at the time were bulky and actually really didn't work all that well. I remember a mystery substance called kapok which would become saturated if the protective covering was pierced. That is the type of jacket seen in the image of my sister, happy about her fish but not happy about wearing the life jacket on the dock. We were even more unhappy when the horse collar life jacket became popular. It would float a person face up after the Coast Guard determined that was a good thing for unconscious swimmers, prompted by the sinking of the ore freighter Carl D. Bradley in 1953, but I was always fully prepared to take that drowning risk rather than wear the damn thing. I can empathize with Dolly Parton after trying to move around and accomplish anything while wearing that abomination.

I will admit the new life jackets are much more comfortable and handy for things such as the radio, tow belt, knife, light, an energy bar or two, a thermometer, and a compass in the pockets. I also never go on the water without wearing my life jacket, or life preserver if you prefer the more positive and descriptive term. I hate acronyms like PFD. Call me a DSOB but but we have enough stupid acronyms floating around....LOL. I generally don't wear one when I'm rolling, I use a Stearns inflatable belt device but mostly I have the thing on. Like bike and motorcycle helmets, car insurance, and air bags, a person never really knows when they will need em so we should always wear em. But like many things we should do, it is not a requirement that we like it.

I have all my goodies successfully transferred to the new life jacket and will be wearing it for safety boating the Point to Lapointe Open Water swim and then our 3 days in the Apostles. It feels pretty good and is much less 'out front' than the Lotus, a life jacket that I won in a raffle at an early GLSKS event. The on water test will tell the tale. Gitchee Gumee, here I come!

The Fighting 69th

This weekend was spent nowhere near a kayak, a rarity for the summer months. I've been long overdue in visiting No.2 son CaptO and his bride at their new digs in Forest Hills, Queens, New York. There was a high level SKOAC/Sebago Canoe Club summit meeting on the East River in Long Island City Friday night involving me, Bonnie K Frogma, and our support staff (images below) but no boats were involved. Three different 'conference venues' were utilized but no real substantive agreements were reached other than the agreement that the coq au vin with garlic mashed at Cafe Henri looked excellent. The highlight of this trip however, was the personal tour of the 69th Infantry Regiment, the 'Fighting 69th' armory on Lexington Ave between 25th and 26th St in Manhattan.

Both the regiment and the armory have a storied history. The regiment was formed before the Civil War and was wholly Irish in makeup. One of their first mentions was actually for an act of mutiny. New York regiments were ordered to parade to honor the Prince of Wales in 1860. The regiments commander, Col. Michael Corcoran, refused to parade the regiment for an English prince. He was going to be court martialed for disobeying orders but the start of the Civil War made the military authorities reconsider. The regiment fought at several battes including 1st Manasses (Bull Run), Antietem, and the Wheatfield at Gettysburg. It was at Fredricksburg, a disaster for the Union side, that the name the "fighting 69th" was first used by none other than their adversary, Gen Robert E. Lee. The unit fought in most every other war that the US was involved in and a ton of historical info can be found on the regiments official site here.

The armory itself has quite a history. It was completed in 1906 and was designed in the Beaux-Arts style rather than the medieval castle look common with most armories of the time. In 1913 it was the site of the first modern art show in the country. Unheard of artists like Cezanne, Monet, Tolouse-Latrec, Van Gogh, and Picasso had their works exhibited at the armory and were the subject of much ridicule by the press and art establishment. Insane, immoral, and anarchic were some of the milder criticisms and former Prez Teddy Roosevelt declared, "That's not art!" Continuing in an artistic vein, Victoria Secrets fashion shows and other fashion and food events have been held there. In the sporting world, there were national track meets, the first televised roller derby event, and for a while the armory was the home court for the New York Knicks. After 9/11 the armory was used as a counseling center and clearing house for victims and their families and many of the notes, pleas for information, and other documents posted on the walls were preserved.

The tour began with MsE, broBen, and I pushing the door buzzer to state our business. We were buzzed in and greeted by CaptO's buddy, CaptB for the tour. We were turned over to Cpl Nick, a guy who, much like yours truly, is a genuine history nut. I was kind to my companions and didn't ask a ton of questions but I will need to return for more in depth study, hopefully when the O Club is open. First stop was the battalion commanders office, digs that would be the envy of any CEO in the country. An original letter from Abraham Lincoln to the regiment is on one wall and all but one of the Medals of Honor won by soldiers in the regiment are on another wall. Battle flags, a conference table with campaign streamers under the glass, and a great wood paneled motif with fireplace makes for an impressive room on a number of levels.

The rest of the armory was no less impressive. There is an entire room of murals painted by WPA artists during Roosevelts New Deal, depicting battles the 69th had fought in. A displays honored famous division chaplains including Father Duffy, a man played by Pat O'Brien in the 1940 movie "The Fighting 69th". James Cagney played the screw off WWI doughboy that Father Duffy straightened out during WWI. During that time the 69th served with the 42nd "Rainbow" division, whose Chief of Staff was then Major Douglas MacArthur. Other displays honor the Pacific service in WWII and the role that the armory played as a clearing house and meeting place after the 9/11 attacks. An alert 69th veteran noticed a sword on Ebay belonging to Col. Thomas Meagher, a Colonel of the regiment during the Civil War. Meagher was an Irish nationalist who had been sentenced to hang by the British but had his sentence commuted to transportation to Australia. He made his way to the US and the 69th Regiment by the start of the Civil War. The sword was purchased then donated to the Regiment, an indication about the esteem with which veterans hold their old unit. Restoration efforts are underway on old battle flags, the murals, and other gems in the armory.

The tour ended in the Officers Club. It was one of five bars in the armory at one time. Hey, this was an Irish regiment after all. They are down to two now, an officers and an enlisted man's club. The club was another wonderful room with memorabilia from visiting units from around the world and done in the same dark wood paneling as other rooms in the building. It was not open at this early hour but I look forward to returning to have the traditional regimental cocktail of Irish whiskey mixed with champagne.

There is another great regimental tradition that I have half a mind to participate in. Since the 1850's the Regiment has led the St Patricks Day parade, complete with their Irish Wolfhound mascots. Tradition has the Regiment march from the armory to the doors of St Patricks Cathedral on 5th Ave. The battalion commander's knock on the door is answered by the Archbishop of New York and mass is said. Then the parade begins. There may even be a bit of Bushmills with a Guinness chaser or two involved in the days festivities.

We thanked all of the folks at the armory for the tour and then adjourned to another historic site, Pete's Tavern with MsE, broBen, and Cptn's B and M. Petes pulled their first pint in 1864 and has been open continuously since. Prohibition you say? They kept right on serving while camouflaged as a flower shop and protected by Tammany Hall. CaptO joined us after work and we behaved about as well as can be expected given the situation. If a tour of the 69th Regiment armory can be wangled its well worth the stop and nicely off the traditional beaten Manhattan tourist path. My scheme is to head back with the VOR, another history buff, and try to do the in depth tour when the O Club is open. Right around the 17th of March if we play our cards right.