By Joe O'Blenis
August 24th - September 2nd, 2004
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Cross Canada Expedition Index
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Broken Sea Kayak
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When I left off yesterday, I was camped out on a beautiful sandy beach in a cove of aquamarine waters at Imogene Cove. I was just inside the boundaries of Pukaskaw National Park, ready to take on the next 90 kilometers of the Lake Superior coast, from the edge of the park down to Micipicoten River. Like Pukaskaw, this too is a very pristine and rugged stretch of coastline and made for some fantastic paddling.
I was packed and on the water by 8:00 AM, paddling into a very strong wind. As soon as I rounded Pukaskaw Point I was met by winds so powerful I was forced to hold onto my paddle with a death-grip, paddling hard but barely moving. According to the forecast, the winds will build during the morning and afternoon and there was already a small craft advisory on the lake. I checked my "speed" on my GPS and was knocking off a staggering 2 kph! Frustrated by what will become an even stronger wind, I turned around and took shelter on a stony beach just inside the mouth of the Pukaskaw River. I'll at least be able to get in a few hours of paddling.
By about 5:00 PM the winds did indeed seem to have dropped and the whitecaps, although still present, were not nearly as bad looking as earlier. I packed up and got in a short paddle, still fighting against a stiff wind, but at least was able to get in a few kilometers of paddling before setting up camp on a beautiful cobblestone beach.
The following morning I awoke to a very foggy day. It had rained overnight and only just stopped minutes before I got up. There was a thick fog for most of the day and light winds. The lake had settled down somewhat and I was mostly paddling small swells of three or four feet. In places, around headlands and over shoals, there were some steeper breaking waves, maybe five feet or so but nothing major. I paddled past a couple of beautiful waterfalls today, water cascading down and into the lake from the freshly swollen rivers due to last night's rains. One place, Broken Heart Bay, Broken Heart Island and Broken Heart Flaas was particularly nice. A small bay with a rugged heart-shaped island and a pretty waterfall. What a beautiful place, I'll have to be sure and plan on camping here next time through here.
As I was setting up camp tonight, my mood went from very good to, well, not so good! My tent, which has been problematic practically from the start, just got worse! As I was setting it up, one of the poles broke. The end piece on one pole section literally shattered as I was erecting the tent. Not good! Normally this would not bother me so much. In this instance, however, with the tent already leaking from numerous places, I'd pretty much had it with this tent! I made the best of it though, making a temporary repair of the pole section and then gently erecting the tent. I went to sleep tonight thinking about whether or not I should buy a new tent or just try to limp through the rest of the trip with what I have.
Well...what a day that came next! This one will likely end up being one of the more memorable and interesting days of the trip. It certainly put my tent problems into perspective! The day started out normal enough, getting up, breaking camp and having a hot breakfast before paddling off into a dense fog. I'd planned on getting into Michipicoten River today and likely spending the night camped on the beach of the local sea kayaking outfitters, Naturally Superior Adventures. Like I said, I'd planned to get there...needless to say however, I didn't! Not today anyways.
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Kruger Canoes
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photogallery. Click on pic. |
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Here's what happened. As I paddled away from camp, I was heading for the "Isaacor", a section of rough coastline about five kilometers long with high sheer cliffs and virtually no landing zones. Not a place to be in bad weather. Well, as I paddled along through the fog, even with the limited visibility, the scenery was pretty impressive from what I could see of it. There were about three foot waves rolling in by now, a light wind but nothing serious. Partway along the Isaacor section, after rounding a corner I saw something out of the corner of my eye that instantly caught my attention. There, blowing in the wind, were a couple of what appeared to be orange banners of some sort. I start paddling in closer to the cliffs when I realized it was a couple of pieces of orange tarps or plastic of some sort, suspended on high driftwood poles on this tiny, rocky "beach", some sort of beacon it appears. Then all of a sudden I saw two people a short ways further down, jumping up and down frantically on the rocks, waving their arms frantically to draw my attention! At this point, I thought to myself "Hmmm, I think they want me to stop!" As I paddled in towards the rocky landing, timing it to land between the rocks with the least impact possible, I saw over my shoulder, pinned against the walls of the cliff, the remains of a tandem Kevlar sea kayak. The entire front section of the boat was sheered completely off! Ouch, this does not look good!
Once on the beach I learned what had happened. The two paddlers, Gene and Eugene, both originally from Russia had been stranded here now for the past three days and I was the first person they had seen! They had stopped here for a break a few days ago on a pretty windy day with building seas. When they had attempted to relaunch, they got hit by some waves, swamped the kayak and then capsized. Despite their best efforts they were unable to prevent the boat from being swept against the cliff and pinned in the sea kayak, getting constantly battered by waves. They eventually made an emergency camp on a piece of rocky beach they had levelled off. Rationing their food supplies, they then settled in to wait for help. Unfortunately they did not have a VHF radio with them. In fact, this was their first ever venture into sea kayaking...and they chose the north shore of Lake Superior for it! Ouch! The rental kayak was a total mess. More importantly however, they were both unhurt and would be fine.
I got out my GPS and marked their position and then contacted the Canadian Coast Guard on my VHF radio, informing them of the situation, stressing the fact that there were no injuries and nobody was in any immediate danger. Before long we had a rescue mission set to launch and the two Russian paddlers would be soon picked up and out of harm's way. Originally the Coast Guard was going to have a helicopter sent out from Trenton, Ontario but that decision was changed and, instead, a rescue boat from the Coast Guard Auxiliary was sent out to do the rescue. Myself, I hung out for awhile longer, talking with Gene and Eugene and having lunch with them. Up until their capsize, they'd been greatly enjoying their experience and had been looking forward to the next few days of their paddling adventure. Despite their misfortune, however, they were still enthusiastic about the sport and were already talking about buying a boat and then taking the proper courses...to learn "To do this right" as they put it! I was pleased to hear this! In spite of what became a bad...and costly...experience, they still had the desire to get into sea kayaking and were planning on taking the proper courses and getting some qualified instruction. Perfect!
After exchanging contact information and taking photos, it was soon time for me to be on my way once again. The waves were about four or five feet by now and I was doubly cautious when launching from this rocky beach, not wanting my Clipper canoe to suffer the same fate as the tandem kayak of the Russian paddlers. After paddling off on my own once more, I thought of my tent with it's broken pole...suddenly my problems of a broken tent pole seemed pretty trivial, especially in comparison with a sea kayak broken right in two! It certainly put things back into perspective for me!
Not long after leaving the Isaacor and the Russian paddlers, I met up with two more paddlers, John and Donna Buckley, from Michigan. I met up with the Buckleys as I paddled into the beach at False Dog Harbour, intending to only stop for a quick lunch break. After meeting the Buckleys however, I'd decided to set up camp right here for the night and call it a day. The Buckleys were paddling a pair of Kruger Canoes, very similar craft to my own CLIPPER SEA 1 canoe and paddling with carbon fiber bent shaft canoe paddles, again...the same as me. As it turns out, in years past, John was one of the top marathon canoe racers in the world, making a living from racing back in the days just before Serge Corbin of Quebec became the dominant force in the sport.
They were out doing day paddles along the north shore of Superior as they travelled along in their small houseboat which was anchored in Dog Harbour, about a five or 10 minute paddle away. After we talked for a few minutes, they invited me to come over for supper and some cold refreshments. Well, it was only 3:00 PM but what the heck. I unloaded the canoe and set up camp here in False Dog Harbour and soon joined the Buckleys for an evening of good food and conversation aboard their home away from home. While visiting, it began to rain and the winds kicked up considerably. The paddle back to my camp after dark was in pretty choppy waters of about four footers with some refracting waves. Once in my tent, after a bit of writing in my journal, I slept great, amazed at all the excitement of the day!
The next morning I was off and heading for Michipicoten River. The winds and waves got really crazy early this afternoon and I was in some pretty big, wild waters before long. Rounding a couple of headlands was particularly interesting with waves routinely breaking over the deck of the canoe, soaking me thoroughly in the process. I was checking out a nice sandy beach late in the afternoon, considering camping here, thinking I'd somehow gone right by the sea kayaking outfitters, Naturally Superior Adventures. While checking out this sandy beach, I got in a bit too close, in some pretty shallow waters. After looking along the beach, I looked out over my right shoulder and right then, about one second from impact was a rather large wave, about four feet over my head and breaking. I thought for sure I was about to get tossed by this wave. At the last instant I raised my carbon fiber Zaveral paddle high into the wave and threw my weight into it, bracing HARD. Somehow the wave did not toss me, instead I got this really wild...and wet...side surf right up onto this awesome sandy beach.
Grinning like a fool, a rather wet fool at that, I hopped out of the canoe and hauled it up higher on the sand, out of harms way. Looking at the beach again I said, "Yeah, I think I'll just camp right here!" As it turned out, the sea kayak outfitters at Naturally Superior were just over around the very next corner, less than a 10 minute paddle away! I showed up there the next morning, planning on stopping by for a few minutes before continuing on my way. Yeah right! I stayed for a week! More on that in my next update.
Cheers…Joe O’Blenis
Editor's Note: Do you have a question you want to ask? Go to Joe's Ask the Pro page on WetDawg.com.
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