RE: [Paddlewise] sea kayaker death - Apostle Islands, Lake Superior

From: <cholst_at_bitstream.net>
Date: Tue, 24 Aug 2004 11:58:09 -0500
Quoting "Joyce, Thomas F." <TJoyce_at_bellboyd.com>:

> Were the paddlers caught in the Devil's Island caves or some other
> place?  The Devil's Island are far off shore and, as I recall, leave
> little head room even in flatwater conditions.  

As Dana said, they were probably heading for the Squaw Bay caves, which are 
nearest their put-in, and which would have been directly downwind. They never 
could have gotten anywhere near Devils Island in those conditions. I was once 
windbound on Sand Island by approximately 30-mph winds out of the NE. The radio 
said there were six-foot waves in the more open areas, though we saw nothing 
that appeared to be more than four. Nonetheless, waves were washing over the 
dock near the campsites.

As I said in my earlier post, they were probably deceived by what must have 
been the small size of the waves at their put-in. The wind would have been 
coming diagonally off the beach, and with the point a short distance to the 
west (I forget its name), the waves could not have been very high at Meyers 
Beach no matter how strong the wind. The bluff above the beach would have given 
them additional protection from the wind until they got out to the middle of 
the bay.

Chuck Holst
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Received on Tue Aug 24 2004 - 09:58:15 PDT

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