Re: [Paddlewise] Lake Michigan Account

I also contacted Paul.

He felt there must have been some kind of gap between the hatch cover and 
the boat that allowed the water to flow in. He felt they both tightened the 
hatch cover as well as can be expected prior to departure and during the 
T-rescues.

The T-rescues and hatch-replacement proceedure became increasingly difficult 
as the sea state worsened.

Paul said in hindsight, he should have put a float bag, and possibly a 
paddle float into the back compartment of the Endurance, which he thinks 
would have displaced most of the water and probably would have allowed them 
to finish the crossing. Paul said storing the flaot bag was probably their 
worst mistake. Later on they could have made the floatation still work, but 
were affraid the open hatch would fill with water during such an attempt as 
waves were breaking regularly.

Paul said they knew waves were going to build by late afternoon or evening, 
but with an original forecast of 3-5, and later 4-6, they thought they would 
be back on shore before the waves got really big.  He stated that he and 
Mike are fairly experienced paddlers and didn't anticipate handling the 
forcasted conditions, but hadn't obviously anticipated and were unable to 
fix the boat problem  Paul also indicated to me that they learned it is not 
so easy to think with real clarity when conditions are windy,  getting dark, 
and large waves are breaking over the paddler.  He said it wasn't easy 
giving up and calling for assistance, but felt it was their only option 
left.

Doug Lloyd
Victoria BC

Doug had posted (snip):

>I had a pleasant conversation with Mike Agostinelli regarding his 50 mile 
>attempted crossing of Lake Michigan with friend, Paul Redzinski in the fall 
>of 2006. More than willing to answer my questions and those garnered from 
>Paddlewise, Mike was gracious and freely provided his answers. I felt 
>compelled to interview one of the paddlers, given we were discussing their 
>failed crossing and subsequent rescue without any consultation and 
>therefore some of our comments may or may not have been unfair, though we 
>did correct the buoy data information. I feel Mike established full consent 
>for me to provide details as I saw fit. I keep these records for my own 
>incident collective, regardless.
>
>
>
> Here's the original story for reference:
>
>
>
> http://www.chicagomag.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=8642F5EFCEA14A939100AB7214F31861&nm=Archives&type=PubPagi&mod=Publications%3A%3AArticle+Title&mid=61BFC65300D24DB58350C761094153A1&tier=4&id=2877A76E2DE44877BC72636F4D779EE7
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