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 I've rearranged Mike's answers to correspond somewhat to the real-time events in the article (my questions were limited and out of order). Substantive wording is as close to the actual interview as I can make it, with some expansion where clearly implied. Mike is getting into fitness paddling/racing and ordered a new Epic 18X, which took some time to arrive and had a few kinks still to iron out. His previous kayak, a new model Epic Endurance, had the much improved cam-over tightening straps and high grade marine gaskets. He unfortunately split the seams, four feet each side of the cockpit, in breaking surf on Lake Michigan prior to the crossing and prior to his Epic 18X being fully ready. His Endurance had been fixed, returned, had further problems and was fixed once again -- but there were still kinks to work out. With neither boat operational for the crossing, Mike borrowed his friend Peg's older model Endurance. I don't know how old, or if the borrowed Endurance was one of the South African or Chinese made production runs. Using an older, untested kayak does factor into the story, but not these production-run issues as the borrowed kayak wasn't a current itineration. I've interviewed paddlers with significant leaking issues who later discovered the gaskets simply needed replacing - a normal maintenance consideration. I didn't push for any other answers on this matter, nor if there were post-incident tests done, etc. The borrowed Endurance did have a high-tech rudder system, which Mike felt necessary for the crossing, as the article stated. The borrowed kayak had an older style of tightening straps, not the cam-over design. The forecast had varied up and down, but on the morning of the paddle the predicted waves were in the four to six foot range. I didn't ask if this was the near-shore forecast for 5 miles out or for deeper waters offshore. I am unfamiliar with the forecasting methods employed by paddlers for southern Lake Michigan. Regardless, both men felt the four to six foot maximum wave height wouldn't be a big deal, considering the paddle was only 14 hours and the winds wouldn't swing and pick up until later in the day. They felt they could handle those conditions. The men rolled at the half way point around noon for fun. Paul complained that water had entered his Kokatat drysuit. He had it in for repairs a couple of months prior to the trip, and had tested afterward. Mike doesn't know why the water entered Paul's drysuit. The two men did not discuss the issue again. I assume that this wasn't a significant factor in the stories outcome. Paul's shoulder was hurting by this point. He had a spare paddle and his new bigger bladed wing paddle. Mike had the smaller mid-wing paddle. Apparently, the two traded paddles a few times I believe Mike said. He also indicated that Paul was quickly eating up Mike's Ibuprofen. After the mid-point roll, the wind started to shift, south to west to north, and so on. At the time, Mike did not know the Endurance was sluggish due to water in the rear compartment. Mike felt the bigger wing paddle of Paul's might give him an advantage over what was becoming an unresponsive vessel. The issue of wing paddles is somewhat mute, as it wasn't a contributing factor in this incident; therefore I did not press Mike for when and where the paddle trading occurred, re-occurred, or if Paul pressed his spare paddle into use. As the leak filled the rear compartment more and more, the shifting winds picked up from 5 - 10 knots to a full 15 out of the north-northwest, then eventually to 20. Seas were soon running at six feet, with bigger waves occasionally. While Mike didn't like the bigger wing paddle, he realized something else was wrong. From the article it appears a big wave flooded the open hatch further while Paul was inspecting it. Mike says he lost some gear, as well as one of the spare float bags at some point. Paul tried the other float bag, both fully inflated and partially deflated to try and displace the water that had now really filled the compartment. I assume from what Mike said to me that it was too difficult and frustrating for Paul to push the float bag in the flooded compartment and Paul gave up that tactic. Mike put it in Paul's front hatch and "kind of forgot about it (the float bag -DL)." Mike didn't seem to know why neither of them thought about the float bag further. I'm assuming they wanted to get on with the T-rescue and didn't want to goof around with the risk having the rear hatch fill again while playing with the float bag. The sea state was getting ugly. (Mike was on his cell phone when I called him, and I on long-distance charges; therefore I moved through these questions quickly). Mike did indicate that the cockpit took on water, he assumes, from a combination of the rear of the kayak wallowing so deeply in the lake water and waves, combined with his Gore-Tex spray deck not fully repelling water from entering that way. He said in retrospect, that the spray skirt he used wasn't the one he should have taken for the crossing. Mike eventually wet-exited from his kayak and stabilized Paul's P&H Quest so Paul could perform a T-rescue. This went slow but well with most of the water evacuated. What water remained was removed with a bilge pump by Paul, although this was very difficult for Paul to execute given the problems of trying to hold the hatch ajar while he pumped. Paul put the rear hatch back on, tightening the straps. Mike feels there could have been an issue with either the older hatch tightening system or possibly the hatch cover was asymmetrical and may have been oriented in the wrong manner, either at the put-in or subsequently by Paul. Nevertheless, Mike was happy to get underway again assuming the problem was over. Mike figures it was about 20 minutes before the rear hatch was significantly flooded again. Seas were peaking close to 8 feet and still building. The previous fetch-limited deep-water wind waves were now superimposed upon with a building north wind, one they had expected, but not to the same degree. I'm assuming the already agitated sea state gave the wind better frictional engagement, building seas rapidly and adding to the rougher sea state. I've seen this on a few open water crossing after a wind shift where there was sufficient fetch and a land mass funneling effect. After another two T-rescues during the course of their journey, they continued on to a different, more southerly course. During the "ugly" last 1/3 of the trip, Mike states winds gusted well above 20 knots. Mike said some gusts hit 35 knots eventually closer to the trip's end. A nine foot breaking wave finally forced Mike over in his difficult-to-control, flooding kayak. I asked him candidly about wave height observations. He was concerned that paddlers appreciate his sense of scale. He does a lot of carpentry and home renovations, and has worked with ladders as a fireman for 20 years -- so has excellent awareness of height estimations. He understands that waves always look bigger from the kayaker's low perspective. He stated that there were waves well in excess of nine feet at times, some up to 15 feet. More importantly, these waves were steep and breaking. He felt that although Paul was having difficulty with his shoulder and directional stability with the Quest in the difficult conditions, Paul was still calm, collected and in control, as was Mike despite the problems, and both would have finished the trip if the leaking problems had not occurred or continued to progress without resolve. Mike didn't follow marine distress protocol when he finally decided to call in; he neither issued a Mayday or Pan Pan as he didn't feel they were scared, rather remaingl calm and still confident, though Mike does admit he was getting hypothermic in the water at the end and perhaps should have used a more formal appraoch. He simply wanted to contact the Coast Guard and establish communication. Both he and Paul knew Mike was cold, getting exhausted, and the boat would likely keep leaking. Mike was annoyed that the police marine unit thought at first that a prank call was being perpetrated, though Mike admits this may have happened partially because Mike sounded so in control and partly because at first they couldn't give any visuals, then later Paul blurted out he could. When Mike offered their GPS coordinates, the radio operator didn't bother to acknowledge the need for them to be relayed. If they had lost communication, that might have been an important detail. The Chicago CG station shares a building with the police in the boating season, but vacates in the off-season, leaving the police marine unit monitoring local channels. Mike wasn't sure why the repeater didn't get their signal through to the CG at the other two manned stations further north and near the Illinois boarder, respectively, or if their message was simply missed. I asked Mike if his VHF had a HIGH/LOW switch. He didn't think so. I assume he was broadcasting at 5 watts. Mike and Paul met with fellow paddlers subsequent to the failed crossing for a debriefing session. Ideas and suggestions were exchanged, including the need to ensure redundant floatation before leaving shore and carrying something like Denso tape (could have sealed the hatch). He said lessons were learned and he has no regrets. I'd only add that Chicago is the "Windy City" for a reason. The term "Lake Effects" usually refers to a condition that dramatically loads moving air with moisture causing intense snowfall downwind. Perhaps kayakers in southern Lake Michigan can now add unanticipated wave heights to broaden the definition of lake effects. I've often done crossings at what I anticipated to be consistent with the forecasted values in terms of my comfort level, only to have seas build bigger than anticipated or undergo some local effect not anticipated. Either your boat, body, or gear must be absolutely beyond reproach if thing do deteriorate or you need to leave a wider margin for error. Or perhaps both. It is always easy to say this in hind sight. Doug Lloyd Victoria BC *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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 *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
I said (snip): > 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. That should read: "He stated that he and Mike are fairly experienced paddlers and anticipated being able to handle the forecasted conditions," Doug Lloyd (I spent a whole day on this Lake Michigan account follow up, so hope Mike, Paul, Sharon, and paddlewisers appreciate the attempt to clarify aspects of the story and correct any previous paddlewise misrepresentations. And heck, it's probably a cool retrograde-Karma like thing that a fireman occasionally needs a rescue too). *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Thank you, Doug for providing this detailed account. I have paddled with Mike and Paul. Mike on long Lake Michigan trips (not nearly as long as the one desxcribed in the article) and Paul as a co-instructor at the WMCKA symposium. Both are true professionals in their demeanor and committment to the sport of kayaking. And terrific paddlers in ability. Lake Michigan does not feel like a lake when the winds are northerly. A northeast wind hitting Chicago can bring dramastic waves. (dramatic + drastic) My first kayak race on the lake had 13 foot waves as reported by the Coast guard, who chased us all out of the race at the midway point. It was an amazing experience. I got seasick from the non-stop going up and down for two hours. And I've played in bigger ones when I was lifeguard at North Avenue Beach. Lake waves are choppier and closer together than ocean waves. It's unusual to get more than a five or ten second surf, even in good waves. Chicago has sea walls along many of the beaches which are just below the surface. Waves rebound off these things and can be felt a half mile and more offshore. So paddling in rough conditions on the lake is not particularly easier than similar conditions in the sea. Jim Tibensky *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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