Re: [Paddlewise] Re.: reindeer speed in water and re.: paddle length

Darryl wrote"

>>>>>Was it Nigel Denis and his wife who did the coast of Labrador some
time back, and who were forced into sleeping in their kayaks as a
result of a polar bear who paced them along the shore? I may
(probably) have elements of the story completely wrong and
ass-backwards, as it was some time ago that I read the article/web
page where their trip was described.

I don't recall that they actually had to try to outpaddle ... no,
that's not right, polar bears don't paddle ... outpace the bear in the
water. But the thought was certainly in their minds if the bear
decided to swim out to where they were hovering offshore.<<<<<<



I don't know if Nigel Dennis has paddled in Labrador but what you are
describing sounds somewhat like one of several incidents Nigel Foster and his
(now, not then) wife Kristen Nelson ran into with Polar Bears several years
ago. I don't think they ever slept out on the water but after the encounder
where the bear was sniffing Kristen's rear hatch (with her in the kayak but
hung up on a rock due to the receding tide repeating calmly, but forcefully,
to the bear "Bear be gone" and Nigel tried unsuccessfully to scare it off with
some shots from a flare gun) they kept the rifle they had been loaned a lot
more accessible when on shore. Even for a short Pee break where this bear
surprised them. The bear was startled by the first flare and jumped back a
bit. The second shot made him flinch and he just sniffed the rock the third
flare bounced off of at his feet. Once they made it out to sea the bear
followed them on shore until it ran out of Island and then entered the water
and swam after them. That is how I remember that particular story that I have
heard from them several times (and by doing some editing on the yet to be
published book Nigel wrote about the trip).



They had several other encounters with Polar Bears in the water that they
spotted just in time. Polar bears in water don't have much of their bodies
visible. Just a no hard edges fuzz ball head that's not very obvious and a
black nose. I would certainly not want to be sleeping out on the water in
Polar Bear territory unless it was IN a much bigger boat than a kayak. Nigel
and Kristen were probably lucky the curious Polar Bear didn't recognize them
as potential prey at first and that they didn't panic and flee on foot making
that identification obvious to the bear. If Nigels book comes out I'd highly
recommend it. It is several cuts above most kayak trip narative books.



If you get the chance read "Paddle to the Arctic" and "Kabloona in the Yellow
Kayak" at the same time. Two entirely different takes on what was, for much of
each book anyway, the same paddling trip.
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