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. *************************************************************************** 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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