After reading Daves piece this morning about the kayaker who lost his life at Meyers Beach I have to wonder ... why. I drove by Meyers beach right around the time Friday night when this was happening, and never knew it. The warm weather, along with the cold water temps are the perfect setup for something like this to happen. My heart goes out to their families and friends.
This was a weekend SKOAC does an "Intro to Lake Superior" trip for the new members who have gone through the basic training class earlier this summer. I had the good fortune to come along as a support paddler for the instructors, and given my aspirations to complete the ICE certification this fall, its a good opportunity for me to be a part of the action. We now have 12 new paddlers who are ready to start exploring the Apostles on their own, with Friends, family, and club members. This was a group of strong paddlers, on Saturday we had the whole group finish the 9 1/2 miles across to Basswood and circumnavigate the island. We spent some time at the sea stack on the North end, then a short break at the quarry, with a finish back at the dock. Sarah does a great job putting this class together, with great support from Bill. Both SKOAC long time instructors. Both are famous authors by the way too. I think all the folks who came along got a lot of good experience by the time the weekend was over. Me too.
And Rich, as another support paddler, who has many great photos on the SKOAC website, and also does the website. Check out some of his pictures.
Note: If any of the on water shots look a little tipped ... the new Nordkapp is taking a little getting used to as a photo platform .... more on that later.
3 comments:
Thanks for the great writeup of our trip, Ron! I really enjoyed the weekend.
The Star Tribune has coverage on the death Friday: http://www.startribune.com/462/story/1269518.html
I can't wait to check out this Nordkapp on Wednesday night! My guess is that the folks who took the time and spent the money on the intro class and trip will never be in the situation those two unfortunates found themselves in on Friday. Good job with the education.
Was a fun group on Basswood, for most this was their first time on Superior. My guess also is people that take the time to learn the basics, will neither fear, or be complacent, but will respect what the lake can do.
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