Oak Island Weekend

Hole in the Wall on the North end of Oak.

Chris working with Dave on some of the fine points of the roll!

Hmmm ....

Great group this weekend on Oak Island. Jill and I drove up late on Friday after work, this gave us a nice night paddle. I think it was well past sunset when we left, and the furry little bats kept diving at our paddles as we made our way along the shoreline. A short crossing to the sand spit, and we were setting up tents and ready for the weekend! Saturday we broke up into three groups, one group hit Raspberry Island for the lighthouse tour, and missed it by only a few minutes. Another went East and paddled the shores along Stockton Island, and I went along with the group that did the circumnavigation of Oak. Lunch on the North end of the island, and a quiet paddle back to the sand spit. Sunday brought some wind and waves to make the paddle back to Buffalo Bay a bit of a workout ... but that's why we paddle the big lake, never a dull moment!

Oak Island

Its amazing to me how mother nature can heal herself after years of use, "Oak Island" an Island slowly carved by the glaciers 11,000 years ago along the South shore of Lake Superior was used for centuries by the Ojibwe people for base camps to harvest food, then as a base camp for pirates during the fur trades in the 1700's, a cord wood business supplied fuel to passing steamships as early as the 1850's. The island was logged for pine from 1880-1890, and hemlock through the 1920's. There were as many as 6 lumber camps on the shores of Oak during the logging years. Before and during the "Great Depression", commercial fishing camps came to the islands, the Manitou fish camp is still in tact, and preserved on Manitou Island. Then in 1943 a fire burned most of Oak Island. In 1970 the "Apostle Islands National Lakeshore" was created to protect the islands from future commercial use. There are reminders of the past to be found on the islands, all of them interesting, and curious. I'll spend this next weekend here, and maybe take a paddle over to Raspberry Island to check out the restored lighthouse.

The Picture is along the North shore of Oak Island during a trip I took with Ron S earlier this year.

Games on Bush Lake

A few paddlers hit Bush Lake for some kayak games, rescues, rolling, and foolishness. Summit Brewing stopped by to video some SKOAC activities for thier Social Elements promotion. All made for quite a good evening. Thanks to Courtney for the pictures.

Kayaks Recovered!

Good news!! The kayaks were recovered. That was fast!

Stolen Boats

2 Boats and gear were stolen off the dock at Living Adventure in Bayfield - they are:
-NDK Explorer LV - Red deck over Black hull
-Northwest Kayaks - tandem red deck over white hull
-Lendal Crankshaft paddle
Please be on the lookout for such boats and gear as the thieves may very well try to sell the them. If you learn anything of these items you should contact Living Adventure at 715-779-9503.

Summer Storms

Plans to finish some projects over the weekend were changed due to some wild weather late Friday night, early Saturday. Thunderstorms, with some downed trees, and quite a bit of damage on the West side of the Twin Cities. Last night it was more of the same, but North of the cities, and into Wisconsin got hit pretty hard this time. I spent the weekend with some downed trees, and my chainsaw.

Monday night before the storms came through, Chris, Courtney, and I spent some time playing in the wind, and waves on Medicine lake. Winds were 15kts gusting to 20kts, this gave us some waves to play with. Its always fun to try and do some rolls in different conditions, it gives you a feel for rolling up into the wind, and with the wind ... and why suddenly your offside roll takes on some importance.

Aerodrome Weekend

Looks like a weekend of hanging out at the airport, getting some projects finished. Maybe I can get the Nordkapp fitted out a little better with some foam. One never knows ... I may even get some flying in too! If you can find the control tower in the photo, just to the left is the building with the rounded roof. This is the hanger I work at every day.

Bridge Collapse in Minneapolis

I received this email through our kayaking club here in town about a kayaker that may have witnessed the bridge collapse. Maybe someone will read this and be able to help out.

Buried in one of today's Star Tribune articles is a reference to a kayaker who may have seen the bridge collapse. The folks who are trying to piece together what happened would like that person's help. He or she may be one of our fellow paddlers.If spreading the word in the boating circles -- email, blog posts, in person -- reaches a kayaker who didn't catch the note in the paper today, it would be one tangible, positive contribution that we could make.Here's the reference:Authorities have also been told that there was a kayaker near the bridge at the time of the collapse, and they would like to talk to that person. The NTSB hotline number is 1-866-328-6347.Here's a link to the article itself:http://www.startribune.com/10204/story/1351416.htmlThanks!

Two Harbors Kayak Festival

Returned from the 10th Annual "Two Harbors Kayak Festival" last night. Was another good weekend of kayaking with many friends. I've some pictures to go through and will post them as the day goes.

Note: It would appear my CD drive on the computer has abruptly quit working. Courtney had given me a CD with tons of great pictures of the events of the weekend ... We will have to go with the meager supply of photos I had taken with my camera. Bummer.

Hmmm... 8/8/2007 and CD still broken.

I didn't take many pictures this time ... but I did get a shot of the winners from our group. Along with the race results from Dave and I. The race is always a good time, I've not missed the kayak festival since 2003. The Town of Two Harbors is a nice destination along the North Shore of Lake Superior. With Burlington Bay as a good launch point one can paddle South into the harbor area with a lighthouse, a view of the shipping harbor. North will bring you some very scenic paddling, including the Split Rock Lighthouse, and many cliffs, and rocky shoreline. Finding a place to land can sometimes be a challenge.