ICE This Weekend

Going to Living Adventures this weekend for the Instructor Certification for the ACA. Its been a good summer for learning the things I need to know, and be able to do. The hard part for me has been the classroom phase ... leading a discussion on various topics is not my normal role, I feel I need to know the topic intimately before I can feel comfortable teaching it. So saying there is a lot to know to be a good instructor, would be a huge understatement!
Jill, Chris, and I are heading up Friday night, and planning on spending a couple days on the islands after the ICE weekend. This should give me some time to give this all some thought, and maybe put it into some perspective.

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.