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Kayak Weathercocking vs. Tracking
Kayak weathercocking is the tendency of a moving kayak to turn into the wind. It’s caused by a difference in pressure between the bow and stern of your kayak, and it can feel frustrating if you don’t know how to correct for it. Luckily, there are tools and techniques that can keep you on course even when the wind blows. Kayak tracking is the extent that a kayak holds its course when underway. A kayak with high or good tracking stays on course even when a turning force such as a sweep stroke acts on it. A kayak with high tracking can weathercock and without right equipment can be a…
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When the Kayaking Community Goes Wrong
Every now and then I read an article on the Internet that makes me go, “Oh, that’s an interesting approach to sea kayaking.” One such article is by travel writer Bruce Kirkby. It’s called In a kayak, there are some danger signs you can’t ignore. In it he describes how he sets out on a three-week kayaking trip on a committing coastline with a kayak that he’s never used before. On day one he finds out that his kayak leaks so much that he has to end the trip. It takes good judgment and self control to end a “dream” trip, but that’s not the part of the article that…
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Boundary Waters Border Route Trip Report
The Boundary Waters Border Route starts on the western side of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) at Crane Lake in Voyageurs National Park. It follows the Minnesota/Ontario border for about 200 miles until the Grand Portage, a 8.5-mile portage to Lake Superior. Most paddlers can complete the trip in two to three weeks. This fall I joined the Wilderness Classroom to photograph part of their three-year, 12,000-mile trip across North America by canoe, kayak and dog sled. I met them at Crane Lake on the western side of the BWCA and paddled the Boundary Waters Border Route with them. It took us 17 days and included a three-day visit…
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The Risks of Cold Water Paddling
Even during the summer when Lake Superior’s surface temperature warms to 50 degrees Fahrenheit, capsizing in it can kill you. The most obvious form of death comes from drowning, but other not so obvious dangers, such as cold shock, cold incapacitation and hypothermia, are just as deadly, and can occur anytime the water drops below 60 degrees. Lake Superior kayakers experience those conditions for the entire paddling season. Most kayakers visiting Lake Superior aren’t aware of the risks of cold water says Lake Superior kayaker Sam Crowley, who holds an American Canoe Association Coastal Kayaking Level 5 Advanced Open Water Instructor Trainer Educator certification, which is the highest level available.…
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Winter Kayaking Tips and Resources
As the northern hemisphere shifts into winter and the water turns solid, many kayakers will hang up the paddling gear and store their kayaks until spring. It doesn’t need to be that way; winter kayaking can be enjoyable, albeit more dangerous than the other three seasons. PaddlingLight features multiple articles that give you great winter kayaking tips. As a trip down memory lane and to help you find the information you need about kayaking in the winter, the articles with tips are listed below. Winter Kayaking Tips “There is no bad weather, only the wrong gear.” -Minnesota Proverb The original winter kayaking tips article is about dressing for cold water…
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Soo to Hessel: The Curse of the Last Day
As cheesy as it sounds, you don’t have to go far from home to have an adventure. Despite the allure and romance of exploring the long expanses of wilderness in, let’s say, the South Island of New Zealand, Iceland, Patagonia, Kamchatka, or the Himalayas, there are many things worth seeing close to home. I have all of the above listed places (and many more) on my bucket list but at the moment I am unable to wander the world aimlessly by the constraining fact that I am a starving college student and kayak bum. But still the lure of adventure tempted me into a trip. I didn’t have to travel…
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How to Pack a Sea Kayak Part 2: Packing Your Kayak
Learning how to pack a sea kayak for camping isn’t a mystical black art reserved for expert expeditionary paddles who spend most of their life at sea. Instead, it just takes planning and knowledge of boat trim and balance. In How to Pack a Sea Kayak Part 1: Selecting and Packing Dry Bags, you learned how to pick the right dry bags and pack them properly. The next step is to actually pack the sea kayak. Sea Kayak Compartments and Storage Spaces A sea kayak with bulkheads and watertight cargo compartments that are accessed through hatches make packing much easier than trying to pack a kayak without bulkheads and hatches.…
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Launching: New Tandem Canoe — the PaddlingLight Ursa Canoe
Over the last few months, we built a new tandem canoe under a tarp in the backyard. It has been an interesting process plagued with problems, such as humidity and bugs, that we wouldn’t experience in a controlled environment. But, despite all the problems, we managed to get to the point where we could test it out. Yesterday, we launched the PaddlingLight Ursa Canoe — the name Ursa is tentative. The canoe is a prototype that takes its inspiration from the popular Modern Malecite St. John River Canoe plans. I like the Modern Malecite, but I wanted something with more volume and efficiency for tripping. The canoe needed to turn…
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The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Pagami Creek Fire
By September 18, 2011 the Pagami Creek Fire in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCA), the United States’ most used designated Wilderness Area under the Wilderness Act of 1964 and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Act of 1978, had burned about 94,000 acres (147 square miles, 380 square kilometers). It had burned approximately 1/10th of the entire preserve, which sets aside 1 million acres of lakes connected by portage trails in a relatively undeveloped state. Pagami Creek Fire History According to InciWeb, the website used by fire management to communicate information to the public, the Pagami Creek fire started from a lightning strike on Thursday August 18th, 2011.…
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Boundary Waters Routes: Sag and Sea Gull Loop
Two large lakes dominate the terrain at the end of the Gunflint Trail. To the north at Trail’s End, Saganaga Lake stretches through the Boundary Waters and into Canada. To the west, Sea Gull Lake runs for miles. A Boundary Waters Canoe Area entry point serves each lake and both are connected through a set of portages. These portages make it one of the easy Boundary Waters routes that make a loop. Distance: 29 miles (450 rods of portages) – This area has several variation, so you could do a shorter route and still see most of it. Entry Points: 55, 55A, 54, 54A Trip Rating: Intermediate. The portages are…
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Fall and Early Spring Canoe Camping Checklist – Extend Your Paddling Season
In the late fall, most of the paddlers have put away their canoes and wouldn’t dream on heading to a canoe camping destination where snow, sleet, cold rain and even ice are possible. Yet, these times of the year offer the best time for solitude, reflection and camaraderie. If you want the former, you spend plenty of time alone, see no one and with the short days you’ll have time to think. For the later, the night comes quickly, so you find yourself sitting around a campfire trying to get warm and laughing with friends. With the right gear, it needn’t be a miserable experience. Here’s a fall canoe camping…
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THE SKELETON COAST: Paddling Lake Superior’s Desolate Southeast Shore
I’ve spent the last few summers working as a sea kayak guide for Woods and Water Ecotours in Hessel, Michigan and loved every minute of it. The long days, working with clients, teaching lessons and kayak surf sessions with the guides all added to the mystique. In the fall, reluctant to let go of my summer freedom as I went back to engineering school, I would go kayak surfing on Whitefish Bay when the gales of November would come slashing out of the north. The Big Water has a way of stripping away everything that isn’t important. It becomes just you and the Lake. For a spring expedition I decided…
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High Angle Vs. Low Angle Paddling
Typically, the difference between high angle vs low angle paddling styles is explained as the height of the upper hand during the forward stroke, because the height of the upper hand changes the angle of the paddle’s shaft when referenced from the water. For example, if the hand is shoulder high or above, it’s consider a high angle stroke because the angle of the shaft is high. If the hand is shoulder high or below, it’s considered a low angle stroke because the angle of the shaft is low. Typically, the stroke type then dictates the type of kayak paddle to use. For a high-angle style stroke, a shorter paddle…
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More Kayaking Accessories for Beginners
A first-time kayaker may not realize what kayaking accessories he or she may want or need when getting into kayaking. In the first part of this article, Kayaking Accessories for Beginners, I listed items that I think are necessary for beginners. In this list, I’ll highlight items that an entry-level kayaker may want to buy right now. Eventually, most kayakers end up with some of these items, especially those who want to paddle further than swimming distance from shore and in less than perfect weather. Note: If you paddle in water colder than 60 degree Fahrenheit (15.5 Celsius), then you need a wetsuit or a drysuit. I’ve covered that before in…
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Get Your Kayak Wet at the Gales Storm Gathering
During fall on the Great Lakes, strong, dense winds blow across the flat expanses of Canada and collide with the relatively warm waters of the Great Lakes making explosive sea conditions. Those steep waves — the old timer fishermen called them square because almost vertical wave faces separate the wave’s tops from their bottoms — provide a mess of peaks and valleys to chuck yourself and your kayak into. In the past, the big names in kayaking, such as Nigel Dennis and Stan Chladek, staged a yearly November (statistically the stormiest month but stupidly cold) event on Lake Superior that challenged paddlers from around the world. Rumor has it that…
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