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Re: Ice Paddling (Read 1779 times)
Joel F.
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Re: Ice Paddling
Apr 5th, 2008, 12:06pm  
Here's the ice foot just south of Marquette.  That's my eleven year old, 5 foot 5 inch son, by way of comparison.  It looks like it's about eight feet thick, maybe more.  I'm hoping to paddle that section of the Lake next week and finally use the new drysuit in the real world.
 

 
Also, Sam and Nancy, from Sea Kayak Specialists have posted some video of seal launching on the ice at Middle Bay at Presque Isle in Marquette.  Nice shots of the ice caves there too.
 
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Re: Ice Paddling
Reply #1 - Apr 6th, 2008, 9:44pm  

The Greenland Style Kayak gets a taste of its roots
 
I took the proto-Greenland style out on Middle Bay, Presque Isle, Marquette, Michigan, this afternoon for my first open water paddle of the year.  I should have gone yesterday, as the wind kicked up today and was producing 2 - 3 foot swells.  I spent roughly a half a mile saying, "What the heck am I doing out here?"  Then, I turned around to head back in, the wind in my teeth with a following sea, and I spent the next half a mile saying, "This is worse!"
 
That just goes to prove that you can spend all winter at the pool, but the pool is not open water.  But, it was good to get back on the open water.  I spent a lot of time just sitting in the kayak riding the swells, once again getting used to the way the kayak moves.  
 
The mental tipping point came when I finally got up the nerve to start doing some Greenland style moves, falling over on either side and sculling.  Then it was just like being in the pool.  That really boosted my confidence and showed me that even if I went over, I could get back up.
 
Seal launching was not the big deal that I thought it would be.  Getting back out was more difficult.  You have to wait for a wave to come in and then paddle hard and let the wave throw you up on the ice shelf.
 
After I finished paddling, I went for a dip in the Lake with the drysuit.  Still a small leak in the foot, but otherwise, nice and dry.
 
Don G. took the photos below.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
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« Last Edit: Apr 7th, 2008, 1:35am by Joel F. »  
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Re: Ice Paddling
Reply #2 - Apr 7th, 2008, 1:31pm  
Berr…I hope to make my first trip out this weekend.  Have two options in mind, heading south to the Upper Chesapeake in hopes to hit some spawning stripers.  Or head t the jersey shore for a back bay paddle and set up for some winter flounder or a passing stripers.  All will depend on water clarity of the Chesapeake or shore forecast.
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Joel F.
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Re: Ice Paddling
Reply #3 - Apr 8th, 2008, 8:55pm  

 
I'm sure the ice is long gone there by now?  There have been a lot people out fishing on Superior the past week for Coho, I think, but I may be wrong.  
 
More snow and ice coming in this week, so the water here may be Greenland style too for a little while yet.
 
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Re: Ice Paddling
Reply #4 - Apr 21st, 2008, 9:33pm  
We went out paddling in the ice again today.  Temps were in the 60's, the sun was shining, and the ice was falling.  We went south of Marquette, launched off of South Beach and paddled to the beach near the Michigan Welcome Center.  Swells were one to two feet high and were reflecting off of the ice.  My babysitter, Don, paddled right up along the ice foot for a while.  I stayed off between twenty and one hundred yards, depending on what the waves were doing.  The waves were reflecting off of the ice and coming back at the same height they went in.
 
There was a lot of floating ice too.  Sometimes it felt like we were padlding through a Margarita or a Slurpee.
 
I did grab a nice big piece of floating ice, very clear, to take home and use for recreational purposes (see below).   The clear ice is good if you get thirsty.  The pieces have spines and other shapes sticking up, and you can just break a piece off of the top and chew on it.
 
The Carbon/Kevlar paddle worked very well.  The hard finish was especially nice when fending off the big ice bergs floating around us.
 

Don, getting ready to go.  That's a 1000 foot ore boat off shore.
 
 

This is me paddling about 100 yards off of the ice foot.  US 41 is in the background.
 
 

The ice foot here is about 10 - 15 feet thick.  You can also see the ice bergs floating behind me.  This is on the way back.  On the way out we were a lot closer to the ice.
 
 

 
 
 

Lake Superior ice.  Look at how clear it is!  It was a lot bigger before I put it in the car.
 
 

Lake Superior ice does the job nicely in some single malt Scotch.
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Re: Ice Paddling
Reply #5 - Apr 22nd, 2008, 12:18am  

 
It turns out that the ore boat in the first pic with Don and the kayaks had gone hard aground and spilled some oil into the Lake, which explains why the Coast Guard kept running back and forth between the CG station and the ore boat.
 
We didn't see any oil in the water though.  The news report said that they lost an oil seal (at the prop shaft?) and had spilled some oil.
 
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Joel F.
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Re: Ice Paddling
Reply #6 - Apr 27th, 2008, 7:20pm  

Update on the ore boat.  Apparently, another ship had lost a rudder in the channel by the Shiras power plant and failed to report it.  The ore boat in the picture hit the 16-ton rudder which had become an unknown navigational hazard and they lost their propulsion unit along with thirty gallons of gear oil.  The propulsion unit itself held 300 gallons of oil, but didn't leak at all.
 
Read about it in the Marquette Mining Journal
 
 
More from the Mining Journal
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« Last Edit: Apr 28th, 2008, 1:34am by Joel F. »  
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