Kayaking in High Winds | This was a big decision!

Ken Whiting here with a different type of paddling video. This is a video about paddling in wind and it's actually a video that breaks down a big decision I had to make because of the wind on a recent trip I did on Lake Superior. So I'm going to show you the segment from this five-day adventure that I did on Lake Superior. This was day three when the wind really started to pick up. It was the strongest on this day and I was dealing with the most exposed section of the coastline. In particular, I had a headland, a big peninsula that I had to get around at the end of about a five-mile bay. I had to make a big decision. I had to make the decision on whether it was safe for me to go for it around the headland or did I need to grab camp and wait for things to calm down a bit the following day. So enjoy this segment from my five-day adventure on Lake Superior. You can see the entire adventure on my new YouTube channel, Ken Waiting Adventures, so check that out. But enjoy this particular segment and then I'm going to explain in more detail why I made the decision and how I made the decision that I did. I think my best bet here is to, rather than just stick with the shore, not only is it the long way but with the way the waves are and the wind it's going to make it a little challenging. It's still going to be a little tailwind but definitely coming in from my left as well if I follow the land. And ultimately what I need to know is how rough it is as I go further out. So I'm thinking I'm going to abandon shore, go out further and take more of a direct line towards the cape. And that way if I do decide, gee, it's too much, that I can cut back in and get the last campsite which is over in that bay. Yep, that's a good plan. I like that plan. From where I am I'm guessing eight or nine kilometers, what's that, five and a half, six miles to the cape itself as a crow flies. I think it's going to be good out here. I don't, I'm, yeah, I think the wind is really on my side for this stretch right now. Yesterday I was just on alert, you know, in those conditions and that alert here has become a bit stronger. Higher alert, even some adrenaline going right now. Gotta relax, not too much, but you gotta relax. It is a unique feeling, I'll tell you that, to be out in water like this, wild. This is wild land here. Well I hope you enjoyed that segment. That is a segment from the full video which you can find on my other new YouTube channel, Ken Whiting Adventures. I'll leave a link down below to that video, to the full adventure video. But this, that crossing, I'm not sure video, oh I know, video never does the best job of really communicating how big something is and even the emotions that you're really feeling at that time. But I still think you could tell in that video that those are some pretty big and exposed conditions to be out. One of the things that you can't really see is how strong the wind is. I mean I had sustained winds of 20 miles per hour around, you know, over 30 kilometers per hour with gusts up to 35 miles per hour over 50 kilometers per hour. It made for very challenging paddling conditions. Fortunately it was largely a tailwind, a little bit off to the side. In fact the wind was coming from the, mostly from the south, a little bit from the west. Now I was starting in Chalfont Cove here, that's where I spent the night, and the first part of my paddle was pretty relaxed. Cape Gargantua here provide a pretty good buffer for significant waves. But the further I went along the coast, the more the waves started to make their presence known. And when I stopped on an island here and took a break and watched a fishing boat, actually that was the first sign of anyone that I had seen in three days, that's when I, you know, I could, you could see the fishing boat rocking, that the waves were significant. I could also see white caps in the distance and so I knew it was going to be big and I knew all of these waves were going to be hammering this shoreline here leading to Cape Chilon. So there's no doubt this is going to be rugged, wind-battered, wave-battered waters. The question is, could I get around there? Now my big problem was I couldn't stick to the bay and because if I stuck to the bay here and I got, went past the last campsites here, got down here and then I wouldn't have been able to paddle back to the campsites. The wind was just too strong for that to be a reasonable expectation. And so I needed to make the decision whether or not I was going to go for it before I passed the campsites. And so that's why I made the decision about eight kilometers, five miles or so back at the right at the beginning of the bay. That's when I decided, you know what, the only way I'm going to know if I'm comfortable going around the cape is if I know how big it is and right out in the exposed part of the lake. And so I paddled out. I decided I'm going to have to paddle out about a mile and see how nasty it gets. And if at any point it gets too nasty, I'll just turn around and head back in and spend the night at the Red Rock River campsite. And so I paddled out. That's what I did. I paddled a mile and at that point it got bigger and bigger and the wind was howling. But I decided that it was still within my comfort zone and it was still safe enough to go for it. And so I did. I went for it and that's the segment that you just watched is the paddle across this whole bay. The swells themselves were big but they weren't, again, out of my comfort zone. It really was the wind that was the most challenging thing. When the wind was gusting at 35 miles per hour over 50 kilometers per hour, it was enough to try to pull the paddle right out of my hands to even feel it's trying to knock me over. That combined with the fact that a tailwind is great for speed but a tailwind is challenging to paddle in as well because you don't see what's coming. And with those, it wasn't clean swell and clean waves. There was chop in there as well and so you're constantly being surprised by the waves and getting knocked around and it just puts you on edge the whole time because you don't always see what's coming. Even though I spent a lot of my time looking over over my shoulder to try to get a read on it. All of those factors made for a pretty exhausting, mentally exhausting crossing and a crossing that I was on high alert for the whole time because there is simply no room for error. I couldn't have a mistake happen there because if I did end up going for a swim for some reason, I'd just be blown right into these rocks which I knew the waves are just pounding on and I'm pretty sure. I didn't know. I didn't think there was going to be any beaches or anywhere to get out safely. There's no good scenario there. Coming out of my boat wasn't an option. If I capsized, I wasn't worried about that because I have years of whitewater. I have a kayak roll that I have the utmost confidence in. That was really important when I made this decision is having a roll that I knew I could trust. That's why I say if you're going to paddle in rough conditions, in exposed conditions, you don't need a roll but oh my gosh, does it ever make a difference. It makes you more safe but it also lets you enjoy the experience out there so much more knowing that hey, if you make a mistake, you end up or a wave just catches you off guard and you end up flipping, you can just roll up and keep going whereas coming out of your boat and having to do some type of on water rescue or re-entry would be another experience altogether. Anyway, I did make it as you saw around the cape. I was pretty happy that I made it around the cape even though there's still wind and waves. I wasn't fully protected here. I didn't have the waves bouncing back offshore and so it just cleaned up the waves a lot and then I had a secondary decision to make. Once I got around to Bushy Bay here and took a break in the bay here right out of the wind, it was early in the day. I hadn't got much sleep the night before because of my shoulder. My shoulder was deteriorating quickly even though it felt fine paddling. It was sleeping that it wouldn't allow me to do and it was getting really hard to put my skirt on too and so I made the decision even though I was expecting to have two more days of paddling, I made the decision to keep going. Use that tailwind to help take me to the next campsite in Brulee Harbour so that the following day I could paddle all my way out to Mitchapin Cotton Bay and Rock Island Lodge where my trip was ending. It made for a long day but it meant only one more night in the park which sucked because I was enjoying the trip so much and I didn't want to rush the trip but my shoulder was deteriorating quickly and I knew I needed to get off the lake and start the recovery process. So that is a couple of the decisions I made on the Lake Superior trip. I hope you guys enjoyed that segment. Like I mentioned before, the full video is on my other YouTube channel Ken Whiting Adventures which I will leave a link to in the description box. Otherwise let me know. Leave a comment down below. Let me know if you like this type of video where I provide a breakdown of the decisions that I make on these expeditions because that's the interesting thing for me about these expeditions is things rarely go as planned. Things are always popping up. Decisions are always having to be made and I think that's probably the biggest thing that experience gives you. Experience gives you the ability to make perhaps the most prudent decisions, to weigh all the factors and make the best decision. So yeah, leave a comment down below. Let me know if you like these types of videos or if you just want to see the kayaking action and you're like, hey Ken shut up, stop talking. That's cool too. Otherwise subscribe to my new channel Ken Whiting Adventures if you haven't already and go watch the full adventure there and we'll see you again soon for another paddling tip, paddling gear review, or paddling adventure.