Lake Superior Goodness

Pam and Geoff, a couple who are canoeing across Canada, stopped in here for a brief visit yesterday. They’ve been in the Wawa area recharging during some wind days for the last few days and we had the pleasure of meeting them! The journey began in 2007 on the west coast, and this year the trip is on the magnificent Superior. The newest addition to their crew is Jude, born last October – he’s not much of a paddler yet (the paddles are a little heavy) but is a great companion to have in the boat and at camp. Taq is their Alaskan Malamute who acts as bear alert, friend, and warm partner on cold nights. It’s quite a trip these folks are on and we’re glad to have met them! I went down to take some pictures as they left from our beach – honestly I couldn’t pass up the chance to see a canoe filled with 2 adults, a baby, a giant dog and gear. It was an awesome sight. Follow along with their journey at www.canoeacrosscanada.ca

Good luck Pam, Geoff, Jude and Taq!

For the first time ever, we’ve added a component to our Paddle Canada Level II Sea kayaking skills program.  We’ve brought in a BCU instructor to access the participants for their 3 star certification (which is very similar in skill level to the PC Level II course).  David Johnston, of paddlinginstructor.com, and an instructor trainer with Paddle Canada, came up from the big city of Toronto to co-teach this course with Chicago’s Bonnie Perry, a BCU Coach 3 as well as an ACA (American Canoe Association) instructor.

Lake Superior has done its best to provide some conditions that would be suitable for the Level II participants to strut their stuff in.  We’ve had great on-shore winds to create some waves.  Joel Cooper, resident of Sandy Beach, took a few shots of the gang working their surf skills.

David J with the wave slap

Another wave slap

Punching through the wave slap

The mini wave slap

If you are looking at playing around in some surf- check out our Surf Superior Confluence coming up the first weekend in October.

A few weeks ago Carolyn and Ryan went to Lake Superior Provincial Park to guide a wonderful family from China. The family won the trip through a TV show, so a film crew was capturing everything that happened! There was plenty of kayaking and canoeing, fantastic food, and lots of play. The show will be aired in China and be seen by approx. 35 million people – what an audience! Thanks in part to this trip, Canada now has preferential travel status with Chinese travellers. It was a very successful couple of days, exposing Ontario tourism to a huge audience overseas. NSA is proud to have been involved! Hopefully we will connect more with China in the future.

Among a lot of media clips were a few great shots of kayaking.  Check out our favorites:

We recently sent out our Voyageur Canoe trip with naturalists Mike Link and Kate Crowley. A few lucky folks got to accompany them on the paddling section of their trip, and were all smiles when it came time to set out on their journey. We caught a few shots of them coming through the river mouth  as they began their adventure!

…or our only volunteers…

Nic and Sue-Anne both joined us a little over a week ago for some volunteering at NSA. Both have been huge helps and lots of fun to be around. Sue-Anne leaves tomorrow but has definitely left her mark here – most of the staff have painted faces, the office has 2 awesome new signs, and the laughs have been unending! We’re definitely sad to see her go, but she’s threatening to come back, so it looks like we’ll all live. Nic is here for another few weeks and has so far been busy doing site maintenance. To the delight of the weed-weary staff, the bay is now clear of slimy plants, which has greatly reduced the cries of grossed-outedness. He’s also been busy painting the light standard at the mouth of the river – we’ve never seen a better white-washing job!

They’ve been a fantastic addition to the NSA family – we’re lucky to have them here! Big thanks to both of them – definitely our favorite volunteers! (even if they’re the only ones!) We love ‘em!

Sue-Anne

Scraping the light standard

Nic admiring his progress

Finished! Thanks Nic!

It’s been a while since the symposium ended so I guess it’s time for a reflective blog post…. or just some cool pictures. The weekend was full of fun and awesome instruction. Saturday was workshop day – folks learned about stroke improvement, rolling, greenland paddling, gear, bracing…. you name it, we taught it! The day ended with a delicious dinner in Rossport and a fantastic show by The Wild Turkeys. After some well-needed sleep, local tours departed early Sunday morning. We had lovely, sunny weather and calm seas (lakes?). Thanks so much to everyone who came out for an awesome weekend. All of us at NSA had a great time meeting everyone and sharing what we love! Here are a few pictures from the weekend, but also feel free to check our Facebook page, called Naturally Superior Adventures. Cheers!

Sunday Tours getting ready to go

Forward Stroke Instruction

Rafting Up in the Morning

The Wild Turkeys

Our staff have arrived and settled in, and have been preparing for what we hope will be a busy season! They’ve spent a lot of time out on the water warming up their paddling muscles and have also managed to test some new skills and equipment! Their dance skills have wildly improved in the last few weeks…

Mirinda showing off the newest dance craze, kayak ballet

Nate doing the front deck boogie (not to be confused with the back deck boogie – similar but much more advanced)

Carolyn attempting the front deck crab walk!

The staff were also able  to demo some stand-up paddling equipment! They hated every minute of the sunny afternoon they got to take off work and spend paddling in the lake… life sure is difficult up here!

Our staff have become hooked on the paddling craze that is sweeping the nation! We hope they don’t decide to join the pro circuit and leave us in the dust!

It’s been a wonderful few weeks so far! More updates to come soon!

Every day is different here at Rock Island.  Some days we are blessed with a peregrine falcon or lynx siting.  This past weekend was a little something out of the ordinary.  I was looking out over the lake, enjoying my lunch, watching a kayaker decide whether or not to travel up the mouth of the river; when I noticed a very odd site indeed.  This poor whale was sitting high and dry up on the beach near the deck.

Perhaps it was trying to escape the oil spill in the gulf, or heard that we have good fishing up here on Lake Superior.  How it managed to negotiate the 17 or so locks of the Great Lakes St Lawrence Seaway system is a good question (customs might want to have a word).

The story ends on a positive note though since the little guy, despite being beached for an unknown amount of time, is still full of life’s air and will be enjoyed by many a visitor.  That is unless the winds of change or the lake currents don’t take him on another adventure to some far off exotic place… like Minnesota.

Beached whale found on Lake Superior shore

It’s a good idea to clean and store all of your paddling gear for the winter.  Ideally before the snow comes and you start thinking about skiing and snowshoeing and whatever other winter activities you partake in that are decidedly more interesting than putting summer gear away.

Kokatat has some good ideas for storing your dry suit and dry top since they have components that age over time if not stored properly.

Protect your investments

• Prior to storage wash gaskets with a gentle soap to remove contaminants (sunscreen, insect repellents, lotions). Treat latex gaskets every 4-6 weeks, inside and out, with 303 Protectant™. Rub it in and let sit for a few minutes before wiping clean with an absorbent cloth until gasket is dry. When using 303 Protectant™ avoid getting it on other parts of the garment.
• Wash your garment.  When washing, always follow sewn-in care instructions. With dry suits and dry tops Kokatat recommends using warm water, delicate cycle, gentle powdered soap (or Nikwax® Tech Wash™), with no bleach or harsh chemicals, and high water volume, in a front loading machine. Rinse well (which may mean running it through a second time, inside out with no soap OR use a warm shower). Line dry.
• To restore DWR (Durable Water Repellent) or water beading to the outside of a garment, Kokatat recommends Granger’s XT Proofer Spray or Nikwax® TX-Direct Spray-On™. When using the Spray-On product apply when garment is damp. Line dry. Heat is necessary to set the DWR into the fabric (the bottle tells you to use a dryer). Kokatat recommends using an iron, on medium to low heat. Keep the iron moving. DO NOT iron gaskets or zippers.
• Keep the garment clean, rinsed as needed, and hang dry. If the suit will be stored in a clean environment, the zipper should be left open. This will help alleviate pressure on the sealing elements. In dusty or dirty environments, store with the zipper closed. Store either hanging or loosely rolled. Do not store dry suits or tops in the same room with gas appliances or other combustion exhaust. Do not store dry suits or tops in excessively hot and/or humid locations or where latex gaskets are in direct sunlight. High heat and humidity, extreme dryness, exhaust fumes from cars or gas appliances and exposure to UV and ozone can destroy or shorten the life of gaskets.

Read the full article.

See other self repair guides from Kokatat.

Chalk up another effect of climate change: it’s getting windier over Lake Superior.

That is the conclusion of a study by scientists who have looked at the effects of increasing surface water temperatures in the lake and air temperatures over it. The water has warmed faster than the air, creating instability in the air mass that results in stronger winds.

Ankur R. Desai of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, an author of the study in Nature Geoscience, said the effect was due to ice, or lack of it.

“Less ice in the winter means stronger winds in the summer,” Dr. Desai said.

Ice coverage of Lake Superior has declined in recent decades, which means that the lake starts to warm sooner, becoming stratified. The earlier this stratification occurs, Dr. Desai said, the warmer the top layer gets in the summer.

Data from buoys and satellites showed that this warming outpaced that of the air above it. That means the thermal gradient between the two was reduced.

A large thermal gradient makes for stable air, which is why the wind often dies down at night, when the ground cools. In this case, with a smaller gradient, instability increased. This was confirmed by data showing that average wind speeds over the lake have increased by 5 percent per decade since the 1980s.

The researchers also showed that higher winds increase the speed of currents in the lake. That, Dr. Desai said, should increase the amount of mixing of the lake’s layers, affecting nutrient distribution of nutrients and, ultimately, the organisms in the water.

© 2009 by the New York Times Company, Tue Nov 17 2009