Great Lakes + My Kayak = Not a Good Idea

My brother and his friend are planning a kayaking trip in the Apostle Islands next month, so last week they finally decided to try out their kayaks in Lake Michigan.  Up to this point, all the paddling we’ve done is inland waters – medium size lakes that only get choppy in a brisk wind, lazy rivers and the Milwaukee River, which is the fastest river in Southeastern Wisconsin at a 6″ per 100′ drop, I believe.  Our friend has done kayaking in the Smokies when he worked at NOC, but that still isn’t very good prep for 20 miles in a Great Lake.  Last Monday, they decided to take the boats out in Port Washington and invited me to come along.  We should clarify at this point that my boat is a recreational kayak – not a touring kayak.  I do not have a rudder; I do not have a spray skirt (yet); nor do I have a skeg or any other equipment that will stop the wind from turning me sideways against a wave (this is a bad thing).  My boat is 11′ – theirs are 17′.  My boat is 27″ wide – theirs are 21″.  These boats are very clearly designed for differenct functions, but my confidence as a paddler thought my skill could overcome the design (I’m sure there’s a sermon illustration there).

My understanding was that we were just going to play in the harbor, and not go past the lighthouse.  Since there’s a breakwall, I felt pretty confident about my ability to keep up with them.  The harbor in Port Washington has 3 breakwalls – the main one on the outside with the lighthouse, a second one as you make the turn into the marina, and a third wall as you make the turn to the boat launch.  We put in, and made it out past the first wall with no problems, other than being a little intimidated in my 50 pound boat as huge yachts were passing 20 feet away from me.  As we moved towards the second wall, I could see some swells in the water that our friend was playing on.  I moved out towards him, and realized that I was having a tough time turning my boat to go into the waves.  When the wind pushes your boat parallel to the waves, it’s called weathercocking, and it makes it very probably that you’re going to dump your boat.  I managed to turn into the waves and coast on a few of them.  These waves were very different from inland water waves.  I’ve been in inland lakes with 15″ waves and had a blast paddling through them, until a few of them got in the cockpit and things got a little hairy for a while.  The waves in Lake Michigan weren’t as high – at that point, they were probably 10″ max, but they were longer – you stayed on top of them several seconds longer.  I’ve never been seasick, but I was getting a little nauseous from it.  After I got my bearings inside the second wall, my brother urged me to go to past the 2nd wall to the lighthouse.  I made it to the end of the 2nd wall and realized that the main breakwall, really wasn’t working as well as I thought it would at stopping the waves.  The wind picked up a bit, and I was tracking all over the place and my hips were doing a little salsa dance in the seat to keep my boat sunny side up.  That was the end of the adventure for me.  I turned around and went back to the car.  Actually, I didn’t turn the boat around, so much as I just controlled the spin the wind put me in as much as possible. 

While the guys were still out there, I walked out to the lighthouse and got some pictures and some video of them, but I should warn you that the video may make you a little seasick.