We recently posted a request to a local paddle club listerv seeking five “guinea pig” students for a coaching update we’re helping run. Within two days, we had more than a dozen volunteers who were eager for one hour of free rolling instruction. We accepted the first five, and told all of them about an upcoming three-week bracing and rolling class at the same location. So far, none of them has signed up. We were struck by the fact that all of the respondents mentioned their frustration at having an unreliable roll and acknowledged their need for instruction, but none was interested in signing up for an inexpensive, three-session course. What is it about “free” that induces people to spend time and gas, while even a modest fee discourages them? And more importantly, why do so many people think that paddling instruction should be free? We can hardly begin to calculate what we’ve spent over the years on training and certifications, let alone the cost of the gear and travel that enabled us to develop as coaches and paddlers. We’ve put a lot of time and money into kayaking, and we plan to spend more, because we value the sport and what it has given us. All the coaches we respect most, including our mentors, are also committed to ongoing training. Obviously, we aren’t in this for the money. Coaching is tremendously rewarding in other ways. We get to introduce people to a sport we love, figure out how to motivate and coach them, and watch them progress. We get to dream up new games and activities, explore new ideas and techniques, and share what we learn with others. Like any passion, coaching becomes a microcosm and metaphor for everything else in our lives. So it’s baffling when others don’t see its value. To be fair, we don’t have any trouble filling our courses, and the people who do enroll demonstrate their appreciation for paid instruction. But what about all the people who publicly state their desire to improve but won’t pay for lessons? Why do they think instruction should be...

We’ve been taking a break from blogging, but not from paddling. Back soon!

Most of our attention has been focused on Hurricane Sandy‘s effects on the northeastern states. But the superstorm was so enormous, it affected Chicago as well. Tight isobars indicate the intensity of the low pressure system. We were spared the drama and destruction of Hurricane Sandy. But we got some of the wind. Not our usual marine forecast and flood warning. Waves to 23 feet on Lake Michigan, with occasional waves up to 31 feet; this called for cameras, not kayaks. Of course, the waves weren’t that big near shore, but they were big enough. Waves exploding over the break wall at North Avenue. Gale-force winds blowing the tops off breaking waves near Oak Street Beach. Water streaming back down after flooding the bike path. As evening approached on Tuesday, the waves continued to build. The lakefront path was closed, but Chicagoans gathered at a safe distance to watch the mayhem. The path was a dramatic but perilous place. Wave watchers put the plumes in...

Our Fall whitewater kayak class at the West Cook YMCA has begun. Thirteen students in an amply chlorinated pool means one of two things: suggest they buy nose plugs, or make them. President John F. Kennedy admires a new set of nose plugs, drying on a homemade rack between dips. Today we invested in $8 worth of wire and $13 worth of Plasti Dip–enough material to make hundreds of nose plugs–and began clipping, bending and dipping. Clipping… bending…  …and dipping. Soon these nose plugs will adorn the faces of our students, allowing them to learn to paddle, brace and roll without getting a chlorinated nasal irrigation. Wire cut, bent, and waiting to be dipped. After a second and third dip, the nose plus will dry and be ready to...

What’s going on in these photos? (Leon Somme, Alec Bloyd-Peshkin and Keith Wikle) Check out our guest post on Go Kayak...

We have to admit we weren’t convinced that the location for this year’s Gales would work. Sure, Naturally Superior Adventures is in a lovely place, uniquely suited for optimizing our changes of having the ideal mix of wind, waves and current for an intermediate, rough-water symposium. But dang, what a drive! Would people attend? Leon Somme of Body Boat Blade, Intl., under a glowering sky. Those who did were amply rewarded for the hours they spent driving to Wawa, Ontario. We had four days of wind and waves; the tide race at the mouth of the Michipicoten River was sometimes exciting, sometimes intimidating. Waves rolled onto Sandy Beach and rebounded off the rocks along the shoreline. Swift current poured out of the river mouth, and strong eddies formed on its sides. There wasn’t a rough-water skill we couldn’t work on. Waves roll in next to Naturally Superior Adventures. And work on them we did. On Friday, a surf session devolved into a body surfing session in response to 35-knot headwinds. On Saturday, small groups of coaches and participants set out on journeys along the coastline, punctuated by rock gardening and slot shooting, as well as some unplanned but well-executed rough water rescues. Leon, Alec and Keith execute a surf-kayak rescue in the tide race. A group explores rafted sailing with the aid of a storm shelter. Participants head out for a long boats in currents course. A calm launch beach inside the mouth of the river. On Sunday, the winds were calmer in the morning, and courses on incident management and rescues as well as long boats in current took to the water. But when the wind returned in the afternoon, most participants chose surfing courses, and again Sandy Beach was the site for surfing and a few “yard sales.”* From time to time, a snow squall blew through adding an additional element of excitement. Paddling along the rocky shoreline.  Tucking into caves and crevasses. Throughout the symposium, coaches and participants shared meals in the cozy Rock Island Lodge. The kitchen staff served up tasty, hot food to cold paddlers at breakfast, lunch and dinner. These meals also provided opportunities to socialize and share stories of the day’s courses and experiences. Evening meals were followed by presentations from featured coaches as well as local authors Connor Mihell and Darrell Makin, who’ve written books about the history and conservation of Lake Superior. Lunch time at the Rock Rover Lodge. Conor Mihell reads from his book, The Greatest Lake: Stories from Lake Superior’s North Shore. Bryanna, kayak guide and member of the hard-working kitchen staff. After dinner and presentations, participants set off for their tents or local motels for a well-earned night’s sleep. The combination...

The Gales Storm Gathering is less than one week away. The roster of coaching talent is impressive: Shawna Franklin and Leon Somme are returning, and are joined this year by Nick Cunliffe, Chris Lockyer, and a host of top Great Lakes coaches. Keith Wikle, one of the organizers of The Gales, surfing last weekend. This year’s featured guests are wind and waves. To maximize the chances of their attending, The Gales is scheduled in October and located this year at Naturally Superior Adventures at the mouth of the Michipicoten River in Wawa, Ontario. Alec prepares to carve on a wave. The Gales is a rare intermediate symposium, designed to give students instruction and experience in “conditions.” This means surfing, rock gardening, rough-water rescues, leadership and incident management, as well as paddling long boats in current and working on navigation by day and by night. Scott Fairty tries to break out through Great Lakes surf in a whitewater boat. It’s not too late to register for this year’s Gales. And if you happen to see wind and waves, tell them they’re expected! Heading out in search of another ride back to...

Watching the data from the new buoy off Michigan City, we noticed that the wind gusts were consistently higher than the wind speeds in the page posting current conditions, although they were correct in the 24-hour and 5-day data. Also, some of the average wave periods were registering 16 seconds, which isn’t likely on the Great Lakes. So we placed a call to Cary Troy, Assistant Professor in the Hydraulics and Hydrology Group at the Purdue University School of Engineering, which co-owns and operates the new buoy with the Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant. “I think we must have switched the two numbers,” Troy replied of the wind speed figures, thanking us for noticing the error. He and his colleagues promptly corrected the error. As for the wave period, he explained that the sensor on the buoy turned out to be noisier than he and his colleagues expected. They’ll be adding a filter to eliminate the extraneous values after they remove the buoy from the lake for the season. Until then, he suggested looking at the 24-hour data and ignoring the spikes. So will we ever get a buoy closer to Chicago, we asked? Troy said conversations are underway with the Shedd Aquarium about possibly installing a buoy in the waters near Chicago’s Museum Campus. He also noted the existence of some buoys closer to Chicago, though they do not provide the wave data sought by kayakers. Cary Troy, 765-494-3844, troy@purdue.edu Didn’t expect the sensor to be so noisy, Relys on how buoy responds . Has acesserolometer. that tells what thinks the period and wave height are. Holland and st jo have same design. Will get filter in the next year. “I think we must have switched the two numbers. ” Noise on the data. Look at the boomon of the pink line. will add ilter that will get rid of the bad valus. Wave register. Continuously over a 8-minute period and looks at what wave monibating the energy, T”here’s a ton of other waves rolling around in there.” Tested this last monght. Will remove for the season in another month or so.Closer to Chicago?Talking to Shedd about lytting one near there.‘There are a couple newer ones assic with the MWRD he will send link.And a new webcam at Mi City too. Richard L. Whitman E-mail: rwhitman@usgs.gov Phone: (219) 926-8336, ext. 424 Ecologist, USGS  Great Lakes Science...

The lonely life of buoy 45007. (Photo from noaa.gov) For many years, buoy 45007 has been an only child in Lake Michigan. Located 45 nautical miles east-southeast of Milwaukee, it provides vital data about wind speed, wave height, and air and water temperature. But it’s up there and we’re down here. The Harrison-Dever crib provides local wind and air temperature readings. (Photo from openwaterchicago.com) We get real-time data from the Harrison-Dever crib, which provides wind speed and air temperature. But its sensors are airborne, so it doesn’t provide water temperature or wave height. For wave height, we rely on computer models, extrapolation and observation. (See our list of wave and weather sites to the right.) TIDAS 900, the new kid on the block, er, lake. (Photo from iseagrant.org) But now we have a new real-time data source: the Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant Michigan City Buoy. The Tidas 900 buoy is owned and operated by the Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant and the Purdue University Department of Civil Engineering. It’s the first buoy in Indiana and provides a data point further south in the lake and far closer to Chicago. We’ll be watching it tonight, when the marine forecast calls for gusts to 30 knots and waves of 8 to 12 feet. Its data won’t tell us exactly what’s happening on our side of the lake, but it will give us one more solid data point and, no doubt, inspire us to zip over and paddle with Keith Wikle when the conditions there exceed our...

Autumn isn’t the end of the paddling season, but it is the end of most of our out-of-state paddling. We’re back at school and back to work, squeezing paddling into our evenings and weekends, acutely aware of the later sunrises, earlier sunsets and ever-cooling water and air temperatures. Board shorts give way to surf skins; surf skins yield to drysuits. Before long, we’ll wear gloves or pogies and neoprene hoods, and the long Chicago winter will begin. The key to contentment during this season of transformation is feeling good about what we did during the summer. Did we get out in a variety of conditions, from calm to rough? Sharon paddles in a calm bay along the Pukaskwa coast. Alec disappears behind a wave on Lake Michigan.  Did we paddle in a variety of places, from the Great Lakes to the ocean? Heading out in search of tidal races in the San Juan Islands. Did we practice our rescues so they’re snappy when we need them? Bonnie and Alec practice a scoop rescue. Did we repair our gear? The NDK Pilgrim awaits its new skeg cable. Did we paddle multiple craft? Leon gets into the long, skinny Valley Rapier 20. Seth in the Rapier 18 and Sharon in a Canoe. Did we paddle multiple craft in current? Sharon, Ryan and Greg on the Menominee River. Alec and Scott use a sit-on-top to move materials for engineering the Yorkville whitewater course. Did we paddle at night? Bright lights, big city, quiet harbor. Did we spend the night under the stars after paddling? Sunset from Sucia in the San Juan Islands. Did we spend time paddling with friends? Our good friend Keith Wikle. Above all, did we teach as well as learn, and develop as paddlers as well as coaches? It’s rare to answer all of these in the affirmative, but this year we came close. Our last trip of the season will be to coach at The Gales, an intermediate, rough-water sea kayak symposium on Lake Superior. If your season is coming to a close and you’re looking for one last paddling fling — a chance to work on your skills in dynamic conditions with some of the top coaches in the US, Canada and the UK — come join us at The Gales. The location is spectacular: Naturally Superior Adventures just south of Wawa, Ontario. The coaches will include Shawna Franklin and Leon Somme of Body Boat Blade, International; Nick Cunliffe of Kayak Essentials; Chris Lockyer of Committed to the Core; as well as a host of top Great Lakes coaches from both sides of the border. If you’re looking for a no-regrets paddling season, sign up for The Gales. Take...