The Inland Sea Symposium was special for me. Yes, I'm going to 4 symposia this summer, but the ISS is the one I heard about first, before I even knew what a kayak symposium was or that there was more than one symposium out there. I'd been checking their website all winter, waiting for the information about this year's event to appear. I may not have been the first person to register, but I was pretty darn early.
Friday morning was tour day. I had opted for the Stockton Island paddling trip. Bob was doing the Stockton hiking trip. Tony was off to York and Raspberry, while Chuck (whom I had met at the Windy City symposium) was off to Sand. I was envious of another trip with Nigel and Joe Ko, that was a dash out to Devils. However, I didn't see how I could justify calling myself an Advanced paddler, which was the requirement for the trip.
We Stockton Islanders loaded our kayaks on top of the boat that would take us to Stockton, then headed out. Looking behind us, we could see that the fog had rolled in across the Sand, York/Raspberry, and Devils tours by mid morning and was heading our way. Our tour was an island circumnavigation, so the fog was not an issue for us, but the other trips had one or more island crossings, so it appeared that they would have an opportunity to work on their ded reckoning and/or GPS skills.
Upon arriving on Stockton Island, the group of 6 advanced paddlers took off right away, as did the 5 people who had opted for the hiking trip. That left the 35 odd intermediate paddlers to get ready to head out. Of course, the bigger the group, the longer everything takes. We split into pods, and I was fortunate enough to join the fast pod. We promptly moved out to the front of the main group once we were underway and were able to experience a small group paddle vs. a massive group paddle.
We headed off around the island counter clockwise, rounding Presque Isle Point, then crossing Julian Bay. We looked for the wreck of the Noque Bay, which was supposed to be marked by a buoy. We saw neither the wreck nor the buoy. A project for a calmer day. http://www.wisconsinshipwrecks.org/explore_noquebay_intro.cfm
We stopped for lunch in a cozy bay with a big sea stack and pretty much filled the beach with our kayaks. After lunch, we continued on, passing more sea caves and sea stacks. Our pod was granted special dispensation to head out ahead of the group. By the time we needed to turn around, the fog had arrived. We kept the island in sight off our starboard bow as we returned. There were some interesting waves coming from the port side as we rounded some of the points, but it was generally an easy paddle and definitely a fun trip.
In the evening, I met Chan and his wife. Chan has been working with my brother Michael on the CODC building (another story altogether), and lives in Washburn. We walked from their house to dinner and the keynote speech that Nigel Dennis gave about his circumnavigation of South Georgia Island. Interesting trip to hear about, but I must admit that I've taken South Georgia off my fantasy wishlist of places to paddle. Something about having to fend off large agressive male seals in mating season with your kayak paddles, to say nothing about the frigid temperatures and high winds made me think there might be better places to dream about. At a weather class the next day the instructor provided guidelines for skills levels needed for paddling in various wind speeds, and the winds they encountered in South Georgia were in the "Crazy Brits" category.
The next morning I had signed up for a rolling class. For some reason, an 8:00 AM rolling class in Lake Superior didn't draw a lot of students. In fact, I ended up being the only one there. I worked with Pete for about an hour, and dramatically improved my roll. I can now find my setup position even if I don't start the roll already set up, and can try a second time if I miss it the first time. I learned to let myself settle before trying to roll up, and I also learned a nice trick of finishing the roll with a little sculling brace if needed. Still lots of work to do, but it's getting better.
Sunday morning was the making of the 350. 350 parts per million is the safe upper limit for carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Unfortunately, we have already passed that limit. The goal of the "350.org" organization is to inspire the world to take action about global warming, and one of the ways they do this is encouraging ways to publicize the 350 target. So the symposium took on making a giant 350 on the water with kayaks. The organizing folks set some anchors and laid out (recycled) nylon webbing, and marshaled and cajoled 153 kayaks into position. Then an airplane flew overhead and took some pictures. Turned out pretty well: http://www.inlandsea.org/
All in all, a great weekend.
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