That was fascinating, but the bit about the Danish fishermen was so amazing that I did a little research and found it's not true. I read a variety of sources including this one. Too bad, it made...
That was fascinating, but the bit about the Danish fishermen was so amazing that I did a little research and found it's not true. I read a variety of sources including this one. Too bad, it made for a great story.
Hypothermia isn't just a winter problem - people have managed to kill themselves with wet clothes on cool nights, or summertime activities on cold bodies of water. I nearly did myself in with a...
Hypothermia isn't just a winter problem - people have managed to kill themselves with wet clothes on cool nights, or summertime activities on cold bodies of water.
I nearly did myself in with a few hours of partial immersion in a leaky rented canoe on Lake Superior in August - 30°C air, 5°C water, like a reverse sous vide. [Not really the trip I'd planned, but things go wrong easily and often. I got sucked out from the warm shallows at Isle Royale by a powerboat wake and spent the next six hours fighting lake chop and headwind, in a half-submerged canoe, to get back. Like getting lost in the woods in a snowstorm, you've gone badly astray when you can't stop paddling to bail.]
Thankfully, no resuscitation needed, but I was barely conscious by the time I got back to shore, couldn't move my legs, and needed treatment for rhabdo from panicked paddling and 14 hours of shivering while warming up again.
I'm glad you are okay. I had a similar but much less dangerous experience, was kayaking on a big river when a storm rolled in. I saw the clouds but didn't expect them to travel so quickly. The...
I'm glad you are okay. I had a similar but much less dangerous experience, was kayaking on a big river when a storm rolled in. I saw the clouds but didn't expect them to travel so quickly. The wind started picking up and the waves got big, and then it started raining. Good thing the shore was downriver, I was basically blown back. Can't imagine being stuck on a big lake, must be terrifying.
Glad you made it through OK, as well! And open bodies of water are just generally dangerous in human-powered craft - it's easy to underestimate how much stronger the wind and current are than...
Glad you made it through OK, as well! And open bodies of water are just generally dangerous in human-powered craft - it's easy to underestimate how much stronger the wind and current are than anything you can manage.
The last serious kayak trip I took was a fully guided camping tour in the 10,000 Islands area off Naples, FL, a few years ago.
The weather was supposed to be perfect, the route was all through sheltered channels between islands. And of course, we got caught by an isolated 45-knot squall during a channel crossing, and were nearly blown out into the Gulf of Mexico. I made it to the alternative, which was getting banged into mangrove roots for an hour, on the windward side of an island. By the time we reassembled and made it to the campground, much of our gear was soaked even in the dry bags, the temperature had dropped, and we had a miserable night. Even the guide admitted he'd been scared witless, on a trip he'd guided a few hundred times. If it wasn't the tropics, we'd have been in serious trouble...
That was fascinating, but the bit about the Danish fishermen was so amazing that I did a little research and found it's not true. I read a variety of sources including this one. Too bad, it made for a great story.
Hypothermia isn't just a winter problem - people have managed to kill themselves with wet clothes on cool nights, or summertime activities on cold bodies of water.
I nearly did myself in with a few hours of partial immersion in a leaky rented canoe on Lake Superior in August - 30°C air, 5°C water, like a reverse sous vide. [Not really the trip I'd planned, but things go wrong easily and often. I got sucked out from the warm shallows at Isle Royale by a powerboat wake and spent the next six hours fighting lake chop and headwind, in a half-submerged canoe, to get back. Like getting lost in the woods in a snowstorm, you've gone badly astray when you can't stop paddling to bail.]
Thankfully, no resuscitation needed, but I was barely conscious by the time I got back to shore, couldn't move my legs, and needed treatment for rhabdo from panicked paddling and 14 hours of shivering while warming up again.
I'm glad you are okay. I had a similar but much less dangerous experience, was kayaking on a big river when a storm rolled in. I saw the clouds but didn't expect them to travel so quickly. The wind started picking up and the waves got big, and then it started raining. Good thing the shore was downriver, I was basically blown back. Can't imagine being stuck on a big lake, must be terrifying.
Glad you made it through OK, as well! And open bodies of water are just generally dangerous in human-powered craft - it's easy to underestimate how much stronger the wind and current are than anything you can manage.
The last serious kayak trip I took was a fully guided camping tour in the 10,000 Islands area off Naples, FL, a few years ago.
The weather was supposed to be perfect, the route was all through sheltered channels between islands. And of course, we got caught by an isolated 45-knot squall during a channel crossing, and were nearly blown out into the Gulf of Mexico. I made it to the alternative, which was getting banged into mangrove roots for an hour, on the windward side of an island. By the time we reassembled and made it to the campground, much of our gear was soaked even in the dry bags, the temperature had dropped, and we had a miserable night. Even the guide admitted he'd been scared witless, on a trip he'd guided a few hundred times. If it wasn't the tropics, we'd have been in serious trouble...