This weekend we took a family vacation along the North Shore of lake superior. Three generations of the family, two cars, two kayaks and a whole lot of hiking boots.
We visited many of the magnificent waterfalls in the State Parks along the lake-shore. They were running well due to the recent heavy rains.
We got afloat twice. Our first paddle was a repeat of the paddle I had taken earlier this year. We launched from the pebble beach at Split Rock, and paddled first North East along the coast under the light house, and then back South West, before turning around and returning to the launch beach.
The wind conditions were building while we paddled, the gusts exceeding 20 mph. Fairly large waves were building, but the direction prevented the clapotis of the light house from being too dramatic. We surfed southwards, and enjoyed climbing up and plunging down the waves when ever we went northwards.
Our second paddle was at Grand Marais on Sunday. Both days there was a Small Craft Warning in effect. They really meant it on Sunday. The waves on Artist Point were throwing spray many feet into the air. The Surf was dumping viciously on the northern beach and there was a large number of floating logs along the beach making the idea of surfing into the beach treacherous.
We spent our time afloat surfing in the waves pouring along the breakwater and into the harbor. We exhausted ourselves playing on them for an hour. I rolled a few times, once involuntarily. This trip I mounted the GoPro on my helmet and the video below shows some of the footage I captured from both days. I used the new Cedar Paddle from Joe O. I found it worked wonderfully. Despite having the lowest surface area of any of my GPs I was still able to get the kayak moving very fast at times. In the video you will see a section where my father and I decide to go-for-it into the waves near Split Rock. The paddling cadence was very high, but the outcome was very fast.
