Hey there.  Having spent many of my (relatively) short years on this earth paddling, and having worked as lifeguard for many years, I've got one take on this question- SAFETY!  Rule number 1- ALWAYS wear your PFD- most drownings are within swimming distance of shore, and 99% preventable.  Sitting on a PFD does not make it a PFD, just a really expensive cushion!

I've played around a lot with empty canoes in the middle of lakes, flipping, etc., and let me tell you that trying to pull an empty canoe full of water to shore is pretty darn hard, let alone a fully loaded trip canoe:)

Safest bet would be to swim for shore, and track down your canoe and gear later when the weather calms.  Trying a canoe rescue in heavy chop is a recipe for disaster- you'll probably just flip the other canoe

Safe paddling!

kypaddler,

A few years back, maybe before your "time" we had a lengthy and spirited discussions about wearing PFD'S and other safety issues related to taking a swim.
I've only been over once, 2nd year solo, and I made a mistake and payed for it. It was May, and the water was damn cold.
I was close to shore, and my ONLY concern was getting to shore and getting warm. I keep everything lashed in canoe, except the paddle I'm using, so when I went over, I let the wind/waves push me to shore, I knew the canoe would he following.
I have a Cabelas comfort mesh vest, no excuses for not wearing on hot days. It has two big zippered pockets with my "self rescue" gear.
I have zippo lighters in waterproof container, plus a magnesium firestarter bar. Also some tinder. I also have a small 4oz space blanket, and IMHO, a potential lifesaver, a half dozen chemical heat packs, the kind oxygen activates.
 Dependiong on YOUR physical shape and water temp and exposure time, you MAY or MAY NOT, have the dexterity to start a fire with the tools you have?
 When I hit shore, the first thing I did was use my teeth, and tore open 2 heat packets, and placed in each armpit. Then 2 more OVER my t-shirt, tucked in my underwear OVER my kidneys. I wear ALL fleece/synthetic on trips, regardless of season, so I just removed fleece pullover, "spun" dry overhead, and put back on. The heat pads soon had my CORE temp up to normal, and my canoe had washed into shore by then.
I never even changed clothes. I bailed out canoe, got some granola in me, and made a hot cup of coffee, while waiting for wind to die down.
I would consider staying with a overturned canoe , IF it was close enough to shore, I thought I could hang on and "guide" it in with the wind and waves.
In group situation, I would hang on to canoe, let your buddies paddle you in (less chance of dumping them), and let them retrieve the canoe/gear, IF they could without to much risk to themselves.
Packs/paddles/canoes float, anything that wasn't tied in and can sink, already has If you a seasoned tripper and know to line your packs with plastic liner, they'll float high and dry for a long time.
NO piece of gear is worth dying for, take care of the paddlers first, and regroup when you can.
 I agree sitting on your PFD, is like sitting on a seatbelt. It's a lot easier to pull a person with PFD into a canoe, than a person that is potential in a panicked state and not thinking of YOUR safety. It's also easier to hang on and let the canoe take you in, being buoyant in a PFD saves you energy, you need to keep your core temp up.
Whatever you decide to do, have a PLAN, that ALL know about and go along with. IMHO it's better even in a group, if EACH canoe has the right safety gear, or even better you have some heat packs in EVERYBODY'S PFD.


 

I'll take a different tack - While its hard to say that the dangers of hypothermia are over exagerrated - I'll say that it is, to some extent overexagerated (is that a word?)  If you have some common sense, you probably aren't going to die instantly just cause you flipped over in cold water.

My cousin and I once flipped a canoe over in April, on a NY river that was essentially snowmelt - still had small chunks of ice floating down.
It was so cold, the "gasp reflex" was working pretty strongly and it was hard to catch my breath.  That's when the "common sense reflex" kicked in.  The river was maybe a quarter mile wide with strong pushy current - no way we were going to last long if we tried to stay with the canoe, so I told my cousin to abandon the boat and swim for shore, which we did - we made it to shore after  15? minutes or so? - floated at least a mile down the river - except that we didn't float, but rather we swam as strongly as we could for the bank, doing so with numb hands and feet and legs, but keeping the blood circulating.  When we got on shore, my cousin was pooped out, but I made him run with me downstream to try and catch up with the canoe - so we kept moving, running on lead feet with no feeling for a mile.  Air temp was probably in th fifties with a light breeze? I doubt it was sixty, and could have been in the forties - don't remember exactly.

My Dad and sister were in another canoe following us, saw us go over and with that warning, knelt and made it thru the rough spot.  They followed up our canoe and caught it washed up on a gravel bar, empited it and towed it across to us.  All the time we waited, we kept doing jumping jacks or whatever to keep the blood moving.

It was a spur of the moment trip, and we weren't very well prepared - no spare clothes.  I was going to start a fire, but the matches I had in my pocket in a zip-lock had goten wet - I was the only one with any matches.  We dried off a little, swappped around some dry shirts among us, and proceed to paddle as fast as we could downriver a few miles to the car.

So my cousin wound up catching a cold due to our swim - I was fine, not even a cold.  We didn't die - we didn't get hypothermic even - shivers yes, incoherant no (well no more than on a normal day for me).

So my point is, you have to keep your head and use it, if you give up, well, you probably will die - if you keep moving, you may not even get a cold.

I actually stupidly  fell out of my canoe on one solo trip in Quetico - end of May, not far off the Nym dock.  2 busloads of kids came down to the dock, dumping packs and gear everywhere, burying my stuff.  My only option was to get off the dock asap - so I threw my stuff in my boat and took off.  Trying to paddle and reorganize at the same time, I twisted the bent-shaft paddle around and doing a stern draw or something (wasn't paying any attention to my padling), totally unexpectedly I just pulled myself out of the canoe somehow - boat took on a little water, but stayed upright - so I just grabbed the painter and swam for shore, maybe a hundred yards or so.  It was a sunny day, but early in the morning in May so it was probably about 50?

I just dried off a little, squeezed some water out of my clothes, put on a fleece jacket, dumped the water from the baot and continued on.

You asked about September - my opinion, Sept or Oct, the water is still warm - and likely it will be warmer than the air - I wouldn't be too worried about stayiing in the water a while in Sept, and swimming a boat to shore.  You would have to be moving fast when you did get out though, as the cooler air temp and wind would get you then.  Just change into your dry clothes, and never stop moving till you warm up.

With two canoes, I'd go ahead and try a canoe over canoe if the gear wasn't in the way - most boats I see out there though , they have packs sticking way up above the gunnels, likely enough to get in the way of a canoe over canoe - in htat case, probably best to tow the swimmers and boat to the nearest shore.

I've gone over WW canoeing several times here in Colorado - some of them were in April - the water is cold - a couple times, I didn't have a dry suit on, and it was icy, but I got to shore and chnaged clothes if needed - mostly, I just catch my breath, maybe change into some dry gloves and fleece jacket, and jump back in the boat - keep paddling to stay warm - even wiht numb hands and feet, you can generate enough  body heat to keep your core warm.

Now, I'm not saying you should ignore the dangers of hypthermia - I'm just saying that if you keep moving and use your head, your not all that likely to get hypothermic, even in cold water. 

Seems to me I've been colder on windy rainy days - even with good rain gear, seems like I eventually will get wet, what with water dripping down the sleeves.  My response is pretty much the same - keep moving to keep warm(er) - I always wet-foot, so even in May, my feet are going to be wet - sometimes, wet and numb - I just deal with it.  AND, I do almost always wear my PFD - I wouldn't have survied most of my swims without one!

"But it raised the question: What if we had been, say, two-thirds across one of the big lakes with head-on waves? In September water?"


one thing more - you need to be thinking about what you are doing - in trying conditions, you need to be alert for shifts in wind and waves and in wind intensity, and it always helps to kneel to lower your center of gravity.  You should have a "plan" in case you do go over during a rough open water crossing - know which shore is closest, and most likely, swim/tow your boat downwind - that way you aren't fighting the wind and waves, but are getting pushed toward the lee shore.  If conditions are that bad, I will try to stay close to one shore or another, but that's not always the smart thing to do.  The worst the conditions, the more important it is to maintain boat control - keep the bow pointed into the wind and waves - even if you want to get to a shore downwind, it may be best to travel backwards, keeping the bow into the wind and letting the wind blow you to the lee shore.  I don't think there is a canoe out there that can't handle big wind and waves if you know what you are doing, stay alert, react fast, and keep your cool.  If the wind is really bad, it can be hard to control a boat by yourself - you need to be communicating, especially if you need your bow paddlers help by doing a bow draw or sweep when you call for it.

Note that I keep saying "tow" - my opinion, you should always have  a painter line tied to your boat - with a line, you  or someone esle can much more easily rescue another boat, and you can always tie your boat when you are on shore - you just have to coil and tie it for portages.  I've helped tow quite a few boats on ww river trips - sometimes its other peoples boats, sometimes its self-rescuing my own boat (like that time on Nym Lake) - doing anything practical without a painter line is a whole lot harder.  With the line, you can swim a few feet, then pull your boat towards you, then swim some more - that is a lot easier than trying to hold on to your boat with one hand and swim with the other.   I wouldn't abandon my boat unless I though I'd die if I didn't - but if I ever had to on a lake, I'd be swimming downwind, cause that's where my boat would wind up, with my dry clothes and gear that I'd need to survive.

"He did well, but in high winds and rain on Agnes our nose got turned around in one of the bottlenecks and, yep, we went over."

This quote is why I am talking about boat control - my opinion, a bow paddler should know how to do a draw and sweep - could be a quick stroke on your part might have avoided that tip.  There are two people in a tandem,  it should operate as one team, paddling in synch and communicating - you swim less that way.

The rule of thumb I usei is if the canoe tipped would I be able to get to shore alive.  If the down wind shore is a 1/2 mile away and the water is cold as in May, you are dead.  As others have said, don't plan on getting back into your canoe or swimming with your canoe.  Get you and your partner to shore.

If the water temperature is in the 40's you really only have minutes to get to shore.

Westwood