August 6, 2013
In the morning we launch ourselves in the river and paddle out through the mouth in the surf while Carl waves goodbye. There’s heavy skies and thick fog. The fog teases us to paddle closer to shore to maintain our heading, but the breaking waves near shore send us out farther into the lake. Finally the fog clears. The wind is coming out of the east, an unusual direction, so some of the points and capes Bruce is worried about aren’t as bad as he’d feared. We make it to Indian Beach and our pickup. The Indian Village is getting ready for a Powwow and some of the gals are dressed up in their dance dresses. Kids are swimming in the lake and it’s raining again.

Nifty tale Jim........

I am drawn to the big lake. Did the fellow in the Sea Wind have a spray skirt? I think they do make them......Scott Smith who makes the Expedition mentioned something about getting some made.

Yup, not going to roll a Sea Wind right side up (at least a mere mortal isn't). I sort of am inclined to like the idea of a Yak paddle in rough weather, easier to reach out with corrective strokes and bracing seems like it would be better with something a bit longer. On the other hand Verlen Kruger who has paddled incredible distances in some gnarly water always used a single blade with his Sea Wind. I have some pics in the book "All things are possible" which shows Verlen launching his boat in some amazing surf.

One day I would like to circumnavigate Isle Royale and while I would do it solo some company may be best. Put it in your back pocket and once in a while pull it out and chew on it some. My understanding is the north shore is rather nasty.

I've backpacked Isle Royale 3 x but never canoed it.
One trip we were camped at Windigo waiting for water shuttle back to Rock Harbor.
It was around 4th of July if memory serves.

A solo kayaker came up the narrow of Washington Harbor and took the camp next to us.

He had come around the North side solo from Rock Harbor thinking it was better to paddle into prevailing W-E winds.

He said he had rolled 2 x along shore and 1 x trying to get into Harbor.
He was a very experienced paddler and dressed in a full neoprene wet suit.

Said that if he wasn't good at doing Eskimo Roll, he would of drowned the first rollover.

Only escape on nasty part of North shore would be to try to beach wherever you could on the rocky shoreline. Probably a last ditch effort and not advisable.

Fog was a big issue along with wind/choppy seas.
He said he was using kayak compass on deck to stay oriented

I had to ask if he would do it again, and he said never solo but maybe with other experienced paddlers.
He was shook up enough he hitched a ride on water taxi to Rock Harbor.

That was in 80's and we have Google Maps now, so maybe a really detailed look at shoreline would reveal some spots you might be able to put-in at if things got dicey. Maybe lock into GPS.

He could self rescue, don't know what you'd do in open canoe if a rogue wave hit you and boat filled up?
Maybe you could modify some kayak float bags to fit and minimize the flood area.
That and a spray skirt, maybe some kind of manual bilge pump you could modify to pump with you foot could aid in a bad situation.

Whatever precautions/modifications I made, would get a test run in some warm water to see how it went.
Superior will kill you if you don't give it the utmost respect.

I see they offer a spray skirt for the Sea Wind at the builders web site. $475 seems excessive but maybe you could find a regular kayak cover to fit?
A little modification you could add a hole to snake out a bilge hose.

Not sure about hooking to 12 volt battery? What happens if you fill to the point battery is under water?
I know they make small portable bilge pumps for little fishing boats that run off D-cell batteries that are in a waterproof case. As soon as float raises, pump turns on then shuts off when float drops. A automatic system on the cheap.

If you took up all extra space after gear, say by adding floatation bags fore/aft and had a power bilge pump, you could at least have a margin of safety if the weather changed faster than you could get out of, or a rogue wave washed over your boat.

Boat can't fill with water if there's limited space for it. Worse case you get wet but stay floating until bilge pump kicks in.

Lot's of room to experiment and maybe find that level of comfort needed if you attempt a solo trip.