CASKA: Chicago Area Sea Kayakers Association

Midwest Premiere of "This Is The Sea 4"! - Geneva Kayak Center

Justine Curvengen and the Geneva Kayak Center are hosting the premiere on Friday, November 14th at 7pm. The premiere will be held at the Arcada Theatre in St. Charles, IL. Admission is 10.00 per person. 5.00 can be applied to the purchase of the 2 Disc DVD at the event, and 5.00 will go to a charity that uses sea kayaking and other adventure pursuits with at risk youth - Chicago Adventure Therapy.

Starting at 7pm, Justine and her partner Barry will give a detailed account of their sea kayak circumnavigation of The S. Island of New Zealand. Then at 8pm, we'll start the premiere of This is the Sea 4. There will be an afterparty at a nearby pub - The Dog and Duck. For more details, please visit the event's description at:

http://www.genevakayak.com/events/premiere/index.html

We hope that you'll be able to make it our for this very special event. You can purchase tickets at the door, or purchase tickets in advance to be entered into a drawing for a LENDAL Kinetic Touring Paddle of your choice! Tickets can be purchased in advance buy calling the Geneva Kayak Center at the number below.

Geneva Kayak Center
34 N. Bennett Street
Geneva, IL, 60134
http://www.genevakayak.com
(630) 232-0320

Saved by the Bar…

by Haris

… sand bar, that is. To be even more precise, it also took a closed beach-access road in Warren Dunes to ensure that the conditions on Michigan this Sunday and a pair of eager surfing newbies were kept separated.

John G. picked me up early AM for a 2-hour ride from the Western suburbs to the East coast of Lake Michigan. Forecast of 16’ waves was the reason, gale warning was the occasion. 6AM check of the mid-lake buoy yielded 6’ waves with 25 extra miles of fetch remaining. The wind was blowing at 25 knots all night long and the waves were on the rise. A USGS calculator suggested that along the rest of the way to the Michigan shores these 6-footers should gain another foot and a half to two feet. So there was a good reason I had trouble falling asleep the night before with all kinds of interesting scenarios unraveling in the expanses of keen imagination.

We took extra care to strap the kayaks to the roof-rack well and check the bow lines.  We could feel an occasional tug from the wind on the way up and we could see trees and reeds bend along the road but nothing scary, not yet at least. The waves would have been plenty high at Indiana Dunes National Seashore; however, given the SW direction of the wind, we decided that it would be safer to drive some extra miles to make sure the wind is not blowing parallel to shore when we’re swimming.

We reached the Warren Dunes and decided to try and launch from there. September floods have done some damage to the beach access road there so we pulled into the campsites behind a humongous dune. For a moment we considered lugging our boats over the top of this monstrous mound. On a reconnaissance mission we ascended it unloaded first. We were glad we did! Turned out that the lake was another quarter of a mile from the top of the dune.< The wind was howling. The sand particles were being blown all the way from the lake to the forest behind the dune. Lake Michigan was covered with white caps as far as we could see and we could see all the way back to Chicago. The day was not what I expected: full sun and barely a could in the sky, 50 degrees air and water. We took a walk all the way to the shore and back. The waves were definitely there! The parking lot at Warren Dunes is just a couple of hundred feet away from the shore—perfect access for kayakers. This is a public access beach; however, I am not sure about the access right during the summer season for our kind. On Sunday, there was nobody there.

Clearly, there was no humane way for us to launch at the Warren Dunes. We headed further North and just a couple miles up the road there lies a town of Bridgman, MI with a prominent sign pointing toward Weko Beach down the Lake street—a combination suggested that we may be able to find access to water that’a way.

Another sign with small-print at the entrance to the beach said that no personal watercraft can be launched or taken out there. We debated for a minute what ‘personal watercraft’ means and decided that, when not in season, it does not include kayaks. On the actual beach there were no warnings about watercraft restrictions in general or kayaks in particular. Weko Beach was very nice with only a couple hundred of feet between the parking lot and the water.

Weko Beach

Back to the sand bar now, the aerial photo clearly shows a sandbar about 100 feet off shore. It looks like the bar extends parallel to shore for quite a distance around Bridgeman—both North and South. The implications for kayaking are both good and bad. On the good side, the bar provides a nice pool for semi-rough water practice on the day like Sunday was. The waves break on it and the last several hundred feet to the shore only see much reduced wave height and power. On Sunday the water in between the bank and the bar was dancing with omni-directional waves 2-3’ high. I was not eager to jump into the full force of Sunday’s storm and was very glad to see manageable conditions close to shore.

The bad part is the same—waves break on that sand bar. Just last week I was discussing relative merits of Pacific coast vs. Great Lakes surfing conditions. The fellow paddler on the other end of the line is in Oregon and he noted that swells along that coastline usually wrap up in dumpers. To this I replied that I did not know of dumping waves along the gradual shores of Lake Michigan Now I do!

Watching the never-ending breakers

The six to ten footers on Sunday were definitely dumping on the sand bar off Weko. The difference between a gradual spilling 6’ wave on Montrose and a 6’ dumping wave on the East shores was pretty dramatic. The wall of water would rise up from the depths and then the top would wrap around the bottom trapping air and sand in its hold, close the seal and explode in a million droplets of sand and white boiling soup. We saw waves collide on the bar at 45 degree angle to each other and produce some clapotis. We also saw waves breaking on top of another wave that was dumping on the sand bar at the same time—sort of a two-storey braking wave.

So what’s so bad about that, you may ask? What’s not to like about such a magnificent display of power from a relatively protected patch of water? Well, nothing really if you’re there to be a spectator. It’s practically the first row in the I-Max for a sea kayak surfer and the seat is moving pretty well. We did not drive there to be spectators though! Breaking through the dumping mixture of water and sand that reminded me of a cement mixer in fast forward did not look very inviting. Sure the wind was on shore and we were dressed for the conditions and wearing helmets … yet, I only dared to dart out during a lull in between the sets of big waves once. Seeing the chaos around me, I felt lucky to get back in unharmed and will wait for the next time when I am in the company of experienced sea wolfs to try this again.

Exploding dumper show

Other than that, we enjoyed two hours of intense bracing and mediocre surfing on a beautiful day with a spectacular backdrop of boiling surf soup. Unfortunately, by the times the waves picked back up after breaking on the sand bar, they were too close to shore to catch any decent rides. Launching from the beach was made challenging by 2-foot semi-dumping waves which, despite being broken once already, were plenty powerful. Only a couple of steps from shore I could not touch the bottom with my feet. Paddling out was hard work too as the winds have picked up to 30 knots by the time we were on the water. I will never forget a fellow Chicago South-Sider who came over to talk to us during one of the breaks—he was so bundled up in layers you could barely see his face down under.

Clapotis and its toy

We wrapped up the day by paddling South with the wind about 45 degrees off the starboard beam. We got out to close to the action at the sandbar and swung the blades for about 30 minutes. We did not try too hard but it definitely felt like we were moving pretty well along the shore. After we decided it was enough, the return trip took about a minute!

More than an I-Max spectator!

(All pictures by John G.)

Kayakfest at Geneva Kayak

What a spectacular day for the Geneva Kayak - KayakFest.  It was my first time to attend and was truly well worth it.  I came away with so much knowledge (which I'll back up with study, so I remember what I learned correctly!) and I have a lot of fun things to practice - like Jim Tibensky's Weird Strokes. :)

Boatloads of Thanks to Ryan and staff for offering this opportunity, providing great instruction. .. having an equipment sale... and organizing dinner...

And Cheers!!! To all of the instructors - for your time and expertise teaching yesterday!  I am sure all who attended and took advantage of the great instruction KayakFest had to offer, benefited and learned something new.

I also had the opportunity to attend the CASKA board member lunch.  It was very interesting (especially when we learned that Leslie is Kris's husband and Kris is Leslie's wife...)  So many great ideas were tossed around for raising more awareness of what CASKA has to offer the paddling community. And ways to reach out to those who would like to be a part of it.

Thanks again Geneva Kayak for a Great KayakFest and Happy Paddling!

Kathi Siegrist

Blog Comment on Proposed Water Quality Rules: MWRD Authorship

In a recent comment on a CASKA Blog post on the Chicago Flatwater Classic (http://caskaorg.typepad.com/caska/2008/10/trip-report-cla.html) Jill Horist made certain statements with respect to the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District's approach to the Illinois Pollution Control Board rulemaking proceeding that will set water quality standards for the Chicago River and other parts of the Chicago Waterway System. Jill did not identify herself as being affiliated with any interested party.

Jill Horist is the MWRD's Manager of Public Affairs. In an email today she stated: "Please rest assured, I
would not try to obstruct the fact that I am indeed a vested party as the MWRD Manager of Public Affairs."

In our exchange of emails on this subject, I indicated that CASKA would like to give the MWRD an opportunity to explain its perspective on the proposed rules to the Chicago paddling community with appropriate source attribution. In response, Jill stated as follows: "A continuing and reasonable dialogue is always most welcome and in particular on this issue. We appreciate the opportunity and look forward to the conversation. "

I am hopeful that we can have that dialogue.

Tom Bamonte
CASKA President

Trip Report: Columbus Day Marinerthon

There were no takers for a Columbus Day Mariners lakefront paddle, so I put in solo at 8 a.m. in my trusty Prijon Kodiak.  The air temperature was unseasonably warm, wind and waves were moderate from the south, and the water temperature was in the low 60s.  My plan was to go from Montrose Beach to 12th Street Beach and back.

When I put in I started thinking back to the Shoreline Marathon two weeks ago. (See earlier CASKA blog posts for extensive coverage.) The recently posted results showed that some padders in traditional sea kayaks--Haris Sebacius, Tim Philosophos and Pierre Kornak among them--had paddled the 25 mile course from Calumet Park to Leone Beach in five hours.

I had been a sweep that day and had made the trip from the starting point at Calumet Park to 12th Street Beach in three hours. The trip back took three hours as well.  This time, I decided to see if I could do the Montrose to 12th Street Beach stretch in two hours. I figured that if Calumet to 12th Street took three hours and 12th Street to Montrose took another two hours then that would leave an hour to get from Montrose to the finish line at Leone Beach.

That adds up to a six hour trip from Calumet Park to Leone, which would put me dead last in the Marathon. And that hypothetical six-hour pace had no time built in for stops at the four check-in sites. It also provided no allowance for getting tired. Doing this sad math and considering the work involved just to keep up this poky pace gave me renewed respect for the people in traditional kayaks who competed in the Marathon. Keeping up a five mile an hour pace for five hours in a traditional sea kayak and fitting in 4 rest stops to boot is darned impressive.

I decided to take the inner route to 12th Street, accessing the water around Navy Pier through the gap in the breakwater south of the North Avenue beach house. I figured I would get some protection against the wind and waves, hoping (in vain it turns out) that they would build in time to help push me back home from 12th Street.

There were only a few boats on the lake. It was nice to escape the whine and roar of the big speedboats. I didn't see a single kayak all day, however, which was unfortunate given how nice conditions were for mid-October.

When you concentrate on speed you get tunnel vision. Your focus is on the next target point. You do your best to keep your boat pointed in that direction, knowing that any deviation means wasted distance, time and energy. Nothing matters but the forward stroke. It is bracing to get into this proverbial "zone," but you do miss out on things like the colors of the trees along the shore and the sailboat coming in fast on your beam.

I was discouraged when it took me an hour to get to North Avenue. The wind and chop was a bit more than I expected. Once I slipped inside the breakwater, however, I was able to pick up speed and I made it to 12th Street with all of 5 minutes to spare. My pace was still in the comfortable range, but the thought of cranking out an extra mile per hour over five hours was daunting.

I took a 15 minute break at 12th Street, time for a snack and a decent stretch.  This was probably 14 minutes and 45 seconds longer than the breaks the racers took during the Marathon. 

On my way back I headed outside the breakwater that guards Monroe Street Harbor and headed north past the Navy Pier lighthouse to the end of the breakwater. My theory was that even though the distance was greater, I would benefit from the stronger wind and waves at my back outside of the breakwater.

This theory turned out to be correct. It was a pleasure chasing the 1-2 foots waves loping their way north. I enjoyed scooting along the rocks at the edge of the breakwater. When I left the breakwater behind and hit open water, sometimes I even got a bit of a surfing feel. Maybe, just maybe, if conditions were this good I could make the Marathon course in six hours.

I arrived back at Montrose in one hour and 50 minutes. I noticed when I practiced a few rolls that the water was starting to bite back just a bit on my face when I went under. I got out of my boat and practiced a few self-rescues.  When the first shivers started I called it a day. Who wants to be a cold geezer in the water with an offshore wind.

We'll call it the Columbus Day Marinerthon!

Tom Bamonte

Surfing on the Mighty Fox!

by Haris

On Sunday October 13, Chris, Randy, and I met up in the Geneva Kayak Center’s parking lot promptly at 8am. From there, we drove South and put into the Fox river at the Spiers Island just south of Illinois Street inAurora. It’s an excellent put-in site with sandy shore at the river bank as well as a little lagoon with a concrete boat-launch ramp. No boat traffic.

  The route

We headed North upstream and immediately faced two islands that split the river into three separate streams. Hmmm … three streams and three paddlers… We each adopted a branch and split up. The current was pretty stiff but not overpowering. We could maintain well over 2MPH upstream. River depth is decent—meaning that paddles hit the bottom every once in a while but not too much. I immediately got stuck on some shallow rocky patch but that was the result of curiosity keeping me too close to shore. There was a chair on one of those islands and a pile of some other stuff that made it look like someone lived there. I just had to check it out. It could have been a fishing outpost.

 Further upstream there were many more islands. The shores were largely wooded with relatively few houses in between. The Fox is pretty wide down this stretch and the current relaxes here and then picks right up in another spot. The day was just gorgeous for an early fall season. The temperatures were probably somewhere in the 70s on this sunny day and the banks were decorated with trees whose leaves started to turn from green into the full rainbow of foliage colors.

 The three of us continued toward I-88 at which point the current really picked up and completely stopped our upstream progress. We made a dash for the West shore hoping to catch a break there. I found myself paddling exclusively on the port side.  Hard! Despite the effort, I was unable to turn the kayak parallel to the shore. Recalled reading somewhere that bow rudder works well in moving water and it really helped right away.

 At this point the bow of the kayak was pointing right upstream and in line with the first ripples of some straights. The Fox was pouring over a mini underwater dam. I just had to get over that last hump and, I was sure, the current was not as strong there. I would be able to continue upstream.  Again, I laid into the paddles hard. No forward progress whatsoever. After a couple of tries I gave up. My friends were still working just as hard to my starboard and the strangest thing happened. After I threw in a towel and stopped paddling in this powerful water surge, I expected to drift South. Yet, the distance between my kayak and those of Randy and Chris’s (who were still hard a work with their paddles) did not change a bit. Very bizarre feeling to see the water rushing under my hull at a rapid pace while the boat was stationary relative to shore! I turned to starboard and we started toward another island in the river in search of another way to proceed North.

 

Chris power up the rapids

I looked back at the spot I just vacated and it was immediately obvious what happened. The area was a deep through in between the underwater obstruction upstream and a stationary 1-foot wave downstream. I just surfed my first standing wave on Fox River in Aurora! The water on the Fox was not high on this day by any stretch of imagination. I can only dream about the wave that is there when the water is high! Makes me want to go back right now.

 We paddled around and found another set of rapids that stood in the way of our progress. This time there was no surrender, one way or another we passed the rapids and continued up North to the dam just North of W. State street. That was just under 4 miles of some intense upstream paddling. All three of us were wet with sweat from a hard 90 minutes of tussling with the current of the Fox.

 Getting down was a breeze! Literally. A lot more refreshing with a soft wind from the South providing some evaporative cooling for the overheated engines. After we passed under the I-88, we descended down the first set of rapids with great joy. The untamed wild screams could be heard to confirm the excitement.  Now that we knew what we had downstream we did not pass the opportunity to enjoy the thrill of surfing on the Fox. One after another we entered into the hollow over the tallest of the standing waves and enjoyed the sights of the rushing water under the boats while effortlessly gliding over the swift stream. Looking at the surfing kayak from the side, one could clearly see the bottom almost clear the water under the cockpit with bow and stern suspended on two waves. What a treat in the flatlands of mid-state Illinois!

Randy enjoying the colors

We descended back down past the Spiers Island and paddled downriver to inspect the riverboat that is attached to the Hollywood Casino. Nothing special to report there except Chris noted that a great Mexican restaurant with a Mariachi band and all is on the East bank of the river right next to the Casino. The only other thing worthy of mention is an abandoned water garage on the West bank just south of the Island. It’s an artificial sea cave of sorts.

Putting up a show for Casino guests

Great three hours of paddling on a mighty fine fall day right in my neighborhood.  We’ll try to do the section of the river above the State Street dam next time, although Randy mentioned that it gets pretty shallow there.

Trip Report: Mississippi River Trip, Oct. 3-5, 2008

It was another enjoyable kayak/camping trip on the Mississippi . There were three of us: Denis Jones, Beverly and me. Jim Tibensky and a friend, Kevin Carroll were also camping in the area the same weekend and we had agreed to paddle together on Saturday and camp with them if the campsite on Big Soupbone was not available.

 

Beverly and I stayed at a motel in Savanna, IL on Thursday night to watch the VP Debate on TV. Earlier in the evening, we also saw the local high school homecoming parade on Main Street and had excellent hamburgers at CJ’s, a local tavern.

 

On Friday morning we launched from Paradise Harbor opposite the north gate of the Mississippi Palisades State Park and paddled up river to our intended campsite on the southern tip of Big Soupbone Island . When we got there, we found it to be dirt, not sand and the launching area thick with mud. Rain was expected Saturday evening and we thought the site would turn into a sea of mud, so we paddled back downstream to Jim T’s sandy campsite and camped with them. The five of us had a very enjoyable Friday evening around a camp fire. It was a noisy night with train and barge traffic.

 

Saturday, we watched a tugboat, going upriver, ground its barge load on the riverbank to allow another tug with barges going downriver to pass in a narrow section of the river. Then, guided by Jim T, we paddled downstream on the main part of the river to Sabula, Iowa , had lunch and then paddled back upstream through scenic side channels (avoiding much of the current). Denis recorded 13.6 miles for the round trip. The trees in the area were surprisingly green, almost no fall colors. We had another enjoyable evening around the campfire, entertainment by Jim T playing Irish Ballads on his tin whistle. Jim is a man of many talents.

 

It rained gently most of Saturday night and the river traffic was lighter. Sunday morning, after breakfast, we packed up our wet gear and paddled back to Paradise Harbor . Jim T and Kevin went ahead and Denis, Beverly and I stopped at CJ’s for another hamburger before heading home.

 

We plan to repeat this trip next year, come join us.

 

Jim Des Jardins   

Photos - Denis Jones   

More of Denis' photos from the trip here.

Lake County Forest Preserve District Referendum

"Lake County voters will decide about future funding for Forest Preserve lands, habitats, trails and improvements during the November 4, 2008, general election. The referendum will provide $185 million to create new trails, restore lost wildlife habitats and improve public access to new and existing preserves — all with WITHOUT a tax rate increase."

For more information, please click here: http://www.lcfpd.org/html_lc/referendum/main.html

CASKA supports this important referendum. Please VOTE YES!!!

Kayakfest October 17-19, Geneva

Geneva Kayak is hosting it's 3rd annual October Kayakfest next weekend, October 17-19.  This event is a great way to end the warm weather paddling season and has a little something for everyone. Listed below is  a schedule of what will be going on next weekend.  For a full description, please click on the following link.

http://www.genevakayak.com/kayakfest/index.html

Friday, October 17th @ Noon - Demo Sale - P&H, NDK, Valley & Impex, Lendal (see attached list of boats & gear)

Saturday, October 18th from 10-5 - Free Classes & Workshops

Saturday, October 18th @ 5pm - End of Season Party & BBQ

Saturday, October 18th @ 7:30 - Adventure Paddling Slideshow

Friday-Sunday - Sale & Gear Swap

We hope to see you at Kayakfest!  If you have any questions please send an email to  [email protected].

Trip Report: Chicago Shoreline Marathon

We have just posted the entire 2008 Chicago Shoreline Marathon pix gallery up on the CSM website:
http://www.chicagoshorelinemarathon.com/gallery.html
(hit F5 if you are seeing last year's). Our great local photographer, Scott Fincher got some AMAZING shots while riding with the pack on a jetski. There are also some great shots from Friday's clinic and post race at Leone. Also check out the links to Rich Hodgkin's and Humberto Garcia's smugmug pages.

And, if you haven't already checking it out: http://www.surfski.info/content/view/831/147/
Joe Glickman's race report on the surfski.info site.

Happy browsing!!
Kristin Flentye