3 days, 3 runs, 3 camera angles

I think it is safe to say that spring has come to Duluth - well, maybe. While the odds are that the big blows will become more scarce as we head into summer, we did have enough wind the last three days for some nice runs. One positive of summer is that the water will “warm” up. The water temp is currently about 39 F (4 C), by July 1st maybe 60F (16 C)?

[@wendyphillips5002]

I am not used to seeing buoys without sea lions sleeping on them in the ocean.
That looks like lots of fun on the great lakes. Paddling on rivers, lakes and the ocean is fun.

[@ahbwisurfnpaddle]

Always great paddle adventures !

[@ttrayn1000]

Thanks!

[@thomashendron4356]

how cold is the water? Thomas Magnum would be proud

[@ttrayn1000]

On this run the water was in the low 40s.

[@paulreavley5900]

Nice Tim, dang that water is still cold! Are you using a head cam in the early footage? If so, it looks like you got the angle set up well. Does your phone add some of the color punchiness or does the color just pop so much in contrast to the often grey sky? By the way, tell your OC friend that an old, slow OCer (me) appreciates his surfing in what often looks like quite challenging water. I would love to hear his comparison of Superior downwinding to the open ocean paddling he used to do in Hawaii (right?).

[@ttrayn1000]

Paul, I did seem to get the angle right on the head camera - luck? I did not adjust the color, when the sun is high or at my back you see pretty true Superior blue. If it’s dark and grey Superior looks stone cold. When the camera is facing the sun it’s just a lot of glare, but it can be dramatic sometimes. Yes, John paddled in HI. I let him know about your comment, maybe he’ll chime in?

[@johnteschner]

Hi Paul! Thanks for the compliment! Tim usually manages to catch my better moments. I would say that my first reaction to paddling on Lake Superior was amazement at how similar the conditions were to those I was used to in Hawaii (I did almost all of my paddling on Kauai, tho I did paddle OC1 in the Pailolo channel and OC6 on several other channels and islands). So overall, I would say the lake is quite similar when it comes to the complexities of various swells, wind waves, and refractions. There are also currents in the lake that Tim and do not fully understand (and neither do the marine scientists we've spoken to) but that we definitely feel. All that said, in addition to being much colder, the lake also feels more powerful and less forgiving, at least compared to the ocean in similar wind conditions. We've been told that the lower density of fresh water makes big, open-lake waves more steep and breaking than the rounder swells in the open ocean. I definitely feel that and it can be quite intimidating! It is nice to that I don't have to rinse off my canoe after every run tho! Where do you typically paddle?

[@paulreavley5900]

@@johnteschner Thanks John - you are confirming some of my impressions from Tim's videos. And maybe I have some direct experience to compare with yours - the three trips we've made for paddling in Hawaii were all to Kauai. We were chaperoned initially by Tom Bartlett and later by Michael Wood (who has now moved back to Bellingham full time). We do most of our downwinding in Bellingham Bay which gets no ocean swell. It gets big only with pretty high wind, but it often is somewhat technical because of the way the wind can angle in off of neighboring hills at odds with whatever the usual prevailing S, SW, or SE fetch is doing. We get to the Gorge for the Champs race and often get at least one other trip there per year. My impression about the Gorge is that it is mostly much more orderly than the ocean paddling I have done and only gets intimidating (for me) with fairly high wind and/or maybe before summer when the snow melt water is colder and the higher flows create more resistance and more squirrelly currents to paddle against.

[@johnteschner]

@@paulreavley5900 You and I have probably paddled together! Tom and Mike are both great people and good friends of mine. Tho it's been a while since I've seen them. Please say hi to Mike for me next time you see him. He has an incredible reputation on Kauai. One of the most generous people around. I'm sure Bellingham is a great place to paddle. It's certainly a beautiful spot. I started a cross country bike trip from there in 2007.