Mar
12
First, our deepest condolences to Peter’s family. I called the Wisconsin, Port Washington Police Captain Michael Davel who was involved in the recovery of Peter from Lake Michigan. I wanted to clarify some details for the Lake Michigan Sea and Surf Kayaking community who spends a lot of time out on cold water in small …
Oct
20
In the search for Mitch Fajman, the Berrien County Sherrif’s Department damaged their brand new rescue boat in the surf. The boat was caught by a wave, and summarily capsized. The two deputies are doing fine, but all the electronics are ruined on the $180,000 boat. The 911 log from the incident is interesting, and …
Oct
17
The search for Mitch Fajman has been called off. He went into the water around three (we think) on Saturday. The Coast Guard and other rescue services made every attempt to find the 18 year old who paddled out with two other young men. The weather which looked dicey even on land, 40 knot winds …
Jul
29
Our friends at Naturally Superior Adventures have an amazing discount on a voyageur trip on Lake Superior. It’s a fully guided and outfitted 36 ft Voyageur Canoe trip from Rossport to the Red Rock Folk Festival, musically hosted by Dave Borins. You are invited to join the quintessential Canadian experience and at Canadian bedrock cost! …
Sep
17
Sturgeon Bay – Gray’s Reef light – White Shoal light – Waugoschance light – Temperance Island 8/26/10 posted by John Fleming The Endbridge Oil Kalamazoo River disaster put an abrupt end to my usual midweek upstream-paddling workout. If I could smell the oil, I wanted to either help somehow, or get the hell out of …
Sep
08
Great Lakes South Haven Storm September from Keith Wikle on Vimeo. This is a video of a storm from the pier in South Haven right near sunset. I was surf kayaking 7-9 foot waves from the outside. This was taken with an iPhone4. My real camera that I usually mount to my boat had a …
Aug
11
It’s 8am on Cannery Beach, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. It’s me, a chain smoking heavy equipment operator, and nobody else. He says that no overweight tourists will be at the beach until about 11, and he wants to lift the cannery up off the ground before they get there. By the end of the day, my body and physics degree will both agree that the crane and I have each expended about the same amount of total energy. To which my liberal arts education replies, “but I have been across the sea.”
Oct
20
At the end of August I wrote my first post, about paddling to Ile Aux Galet (Skillagalee) island, which started out intimidating but turned into a ton of fun, surfing back to the mainland. Besides about 10,000 birds, the only thing on the island is a beautiful 1888 lighthouse, which is still active. http://www.michiganlights.com/skillagaleelh.htm So I …
Sep
12
View of crystal clear Lake Michigan over the shoals on South Manitou Island from my Nigel Foster Sea Kayak The Manitou Islands of Lake Michigan are the Lower Peninsula’s greatest treasure. Michigan, funnily enough get’s a reputation as an industrial rust-belt state, that frankly it doesn’t deserve. I hope in some way, it keeps this …
Aug
31
<object width=”400″ height=”300″> <param name=”flashvars” value=”offsite=true&lang=en-us&page_show_url=%2Fphotos%2Fkeithwikle%2Fsets%2F72157622199160082%2Fshow%2F&page_show_back_url=%2Fphotos%2Fkeithwikle%2Fsets%2F72157622199160082%2F&set_id=72157622199160082&jump_to=”></param> <param name=”movie” value=”http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=71649″></param> <param name=”allowFullScreen” value=”true”></param><embed type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” src=”http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=71649″ allowFullScreen=”true” flashvars=”offsite=true&lang=en-us&page_show_url=%2Fphotos%2Fkeithwikle%2Fsets%2F72157622199160082%2Fshow%2F&page_show_back_url=%2Fphotos%2Fkeithwikle%2Fsets%2F72157622199160082%2F&set_id=72157622199160082&jump_to=” width=”400″ height=”300″></embed></object> Ile Aux Galets (Island of Pebbles), aka Skillagalee, is a very small island about 7 miles offshore from Cross Village, near the NW tip of Michigan’s lower peninsula. The island sits atop a large shoal. On the …
