Good advice so far
Hey Ryan,
I’m glad your thinking about tackling this crossing.
It is so tempting standing on the beach and just wondering what it would be like to paddle over the horizon! You obviously are smart enough to know that you need certain skills (not all of them paddling skills), otherwise you wouldn’t have posted here.
There is a very slight west to east current on the lake - about half a knot from what I’ve been told. You will be affected by the wind much more than that though. Long Point can generate rip currents.
You’ll need to work on obtaining a very efficient forward stroke. If you have done mostly whitewater or recreational paddling you’ll definitely need to work on your mechanics. Only an instructor/coach or very knowledgeable friend can help you with this.
As mentioned above, long solo crossing are either boring in good weather or terrifiying in bad weather, but somehow it is always worth it and strangely addictive. I’ve done some easy 8 and 9 mile crossings on Lake Erie and Lake Michigan and some hard, windy, 3 and 4 milers as well. Throw in a one day 50 mile Pensylvania Lake Erie shoreline traverse and I have a good idea of what you’re going to encounter, and I still encourage you to do it. Heck, I’ve been thinking about the same trip myself!
My advice: Go with someone else, a friend, paddling buddy, or guide. It makes a world of difference in safety and simply fun. When i’m on my own miles out and the horizon is not getting any closer, it sort of sucks. But with someone else the miles cruise by so much faster and you have someone to share in the glory of making it (or saving your butt). If you are set on a solo trip, i understand, just know what you’re getting yourself into.
A good opportunity to learn some skills you will need would be to take Exkursion Outfitters Coastal Kayak Skills class coming up in September right there at Presque Isle. Myself and another ACA certified sea kayak instructor will be taking a group (from the Pittsburgh area) through a day of navigation, communication, rescue, and paddling skills for the coastal environment. The prerequisites are our Level II and Rescue classes. You can see the whole schedule of classes at exkursion.com. Feel free to email me any questions you might have about our classes or the crossing.
Oh, don’t forget you’ll want to get a US Passport or card before you go.
I sailed Lake Erie for 5 years.
I know that section of the lake pretty well. Your trip relies on one BIG thing. The weather. I have seen it go from flat calm to Big confused waves and 40 knot winds in less than 10 minutes. Carry a VHF hand held so you can call in help. Carry a cell phone with weather radar to keep your butt out of trouble.
You already know the answer to that, …
... which of course is the reason you asked. This is not the first time since I've been on this site you've attempted to belittle me for saying something about wind and wave conditions without being an off-shore boater.
My point is that when the the wind forecast is wrong to the extent as in my two examples, even though landlubbers like myself will often be comfortable with that margin of error, I doubt if someone well on their way into a 30-mile crossing would feel the same. I base that on the fact that one thing I love to do is go out playing on a big lake when the wind is blowing 25 to 30 mph. Go ahead and tell me (as you did a few years ago) how intimately familiar you are with this lake and that I know nothing about wind or waves. Granted, a kayak has a lot less wind resistance than the boat I use in those conditions, but since kayakers often remark on these boards that paddling in such wind is very difficult (though to me, they sometimes make it sound like a headwind of that strength is much worse than I myself find it to be) and not once have you chimed in to say they are wrong, I wonder why you make the implication that my assessment of paddling in such wind is wrong now?
Granted, a forecast error like that isn't likely on a particular day, but to me, making note of the fact that it can and does happen seems safer than betting on average forecasting success in the context of a trip like this one.
Let me ask you, is it an irrelevant observation that the wind-speed forecast can be wrong by the amount that I recently observed? Do you actually disagree with me that such a forecast error might have a big effect on such a trip as that planned by the O.P.? If you say yes in both cases, I'd like to hear why.
Also …
Not sure where you are located if this is closer…
http://gokayaknow.com/index.php/about-keith-wikle/paddler-profile/marius-asipauskas-paddler-profile/
Another $0.02
As a member of the USCG and a kayaker, I would strongly advise against a solo trip like this until you have smaller crossings or long trips solo under your belt. But for any solo or small group of kayakers, I highly recommending filing a “float plan” with a responsible friend or family member that consists of time/location of departure and estimation of arrival, emergency contacts, ect ect. Your first job once you make land fall is to contact this individual. I don’t know about cell phone reception on the lake, but I would recommend regular check in intervals, say every 2 hours if possible via cell phone or marine radio. Generally, if you are set for 2 hour intervals, normally, if a check in is missed, it may be 3-4 hours before emergency services are contacted. Then SAR assets (Search and Rescue) would normally take ateast 30 minutes just to get on scene, and who knows how long to locate you. There are other factors, but all in all, if something goes wrong, are you prepared to spend 10 hours or even longer in the water, waiting for help if something goes wrong? On a bright sunny day, may not be an issue, but what if foul weather kicks up as it can easilly do on the Great Lakes. Be prepared for the worst.
Then again, I am probably crazy enough to want to try this too one day, so my adventurous side says ‘heck yeah!’, my professional side said, plan, plan and PLAN for the worst.
Good luck!
The Rescue Thing
You and only you will be rescued.
ALL gear, kayak, paddles will be left - in the water
Coast Guard C-130 aircraft cost
about $4,200 an hour to operate,
Coast Guard helicopters about $4,400 an hour,
Coast Guard cutters cost about $1,550 an hour
Coast Guard small boats also cost between
$300 to $400 an hour to run.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurocopter_HH-65_Dolphin
Just the other day
http://www.goerie.com/article/20120808/NEWS02/308079894/Coast-guard-fire-crews-search-for-kayakers
http://www.uscg.mil/d9/airstaDetroit/
depends on why rescue needed
If very dangerous waters that require special coast guard assist you probably are correct but some other scenarios like being sea sick or tired can sometimes include some nice boater helping. I’ve seen such boats pull kayaks and such on board assuming calm enough conditions.
But still it’s always best to never assume a rescue is even possible – it’s a backup to a backup.
Appreciation
Thanks for all the info, links, and advice. My hope is to find at least one kayaking partner. But now I have my work cut out for me, and that is excellent. I have no exact time frames, but will digest this information, increase my knowledge, and enhance my skills. Some good learning opportunities have been presented here, and I will be following through with them as I can.
Seat time
I have done 6 hour nonstop paddles in the Lake off of Presque Isle. I obviously need to test my limits further.
I agree and well-said
Sure the great lakes can get nasty. So get a marine radio. There are days upon days at a time when lake erie is a calm unmoving mass.
And yes - calm open water crossings will bore you to tears. We broke to swim in the middle of one; weird sensation swimming around and not seeing land. But it was miserably hot. I suspect that most people attracted to crossings get the "crossing" bug out of their system after a few.
go for it
"Bad things are not the worst thing that can happen to you.
Nothing is the worst thing that can happen to you!!"
Richard Bach
Ouch
Six hours in the seat of a kayak. That’s a painfully long time for me. Good job.
Lk Erie crossing
Sailors on the old sailing ships feared Lk Erie more than any of the other Great Lakes. (Shallow waters, fast changing weather, large waves with a short period, etc.)
Boring
Like a couple others have mentioned it gets quite monotonous. I’ve done a couple 70 mile races on the Missouri river which took about 11 hours of steady, hard paddling (with a very strong head wind). A river is at least interesting in that you have something to look at as well as competitors in the race, not to mention a current pushing you. But after 30 miles it starts to feel like real work. After 50 you just want to quit and for the last 20 miles you vow that you’re never going to do anything like this again, ever, no matter what.
Then after a couple days you start thinking that maybe with some more training it would be more comfortable and that you could knock an hour off your time.
Personally 2 hours of hard, steady, paddling is the most I can do (because of boredom) unless there’s some competition. But if I’m stopping here and there or doing some fishing or something to break it up then 15-20 miles is no problem. Do some long training sessions and see how it goes.
Alan
Book
Next book on my reading list. Rolling the kayak is the next skill to learn; I have been using an open kayak: extremely difficult to empty and get back inside after sinking it intentionally, without going to shore.
Same here
I found 2 hrs is about the limit of monotonic crossing for me. Any longer than that, I’d be really bored.
Much more interesting to circumnavigate instead.
skills
About paddling in the dark: are there any kinds of legal requirements with lights etc?
Lots of old shipwrecks in Lake Erie
http://www.boatnerd.com/swayze/shipwreck/
We once found a small boiler in shallow water from an 1800s shipwreck while paddling. Interesting stuff.
I live 2 minutes from Lake Erie. It’s at the end of my street. Some days it looks like the ocean with big swells and breaking waves. Other days it is like a glassy milk pond (as my hubby says). It can change in 5 minutes. The Lake has its own micro-climate, so weather can be hard to predict on it (ask the local weather forecasters at Channels 2, 4, and 7 in Buffalo, NY).
Just out of interest …
It's really hot here this weekend and the beach is packed, too many tourists for me to do my usual paddle/surfs ... so I've been checking out trip reports, videos, etc of Lake Erie storms. I remember someone who used to post fairly often posted a video of surfing in 5-6 ft storm waves on the lake that looked pretty impressive for being steep and confused. I was not able to find the video. I did find this slide show ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7zpkRN-KK0
Most of the videos I found of "Huge Waves" on lake Erie were exaggerated by a factor of 2 to 5 in reporting how high they were ... most were not that exciting . I do believe when the wind is howling it could be pretty nasty, but did not come up with any video of conditions that a sea kayak could not handle. Paddling in 40 -50 knot winds is not something you want to do though. There has been a lot of comment on short period, steep waves in shallow water causing a lot of boat accidents. With shorter periods the waves lack power, so while this might be very bad conditions for wide fishing boats with drunk inexperienced fisherman, it can be a playground for a kayak, depending on how chaotic the conditions and the experience of the paddler. The unanticipated violent storms are limited events, as storm fronts pass through, not where huge waves arise and winds persist for days. I would be interested in hearing from paddlers who have ridden out storms on the lake. I'd be interested to hear from paddlers who were actually surprised by a storm and learn if they followed NOAA forecasts before going out.
Jesse59 seems to be the only person who posted who actually has experience paddling on the lake. If anyone has a link to video of really nasty stuff, please post it up. Just for fun I've been putting together some video links of really nasty places to paddle where people do long crossings ... will post later.
Also found this interesting link on Shipwrecks in Lake Erie. Just from looking at the site for while on the info on each known wreck it looks like October -November is a bad time to be out on the Lake (if you didn't know that already). I was also surprised at how deep most of the wrecks lie, with all the comments about shallow water, but of course wrecks in shallow water can break apart and are not well preserved. Looks like being on a overloaded freighter in November is a bad idea.
http://www.eriewrecks.com/shipwrecks/shipwrecks.html