Sad Story.

An expert kayaker dies in Minnesota. (I wonder if I met this man -- or just other racers built and enjoying that lifestyle like him -- at the one kayak race I participated in a few years back in a county north of here. It was the race's first year -- I realized later, that although I signed up for the short course, my type of boat was more for the rec class*. Still, it was a very fun day, with plenty of door prizes after the race -- free local steak dinner! -- and a good group of people.)

This site appears to have the best details on what exactly happened out there, but it is getting plenty of play in the Minnesota papers too.

Everything was going fine until about half way across the lake. This was in the area of “three mile reef” which is about 2.5 miles off the east shore of the lake. At that point, Todd capsized, likely caused by one of the bigger waves associated with the reef. A capsize in a surfski is like taking a fall downhill skiing. It happens all the time and is an expected part of the sport. The fact that Todd had only one fall in that distance of paddling shows that he had been handling the conditions quite well.

The catastrophic event was that when Todd came to the surface of the water, he was no longer attached to his boat. Examination of the boat the following day revealed that the failure was in the velcro wrap that secures the leash to the ankle. In the several seconds it took for Todd to get to the surface and get his bearings, his boat was already blown out of reach. He swam to the the boat that was escorting him, and tried to climb on, which caused that boat to capsize. The waves were very big at that point, and the escort surfski was one of the tippy racing models that the vast majority of us paddle. At that point Todd climbed onto the escort ski, and was balanced there without a paddle. The escort paddler, in the water at this point, separated from his ski and made a desperate attempt to swim for Todd’s boat. This was unsuccessful. He returned to his boat. At that point Todd was back in the water. It is impossible to simply balance in one of these boats in big waves without a paddle.

Not so much "up the creek, without a paddle", but a "in the cold lake water, two men with a capsized single-person boat" story.

Spring 2011 courtesy photo of Todd Ellison, 50, of Marine on St. Croix, paddling on the St. Croix River this spring. Ellison was found dead Saturday, Oct. 8, 2011, on the shore of Lake Mille Lacs after his kayak capsized the day before. (Photo courtesy of David Heieren)Miles offshore in 4- to 6-foot waves Friday on Minnesota's Lake Mille Lacs, Todd Ellison and his friend clung to the friend's kayak.

Ellison's boat was gone - swept away in 20- to 30-mph winds after he capsized about 2-1/2 miles from shore. The pair couldn't both get aboard the tippy, solo racing kayak they clung to, and it would take hours before the wind blew the men to the windward shore, some eight to 10 miles away.

The three other paddlers they had been with were far off. Their only means of contact, a cell phone in a waterproof case, had drifted off with Ellison's kayak, according to an account from members of the group.

The two stranded men calmly talked over their situation and agreed on a plan: Ellison would stay in the water, and his friend would paddle for help.
...
The friend who left Ellison reached shore in 45 minutes and called 911 soon after. Search and rescue was hampered by winds and waves, Turner said. The other three paddlers safely completed their trip.
Ellison was wearing a wet suit and life preserver and was fit, in the view not only of Marine on St. Croix residents who saw him routinely cycling the town's hills with his boat in tow, but also by the standards of his fellow marathon canoe racers.

Several leaders of the paddling community said they weren't keen on second-guessing the men's decision to separate. A detailed account of the events signed by the four surviving members of the paddling party defended the action as "clearly the correct decision."

Boaters overboard are generally advised to stay with a floating boat, but every situation is unique. In this case, the relatively paddle to shore had to be weighed against the exceedingly long drift in the wind as daylight waned, according to those involved.

Those who knew Ellison said he died doing what he loved, and no one should dismiss paddling across Mille Lacs as irresponsible - at least not for the party of five that departed Cove Bay for the 16-mile journey Friday.

"These are five of the best paddlers you'll ever meet," said Carl Shaffer, director of racing for the Minnesota Canoe Association. "These guys were out there doing what they were doing with the right stuff. They had the right equipment, and their heads were right."

ADDED:
* I don't kayak to race, but thought the longer, harder paddle that Spring might be fun. It was a warm May day, iirc, and the wind didn't pick up until later in the afternoon. Plus ... small enough lake.

Can't find the blog entry now, but I did stumble upon this one written earlier, in searching my "kayak" posts. It seems fitting for today...

Thursday, July 22
Why My Kayak is Scratched...

In going where you have to go, and doing what you have to do, and seeing what you have to see, you dull and blunt the instrument you write with. But I would rather have it bent and dulled and know I had to put it on the grindstone again and hammer it into shape and put a whetstone to it, and know that I had something to write about, than to have it bright and shining and nothing to say, or smooth and well oiled in the closet, but unused.

~ Hemingway, Preface to The First Forty-Nine Stories (1944)
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"If people bring so much courage to this world the world has to kill them to break them, so of course it kills them. The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry."

~ Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms

posted by Mary at 1:34 PM