Well, I had a great first seakayak tour up at the Straits of Mackinaw!

I put up a few pics and reports at my http://outyourbackdoor.com
homepage for your enjoyment.

I paddled out about 12 miles (4 hours) the first day and got to my
camping destination. The weather was calm and I could see the lake
bottom maybe 30 feet down as I approached the various islands along
the way. The first part of the day was my biggest passage, about 4
miles of open water, from St. Ignace to Mackinaw Island. It went
fine.

I thought that the Pintail was a bit slow, though! And I brought about
10 lbs too much stuff. I filled the 3 hatches right up with a total of
maybe 30 lbs.

Boy, I was tired when I got to my destination! I'm in good general
shape but not dialed in for paddling.

I mixed up my paddling techniques to use different muscle groups but a
lot of the time I tried the full-rotation method. However, what seemed
most efficient for the long-haul was to use a high cadence and to only
bury half my blades in the water! And to use only half rotation and to
keep arms lowish. To just stay relaxed and paddle quite easily,
basically. I'm sure that more fitness would help but I'd also like to
check out a Greenland paddle sometime as it seems conducive to that
technique as well as to rolling.

After a few days camping (attending the Great Lakes Primitive Skills
Gathering on Bois Blanc Island) the wind picked up and I got in a
practice session of rolling and self-rescue in sizeable waves, rolling
both ways. Good fun! (I'm new enough at rolling that I still get
disoriented when upside down. I tried a couple times to look around
when I was under but it seemed like I was facing backwards each time.
So I just skipped that. Maybe I'll try a face mask sometime.)

It looked like it would be a freshening blue day as I left homeward
bound, so I left early and paddled the first couple hours in a mild
headwind, accompanied by Monarch butterflies---I was going about their
pace.

I took a couple hour break on Mackinaw Island (to do a photostory on
island bicycles) then set out for the final 4 mile crossing. The wind
had really piped up, with whitecap waves. The boat was stable, though,
and I gave myself a test for progress and decided to go for it. It
took the same 2 hour time to cross against 20mph headwind as it did to
cross in the calm a few days earlier! It was pretty intense. My
hardest paddle ever, really. It was pretty hard work just to rotate my
torso against the wind. I paced myself and varied the effort and also
found myself doing Indian chants (never did that before!) and random
singing and whistling. The waves were a bit mixed and also altered due
to the big ferries passing just to my south. Every now and then they'd
all cancel out for a slooshy zone of about 50 yards and I'd go for it
until they got big again from the front or the side. My wrist started
to get sore just after entering the harbor on the other side! I'm glad
it held out. 2 hours isn't such a big deal---nor is a breezy, wavey,
nice blue day---but I thought it would surely be 3 hours. (Dang, come
to think of it, I didn't have a water bottle or snack outside my
sprayskirt. 3 hours would've had me bonky.)

The Pintail loved those waves and ignored the wind. I wonder how the
Glider would've done? : ) I'm basically really glad I took the
Pintail due to that last intense passage. (Although a couple hours
later the wind piped down again!)

I do look forward to testing the Glider out in wind and waves and to
seeing if I can roll it now.

--JP