Wisconsin Outfitter Nearly Loses Two Dozen Kids In Lake Superior
 

In today's Duluth News-Tribune. What the article does not mention is
that some of the kids were as young as 8. Most of the local outfitters
have a 12 yrs/90 lbs minimum for the big lake, but not this one.

I especially like the camp director's remarks about "How else are they
going to learn?" Ummm... maybe Lake Superior is not the place to start
out?


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Young kayakers escape rough water on Superior
OUTDOORS: A group of 23 girls and their leaders gets split up as
storms hit the area.
BY JOHN MYERS
NEWS TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

A group of young people from a Minnesota girls camp battled wind and
rough seas late Wednesday and called for help near the mainland sea
caves in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore.

The group - 23 girls ages 9 through 11, four camp counselors and four
guides -- attempted to kayak from Meyers Beach to the sea caves but
when the wind gained speed, the group broke up, Bayfield County
Sheriff Bob Follis said.

The first call for help came about 7:15 p.m. as a brief but intense
line of thunderstorms swept across the area.

The Bayfield County Sheriff's Department, U.S. Coast Guard, Red Cliff
Police, National Park Service and other emergency crews responded. All
the girls were accounted for and safe just after midnight Thursday
morning, Follis said. Several of the girls were warmed up by emergency
crews once on shore, but camp counselors said none showed any signs of
hypothermia.

The girls were from Camp Lake Hubert near Brainerd, said Bob
Krumenaker, superintendent of Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. They
rented kayaks and had guides from Brule River Canoe and Kayak Rental.

Brule River Canoe and Kayak owner Brian Carlson and guides were still
recovering kayaks from the beach and could not be reached Thursday
afternoon for comment, an employee said. Carlson also did not return
messages left by the News Tribune.

According to the outfitter's Web site, all kayakers receive wetsuits
and life vests. The sea cave trips are offered twice a week. The
groups get on the water by noon and are supposed to be off the lake by
4 or 5 p.m.

The Web site also warns that trips will be canceled if the weather on
Lake Superior is hazardous.

Sam Cote, Camp Lake Hubert director, said counselors handled the
situation as well as possible after unexpected weather blew in.

``Considering what they had to react to, it sounds like they did what
they could and kept everyone safe,'' Cote said.

But others questioned the wisdom of the outing.

``The ratio of adults to kids here wasn't very good,'' Krumenaker
said. ``And they weren't ready when that little line of storms blew
through here. Either they didn't check the weather report or the
Weather Service didn't forecast it. But they weren't prepared.''

Cote said camp officials didn't feel the girls were too young to kayak
on Lake Superior.

``Eight adults for 23 campers isn't a bad ratio in our book,'' Cote
said. ``We are disappointed that the guides we hired weren't able to
keep track of the weather forecast. And we assumed they knew the ages
and what abilities were needed for those waters.''

Some of the girls became seasick before they reached the caves and
were sent back, accompanied by a camp counselor, to the beach where
they launched, Follis said. Most of the kayakers eventually were
returned to their launch site but some were found farther away and
were taken to shore in Cornucopia, Follis said.

Krumenaker said some girls beached their kayaks and some were picked
up by National Park Service ranger boats.

``Most of them didn't really know the area. They didn't watch the
weather. The girls were very young,'' Follis said. ``They really
shouldn't have been out there at all. This is a case where, if you
can't be smart, you have to be lucky, and they were really lucky
something bad didn't happen.''

Cote said all the campers and staff were safely back in camp Thursday
and in good spirits.

``They said it was an amazing experience,'' he said.

When asked whether the children were frightened at any point, Cote
said, ``I'm sure, initially, when you have big waves coming at you . .
.. that's part of the elements. If kids don't experience that, how are
they going to learn to deal with something else?''

After the waves picked up, three tired kayakers were taken to a local
marina by a commercial boat, Cote said he was told. Seven kayakers
returned to shore with a guide, and eight people beached on a rocky
shore of the mainland, climbed a hill and built a campfire near a
waterfall, he said.

Before long, rescue workers, sweaty from working their way through the
woods, arrived and led them back to the rest of their group.

Last August a 23-year-old St. Germain, Wis., man died from hypothermia
after his kayak overturned in rough seas in the same caves along Lake
Superior's South Shore.

Officials warn that only experienced kayakers should attempt to
venture to the cave site, or that they should go with experienced
guides, and that they should have an emergency plan in place in case
weather changes.



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