briansnat
Platnium Member
My wife and I were camping at Round Valley Reservoir in NJ two weekends ago. The campsites there are a 3 to 6 mile hike or a 2 1/2 to 3 mile boat ride (no automotive access). Round Valley due to its shape and the way it funnels wind is famous for its sometimes dangerous winds. There is usually a drowning or two a year when someone gets caught out in the wind in a boat that can't handle it.
Because I planned on doing some serious fishing we bought our 14 ft aluminum boat with a 9.9 HP outboard instead of the canoe. We camp there several times a year and sometimes we paddle, sometimes take the motorboat. It mainly depends on our goals for the weekend. The campsites are well spaced, so you generally can't see your neighbor and the only campsite improvements are metal fire rings. The lack of amenities gives the place a semi wilderness feel whichwe like
Forecast was for a breezy Saturday with winds 15 - 20 mph and a fairly calm Sunday with winds 5-10 MPH. Our ride to our campsite on Saturday was a wet one and we finally reached camp and dried out. Considering the windy conditions and whitecaps I decided to skip fishing that day and just hang out in camp.
The next morning the wind had shifted, picked up a lot and was blowing directly from across the lake, meaning that anybody trying to make it back to the boat launch would be going head first into it, not so bad for us because we had the motor. It would be a hairy, and wet ride for us but I was pretty confident we'd make it back OK.
About 9:30 am I notice a lone canoe out on the lake among the whitecaps and think WTF? Those guys are nuts. I grab my binoculars and can see several other canoes all having great difficulty paddling into the wind. A few of the boats were tandem canoes with a single paddler sitting in the back. I watched one guy desperately try to keep his canoe bow forward, but eventually he wound up paddling stern first into the wind. Some of the boats had kids in them. I called to my wife and asked her to call the state park police because with 55 degree water I thought this might not end well.
The guy who was trying to paddle backwards had given up and blown back to shore not far from our campsite. I went over to see how I could help. He said they were a Boy Scout troop with seven canoes. He said to lighten the boats they had sent most of the younger kids back with some of the gear via the hiking trail and tried to get the canoes and rest of the camping gear back using the adults and older kids. I offered to tow him across once we packed our camp up. While he was waiting for us to pack up he hailed another motorboat that had room and he climbed in and they took him back, towing the empty canoe.
Meanwhile I could see four rescue boats out there searching the lake for the paddlers who were now widely scattered. Packed and ready to go we started across the lake. I entertained my wife by loudly singing "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" as the bow plunged in to the waves and the spray soaked us (she was not amused).
About 1/3 of the way across we encountered an exhausted solo canoer just sitting there being tossed by the waves. I asked him if he wanted a tow and he enthusiastically accepted. I briefly though about bringing him into our boat, but we were packed to the gunnels with camping equipment and transferring between boats in those conditions was not a good idea in my opinion. I tied some parachute cord I found to his bow and started towing. He explained that he had called the park police and asked for a tow, but they told him that towing canoes in those conditions was too dangerous and they would not do it. We soon found out why. We couldn't go more than about 2 mph or the canoe was seriously in danger of flipping so we sloooowly made our way across the lake. Chatting with the guy over the wind I found out that he was there with his buddies for a camping bachelor party, so there were at least two groups of paddlers on the reservoir.
After about an hour we had made some headway but were still over a mile from the launch. A rescue boat happened by and we flagged it down. They pulled the canoer aboard along with his equipment and his boat and whisked him to safety.
We eventually arrived back at the boat ramp and it was a beehive of activity. Ambulance, police, SAR personnel. While I went to get the car my wife was talking to one of the SAR guys. He said several canoes did flip and they had to rescue the paddlers, but now every was accounted for and safe. I'd like to take credit for initiating the rescue, but when my wife called she was told they were aware of the situation help was on the way. Just glad everyone was OK and they had stories to tell when they got home, but I wonder about the wisdom of trying to paddle back under those conditions, especially with kids.
Never did get to do any fishing.
Because I planned on doing some serious fishing we bought our 14 ft aluminum boat with a 9.9 HP outboard instead of the canoe. We camp there several times a year and sometimes we paddle, sometimes take the motorboat. It mainly depends on our goals for the weekend. The campsites are well spaced, so you generally can't see your neighbor and the only campsite improvements are metal fire rings. The lack of amenities gives the place a semi wilderness feel whichwe like
Forecast was for a breezy Saturday with winds 15 - 20 mph and a fairly calm Sunday with winds 5-10 MPH. Our ride to our campsite on Saturday was a wet one and we finally reached camp and dried out. Considering the windy conditions and whitecaps I decided to skip fishing that day and just hang out in camp.
The next morning the wind had shifted, picked up a lot and was blowing directly from across the lake, meaning that anybody trying to make it back to the boat launch would be going head first into it, not so bad for us because we had the motor. It would be a hairy, and wet ride for us but I was pretty confident we'd make it back OK.
About 9:30 am I notice a lone canoe out on the lake among the whitecaps and think WTF? Those guys are nuts. I grab my binoculars and can see several other canoes all having great difficulty paddling into the wind. A few of the boats were tandem canoes with a single paddler sitting in the back. I watched one guy desperately try to keep his canoe bow forward, but eventually he wound up paddling stern first into the wind. Some of the boats had kids in them. I called to my wife and asked her to call the state park police because with 55 degree water I thought this might not end well.
The guy who was trying to paddle backwards had given up and blown back to shore not far from our campsite. I went over to see how I could help. He said they were a Boy Scout troop with seven canoes. He said to lighten the boats they had sent most of the younger kids back with some of the gear via the hiking trail and tried to get the canoes and rest of the camping gear back using the adults and older kids. I offered to tow him across once we packed our camp up. While he was waiting for us to pack up he hailed another motorboat that had room and he climbed in and they took him back, towing the empty canoe.
Meanwhile I could see four rescue boats out there searching the lake for the paddlers who were now widely scattered. Packed and ready to go we started across the lake. I entertained my wife by loudly singing "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" as the bow plunged in to the waves and the spray soaked us (she was not amused).
About 1/3 of the way across we encountered an exhausted solo canoer just sitting there being tossed by the waves. I asked him if he wanted a tow and he enthusiastically accepted. I briefly though about bringing him into our boat, but we were packed to the gunnels with camping equipment and transferring between boats in those conditions was not a good idea in my opinion. I tied some parachute cord I found to his bow and started towing. He explained that he had called the park police and asked for a tow, but they told him that towing canoes in those conditions was too dangerous and they would not do it. We soon found out why. We couldn't go more than about 2 mph or the canoe was seriously in danger of flipping so we sloooowly made our way across the lake. Chatting with the guy over the wind I found out that he was there with his buddies for a camping bachelor party, so there were at least two groups of paddlers on the reservoir.
After about an hour we had made some headway but were still over a mile from the launch. A rescue boat happened by and we flagged it down. They pulled the canoer aboard along with his equipment and his boat and whisked him to safety.
We eventually arrived back at the boat ramp and it was a beehive of activity. Ambulance, police, SAR personnel. While I went to get the car my wife was talking to one of the SAR guys. He said several canoes did flip and they had to rescue the paddlers, but now every was accounted for and safe. I'd like to take credit for initiating the rescue, but when my wife called she was told they were aware of the situation help was on the way. Just glad everyone was OK and they had stories to tell when they got home, but I wonder about the wisdom of trying to paddle back under those conditions, especially with kids.
Never did get to do any fishing.
Seriously, those scouts got a good lesson that day. Like ppine said, that "gotta get home" attitude can be a killer. There have been times for us out sailing when a mean squall rolled in and the best thing to do was turn toward it and ride it out.