My daughter and son in law were reciently there and even went out at night, beautiful photos.
I'm now extra happy they went with a local guide, the first night was no go, too windy. Grandma stayed with the grandkids.
5 people in a 13 1/2 foot boat?
And the boat is a kayak, which normally has small holes for a person to sit in. How did they all fit in?
Sounds like an ill-considered voyage. RIP.
A couple years ago, my daughter called and told me she and her roommate were planning a backpack trip to Manitou Island, near the tip of the Lower Peninsula.
I asked how they were getting to the island and she said they were going to take Grandma’s canoe.
“NO”
I told her that I’m a good canoer and there is no way I’d paddle none miles across open water without a chase boat.
What is the “safety plea” in the headline? Nothing more than a teaser designed to get us to read the article.
The government is not responsible for people who do foolish things and put themselves in danger. Your family is very important to you. Don’t risk losing it by going out on a stupid kayak just because it has a funny name and will sound good in a facebook posting.
What a shame people continue to be foolish at the tragic expense of children in their care.
I cringe when I see row upon row of these plastic toy boatlets lined up at stores everywhere it seems. I se no flotation in them. They are inherently unstable as well. Just silly dangerous toys.
Those kids were not old enough for kayaking.
I used to live in a town with heavy and frequent railroad traffic; freight and passenger. The annual fatality count was amazingly high, even with all of the safety equipment and flashing lights the government could think up. Same idea; some things you just don't mess with, RIP.
The only way society can redistribute intelligence is to dumb down the bright. You can’t honor people for their superior knowledge. You can’t do anything to restrict the opportunity of the imbecilic.
These open kayaks are very unstable, but they are also unsinkable, and trivial to right. I imagine the waves kicked up under a light breeze, as happens on lakes. The family was probably dumped and recovered several times before they became cold and exhausted. The one that survived — the mother — did so because she was the fattest.
If society doesn’t provide boundaries for the stupid, this sort of thing will happen.
More:
The Coast Guard received the distress call about 8:45 p.m. and launched a small boat from Bayfield and a helicopter from Traverse City, Mich., said Coast Guard Lt. Daniel Peters. An emergency information message was sent to local mariners.
That was the message Walters heard on his ship about 9:20. By 10 p.m., he had rescued the woman, who was gripping the flashlight, too cold to speak.
Sounds like a ‘clueless neophyte plea’ would be more apt.
So sad. This lady is going to need some counseling, therapy, and prayers.
So sad..no way I’d take a kayak that far with kids, youngest 3 years old! no matter how experienced. Article says there was a storm warning as well..Lake Superior can turn into ocean like conditions in matter of minutes.
This story is a real heart-breaker.
This is all on the dad.
Attempting to paddle on Superior with babies is stupid. Paddling in open water in a shore craft is stupid. Even the most seasoned expert would think real hard about paddling that distance. The water is deadly cold, seriously deep and very, very strong. It’s nothing for a tiny shore craft like this to be overwhelmed in seconds.
Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world. This man should have known better.
I've kayaked close to 50 km on the lake at one time, but I was never farther than 400 yards from land, and I was wearing a drysuit. No way I'd venture into open water on that lake.
He rented the kayak from some outfitter and he should have discussed this open water with children plan with them.
Surely, they would have discouraged this plan and suggested an alternative safe family adventure.
RIP. I can’t even imagine her condition and fragile state of mind at this time.
“Coast Guard officials said hypothermia was probably a major factor in the deaths, especially of the children.”
They wouldn’t want to mention the stupidity of the parents now would they. We used to get these kayakers trying to go over an 8-foot man-made waterfall where the Clinton-Kalamazoo canal was supposed to go through and it was like they had “no fear”...More like no respect for the power of water and Mother Nature herself. I think it was in the summer of 1998 when in the span of two weeks, three of them, all in their 20’s, (one woman and two men) drowned doing the same damned thing. I have no doubt as I didn’t then either, that at least one of the 2nd and 3rd “victims” was there only because they’d seen and heard the news reports about the first incident.
If a ship like the ‘Edmund Fitzgerald’ can sink, I would NOT go out in a 13 1/2 foot kayak. That would be like me going out into the gulf in a pedalboat. Sounds like a candidate for the Darwin award.
They are not.
They are fresh water seas with all that implies.
I spent my whole life around the Great Lakes, and in my opinion, the only body of water in the world more dangerous than Lake Superior is the North Atlantic Ocean, in winter.
Only one time was I ever able to swim in Superior as a kid when there was some weird weather inversion where the wind came from the south for about a week. The water was reasonably warm. But I hear that doesn't happen very often.
There is a place called 7 Mile Hill, and it was a long, hot trudge to get to the crest and coast down. At the bottom was a small beach, with inviting blue water. We hopped off and raced into the water to cool off.
The fastest made it knee deep before he screamed and tried to walk on water to get out. I thought my heart was going to stop, and I was only calf deep...
This family was Darwin Award material. Only Liberals could be that blandly unaware of local conditions. And, children, in a kayak? THERE? They should charge the mother with murder. The PFDs only made it worse. The children froze to death.