Totally agree... but an even bigger issue was that the winds were 26 knots. I don't care how good a canoeist one is, that's way too high a wind speed to overcome, especially when turning around. The wind was probably far less than that right close to shore perhaps protected by some trees, buildings etc and gave a false indication of how high they were... and no doubt picked up fast once they were a scant few feet off shore. What a horrible miscalculation.
Years ago I had a small rowboat I often took out in Lake Erie. The lake could go from mirror smooth and medium wind from the south (shielded by land as you mentioned), to 5 feet or more in minutes if the wind swung around in any direction. The oar on one side would be deep in the wave and in a second it would be a couple feet in the air. Water coming over the side. A bit scary.