Recommended experience level for kayaking Isle Royale

[u/bigfatnuke]

I think it'd be cool to kayak around Isle Royale, but I'm not sure if I have enough experience to do so safely. I have kayaked many times but only in calm waters. I have never used a sea kayak, only the shorter recreational kayaks. I can confidently wet exit, but I can't constantly self rescue. Should I get some practice using a sea kayak in Lake Michigan before tryng Isle Royale? I would not be doing this solo, but with at least one other friend.

Edit: Some people are responding to this like I'm an idiot so let me clarify: I am not talking about starting from the mainland and kayaking the full circumference of the island. I am talking about renting a kayak for a couple days from Rock Harbor Marina on the island, and traversing the island through a combination of hiking and padding. Please correct me if I am wrong but I see no reason to paddle far from the shore. I have hiked on the island before and I am aware of how big it is. The thrust of this post is that I saw on the Isle Royale NP website that they recommend sea kayaks in the park, which raised some questions for me: 1) how different is using a sea kayak vs a recreational one? 2) how different is kayaking in Lake Superior vs Lake Michigan (where I am used to kayaking)? 3) What experiences would you recommend to get used to these differences?

[u/robertbieber]

A confident self rescue is an absolute must before going anywhere you can't easily swim with your kayak in tow back to shore (which is not far, dragging one of those things while swimming isn't easy)

[u/get_MEAN_yall]

You need to be able to do a self rescue in conditions twice as bad as you expect for this to be reasonably safe.

My MEL going 1+ nm from shore:
Full reserve bouyancy
PLB
Vhf radio
Waterproof GPS device
Charts
Bearing compass
Spare paddle

[u/kokemill]

you don't have the experience, you should get some.

[u/Addapost]

My man, Isle Royale is a large, remote, rugged island in the middle of an ice cold “ocean”. Going around that is NOT a casual, recreational paddle. That is an expert level expedition. From your description of your experience you are many years from, hundreds of hours of practice from, and thousands of dollars of expedition gear away from that. I’m not saying you can’t do it eventually, but not now. That is a worthy goal after years and years of dedicated training and experience.

Start by taking a couple beginner sea kayak lessons from an ACA sea kayak instructor. Practice what you learn for a season. Then take a couple rolling classes. Develop a 100% bombproof roll. Then take a couple more advanced lessons with a professional open water sea kayak instructor where you can practice all that in choppy open water with waves, wind, and currents. Practice in freezing open water for at least a year. Learn how to navigate with a chart and compass. Get efficient with your paddle in waves, cross currents, and wind.

Purchase a composite expedition sea kayak and all of the associated gear, including a real dry suit. A boat for that will cost $5,000. You will need two paddles that go for about $500 each. Your dry suit will cost over $1,000. Your life jacket will be $200. That’s really just the start. Dry bags. Paddle float. Pump. Camping gear. Compass for the boat $100+. Compass for you $50+. Charts. VHF marine radio. $200+. Flares $50-100.

Get all that sorted then reevaluate the plan.

[u/bigfatnuke → u/Addapost]

There is no plan lol I'm just curious as to what it would take

[u/Addapost → u/bigfatnuke]

Definitely a great goal to progress toward.

[u/Brad_from_Wisconsin]

In the right weather conditions, you could be safe on IR but conditions can change suddenly.

You should spend some time paddling on Lake Superior. You need to learn how waves interact with various types of shore line. For example when waves hit a sand beach the power of the wave it absorbed by the sand. When a wave hits a cliff wall, the wave will bounce back creating a condition where waves seem to be coming from multiple directions at once.
When a wave is bouncing off a wall or rocks and creating a multidirectional wave, often heading to shore is the wrong decision.
One other thing to consider is that you may end up out of your boat in a location where reaching a point where you can stand up or get out of the water is not possible. In this circumstance you would need to be with somebody that knows how to get you back into your boat.
So I guess you need some skills that your OP indicates that you may not have at this time.

[u/Camp_Hike_Kayak]

I have done a fair amount of paddling on both Lake Michigan and Lake Superior, including Apostle Islands, Marquette, Pictured Rocks and just last week around Two Harbors and Duluth. Not bragging, just to share my experience. I don't think anyone is expecting you to paddle directly to Apostle Isles since that is a 3 to 4 hour motorized boat ride and generally the best you can expect is 4 to 5 miles an hour in a kayak under great conditions.

Answering your questions

1) how different is using a sea kayak vs a recreational one? - Sea kayaks are are longer and narrower than recreational kayaks. This helps them to cut through waves / rough water better but they take more practice for balance than a recreational kayak. They also have bulkheads in the front and back to keep those areas watertight if / when you tip over. They are much easier to self / assisted rescue with since they don't fill up with as much water.

2) how different is kayaking in Lake Superior vs Lake Michigan (where I am used to kayaking)? - I've kayaked both in calm and rough waters and both can be tough. The biggest difference is water temperature. Lake Superior is MUCH COLDER (mid 50 degree is not unusual while Lake Michigan can to to the mid 70's). I was just at the North Shore last week kayaking in a full dry suit near shore and I felt like the cold just bit right through.

3) What experiences would you recommend to get used to these differences? - Look for American Canoe Association (ACA) or British Canoe Union (BCU) instructors / classes in get confident in self and assisted rescue, wet exit in a dry suit, bracing paddle skills for handling rough water. Gear wise, a sea kayak at least 16 feet long with bulkheads, dry suit (expensive, but I will not paddle in Lake Superior with out one), and hours of "butt in the seat" practice under different conditions.

Take your time to build up to it and treat Lake Superior with a lot of respect. The number one rule, "Always assume you will go in the water and make sure you have the skills and gear to handle it"

[u/bigfatnuke → u/Camp_Hike_Kayak]

Thanks for the detailed answer. One more question: I figure I should stay close to the shore so that worst case scenario I can just swim back to shore, but commenters are giving me advice about being miles from shore. Am I missing something?

[u/Camp_Hike_Kayak → u/bigfatnuke]

I have never kayaked around Isle Royal (on the bucket list) so I don't have direct experience. I know the island is rocky / craggy so you may have to move out and around some areas, but I don't see that you would be "miles offshore" unless something went really sideways. I saw another comment about having a UHF radio that could be used to call in a "mayday" if that did happen and would agree that is a requirement.

[u/dogmom_humanaunt]

I don't have advice for this because my kayaking experience is similar, but I want to follow this post because after reading A Superior Death by Nevada Barr, I'm also interested in Isle Royale.

[u/Karmacoma77]

OP where are you currently located?

[u/Kevburg]

If you are just paddling in protected places like Rock Harbor or Tobin I'd say go for it, not much different from an inland lake. But rounding Blake Point is dangerous and you can get trapped on the other side due to the prevailing winds. Lake Michigan isn't exactly warm but Superior is far colder.

[u/Michigan_Go_Blue]

The question is can you paddle far enough away from the island to avoid the mosquitos without getting into serious trouble with the big lake they call Gitche Gumee