Ego has no place here

 

Today I had a terrible day on the water, and that doesn’t happen often.

 

Not only was I not doing all that well with my fishing, but I spent the majority of the day paddling as hard as I could in order to get back to my launch, and I nearly didn’t make it.

 

This day started pretty much the same as any other day. I launched my kayak towards the middle of the lake and began my day of fishing. I went up one shoreline, down another, hopped across the lake to the opposite shore, and so on.

 

Then the wind picked up. In my infinite wisdom I decided the easiest way to get back to the beach would be to follow the shoreline for a ways and then hop from island to island using the backside as protection from the wind and waves. Simple.

 

It sounded good in theory, and went well in practice, however the one big mistake I made was not pulling out my GPS unit as soon as possible. I was positive of which shore I was on, and which part of the lake I was on. This was a relatively small lake compared to a lot of others I spend time on, no way I could screw it up. Hell, I could still see the beach in the distance when I decided to start island hopping!

 

I went for a solid 2 hours of paddling, navigating some rough shorelines and crossing from small island to small island, hiding from the wind and keeping the direction of the beach firmly in my head. I had one more stretch of open water to cross and then turn in that direction and follow the shoreline home. Simple, direct, no more than an hour of some hard paddling, and I was still getting some fishing in here and there. I was in no hurry, and no danger.

 

Such self certainty can be a dangerous trait when you are outside alone.

 

Another hour of paddling and I had no cottages in sight, and hadn’t passed any of the few landmarks that would indicate the beach was around the next corner. Something was definitely off and I should have stopped where I was to orient myself. I couldn’t be bothered to break my rhythm and pull off to shore though, I knew I was going the right direction and must have just misjudged the distance I had covered with my island hopping.

 

I was wrong, so wrong.

 

Several unfamiliar bays later, with no boats or cottages in sight, I finally admitted to myself that I was actually lost.  It was a scary moment, I was already getting tired of paddling and the wind was not letting up. I simply didn’t want to be wrong, because that would mean the real work was just getting started. It was.

 

It was time, I found a quiet shoreline I could stop at. I had a quick stretch, and pulled out my GPS finally. I hadn’t misjudged the distance, I had misjudged the direction completely. I was at the opposite side of the lake from where I wanted to be, and heading the wrong way.  I had more than 5 miles to cover to get back to the launch, directly into the wind.

 

I spent the next 4 hours paddling against the wind and waves in order to get back to the beach I had launched from. By the time I got there, I was cramping up and about ready to collapse. I had at several times on my way back decided that I couldn’t go on any further, but each and every time I pushed on. I didn’t want to be that guy who’s parents had to come searching for him because he was too dumb to turn on his GPS.

 

It was about 8:00 pm when I pulled up to the beach. I could barely haul my kayak out of the water and onto the grass. I was dehydrated, sun burnt, and starving.  Out of the whole day on the water, I had spent about 4 hours fishing, and 8 hours paddling, most of that against the wind and into whitecaps.

 

This was a day of arrogance balanced with determination. I knew that I couldn’t be lost, and once I realized I was, I knew that I couldn’t quit. That long return was both the scariest and the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. I burned off 7 lbs (even after pigging out on dinner with my parents) and my arms and shoulders took 3 full days to recover. Later, when mapping out the route I took, I discovered I had done almost a complete circle around the entire lake.

 

All this is of course to say, that you should never hesitate to bring out your GPS unit, no matter how confident you are that you know where you are or what you are doing. While confidence is great to have, when you are out on the water or in the bush that confidence needs to be tempered with humility and a big dose of caution.

 

This was a hard learned lesson for me, but it is one I won’t soon forget.