 In
the spring of 1997, my wife Debbie and I felt like doing some
camping, but not like dealing with the fierce Northern Ontario
blackflies. We drove down to Awenda Provincial Park (on Georgian
Bay near Midland) and set up our tent trailer there.
On a clear, sunny day we decided to paddle out and do a circuit
of Giant's Tomb Island, just across the bay from the park. We
paddled the 4 km out to the island and up the 6 or 7 km of its
length. As we were paddling back down the island, a typical
Georgian Bay afternoon squall began to develop. We watched a
blue "wall" of foul weather begin to roll in. We
weren't at all concerned, since we could simply put ashore and
wait out the storm. As we made our way down the island toward
the southern tip, we noticed that the front seemed to be fairly
stationary, not getting any closer to us. We eyeballed the front
behind us, and the park shoreline 4 km in front of us and tried
to decide what to do. Should we wait and see if the storm
passed, or should we make a quick dash for the opposite shore?
We were hearing
thunder in the background, but had not seen any lightning, and
the front didn't seem to be moving very quickly, so we decided
in favour of the quick dash. We paddled away from the island and
began the crossing, with good-sized rollers pushing us along.
When we were about one-third of the way across, we began to hear
an increase in the amount of thunder and saw the first flashes
of lightning. All of the pleasure boats suddenly disappeared.
The knowledge that you are the highest object in a 4 km square
area of water is not a pleasant feeling. We had reached the
point of no return - it would have taken us longer to paddle
back to the island into the waves than it would have to keep
going, so we carried on. We watched the lightning begin to flash
even more frequently in the distance. Fueled by fear and
adrenaline, we paddled even harder. We completed the 4 km
crossing in less than half an hour, but it was the longest 30
minutes of my life.
Lightning can be a real
threat to paddlers if they happen to be caught out in a storm.
We don't seem to get hit as often as golfers, but we still hear
of the occasional paddlers who get killed by lightning. We have
to be aware of the weather conditions as they are developing. If
ominous thunderclouds begin to develop in the west or northwest,
we should be prepared to take action. Thunderclouds in other
directions will generally miss us, since prevailing winds
usually push our weather from the west and northwest, but there
are no guarantees.
If thunderstorms begin to develop in our immediate area, the
only sensible course of action is to get off the water as
quickly as possible. Lightning seeks the easiest path between
positive and negative, which means the highest object in the
vicinity. If we are out in a canoe in open water, we are that
highest object, and are putting ourselves at substantial risk.
Getting off the water
also means that we are careful about not putting ourselves in
danger in our place of refuge. We don't seek out the tallest,
most magnificent white pine in the area and try to gain shelter
under its branches. Tall trees are also lightning-attractors and
we could be in just as much danger under them as we are in the
water. The same applies for setting up camp. Putting our tents
atop the root system of the tallest tree in the area is not a
good idea.
Cliff Jacobson, the
well-know author of canoeing books mentions a "cone of
protection" which extends out at approximately 45° from
the tops of the trees on the shoreline. The water in this area
is supposedly fairly safe. In theory, lightning is more likely
to hit the trees adjacent to this area than an object in the
water. Still, lightning can jump from root systems or trees to
canoes if they are close to shore so it means that we have to
stay a bit away from the shoreline. I don't believe that I would
want to be the person to test the theory about this "cone
of protection", but if I absolutely had to paddle in a
thunderstorm it seems to make sense that this is the lesser of
many other evils.
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