Increasing Safety at Sea Caves

The Apostle Islands National Lakeshore has become a world-class destination for sea kayaking, but some of the most popular attractions can also be treacherous. Under certain conditions, the sea caves can quickly change from awe-inspiring to terrifying. As waves roll into and reflect off of the cave walls, they can intensify and capsize even experienced kayakers. Once out of their boats, paddlers face the threat of hypothermia in water temperatures that hover in the mid-40s for most of the summer and rarely exceed 60 degrees. In addition, the surrounding steep cliffs make seeking safety on shore nearly impossible.

Conditions at Meyers Beach, where kayakers launch their boats, may seem easily manageable. However, after rounding a bend to approach the sea caves, paddlers can face significantly larger waves.

With support from the Wisconsin Coastal Management Program, Wisconsin Sea Grant Coastal Engineer Gene Clark teamed up with Chin Wu, a UW-Madison civil and environmental engineer, to find out if there was some way to measure the waves near the sea caves in real-time and transfer that information back to kayakers, outfitters, and park service staff.

Clark, Wu, and two graduate students tested some of the wave monitoring equipment in February 2009, when a thick layer of ice allowed foot travel from Meyers Beach to the sea caves. They also began working with the City of Bayfield, Inland Sea Society, local outfitters, Friends of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, and park staff to determine the best format for presenting the real-time data from the wave sensor so that its most useful for kayakers.

The system may take some time to develop fully, but initial testing suggests it will ultimately help kayakers make safe decisions about when to explore the caves.

Read the full story:
http://aqua.wisc.edu/Chronicle/Default.aspx?tabid=377

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Apostle
• Islands
• National
• Lakeshore
• Sea
• Caves
• kayaking
• wave
• monitoring
• Wisconsin
• Coastal
• Management
• Program
• University
• of
• Grant
• UW
• Madison
• Engineering
• Lake
• Superior
• hypothermia
• safety

[joek0617]

@GBPaddling besides, with 100's of tourists a day, 7 foot waves possible, and being far from any natl. park office, it would be hard to keep up

[joek0617]

@GBPaddling i've gone in those very caves, (kayaking) and i would no go out in lake superior without a wetsuit on. i took a swim in the sand island caves with one on, for like a half hour, and wasn't too cold. then again, the water was unusually warm

[dltanner99]

Cryptozoology adventure novel about twp boys who find something strange on the beach one night  see video book trailer

[vaultcoach01]

There is a webcam there presently. Plus the pressure sensor and some more instruments as well.

[GBPaddling]

Why not just install a webcam?seems the best option to me,but even then conditions can change quickly whilst out there.The main rulr here me-thinks is"Dress for immersion" not easy sometimes,we have it here in the U.K. in spring/early summer.The air temp. can soar,but the water temp is still,cold.The only safe way is a drysuit which leads to"Boil in the bag" syndrome,but at least you will survive a swim,plus it's great unzipping when you make landfall.

[Clar0522]

Hey that's my dad! (Gene) I didn't know he actually did something...like.....work.....­....at a job.