De Pere trip leaves paddlers winded

By David Horst  sandhill7@gmail.com

The 78 boats easily fit in the De Pere Lock.

GREEN BAY -- The scouting report was not good. Two-foot waves rolling off Green Bay driven by a forecasted 20 mph headwind out of the north.

Our plan was to launch the 78 kayaks and canoes that had arrived at De Pere’s Bomier Park and travel eight miles down the Fox River to the Green Bay Metro boat landing, paddling into the wind and waves with paddlers having varying levels of experience ... in the dark.

This was the Moonlight Paddle of the Fox-Wisconsin Heritage Paddle series on Aug. 10, and the plan had to change.

Before launch, we made the decision to cut off the final three miles, where we would be paddling into the worst of the wind. Only the most experienced kayakers bristled at the compromise.

We would take out instead at Zeller’s Ski and Sports, a paddle shop about five miles down river where several of us had purchased our boats. The owners welcomed us. The parking was sufficient. All that remained was to reschedule the shuttle bus from the Green Bay landing to Zeller’s.

That recalled to mind the one item on my to-do list left unchecked: “Get contact info for shuttle.”

The arrangements had been made by Jeff Mazanec, whose brainchild this whole paddle series had been. He was driving back from a business trip. I punched his number on the cell phone and asked him if he had the number for the bus company in his phone. He wasn’t sure, and there was a traffic situation up ahead so he’d have to call me back.

He was laughing when the return call came in. Out of the traffic jam outside of Kenosha, a bus changed lanes ahead of him. Painted on the rear of the bus was, “Go Lamers,” with the 800 number. The Green Bay-based bus company was providing our shuttle. A call to the dispatcher solved our problem.

But the bigger problem was yet to come.

We launched in relative calm, two lines of boat-toting adventurers waiting to hit the water. A short paddle brought us to the De Pere lock, where the 78 small boats fit comfortably. The gates closed and, with many circles around the hand crank to open the valves, the 19th century engineering marvel lowered us to Green Bay water level.

It wasn’t long before we felt the effects of what the Weather Service says were winds ranging from 10 to 36 mph. I dropped my rudder to counter the wind’s desire to push my long, narrow boat sideways and dug harder into the river with my paddle.

As we approached the  State 172 bridge, some kind of weird funneling of the wind kicked in. We shot for the space between the third and fourth bridge abutments. The forces working against us intensified.

Paddling for all we were worth, the shore barely moved past us. Two canoes took shelter on the lee side of the concrete abutment to get a rest without being swept back down river.

I was getting too close to bridge pier number three so I decide to shift one gap over. Once I altered direction, the force of the wind caught me and didn’t release me until I was almost to shore. OK, the first gap would do.

Through a combination of hard digging, encouragement and help from others, we finally arrived at Zeller’s, minus a few who had decided to take out at the piers of willing neighbors upstream. The most skilled paddlers patrolled the route looking for people needing assistance. Everyone made shore safely.

It was nearly 9:30 p.m., the time we had expected to pull out after the full 8-mile trip.

I was spent and unsteady. Hands grabbed my boat and a familiar voice told me to wait a minute to get my land legs. Jeff Mazanec was back from his trip and helping out at the landing.

The conversation in the parking lot was about wind, where to eat and Ibuprofen.

Nowhere was anyone saying they wished we had done the full trip.

One more trip remains for Fox-Wisconsin Heritage Paddle 2012. The Appleton Locks Paddle on Sept. 29 will launch from Appleton’s Lutz Park and travel through all four Appleton Locks, landing at Sunset Point Park in Kimberly. Meet at Lutz at 8 a.m. to shuttle vehicles for the 9:30 a.m. launch. More information is at www.wisconsinpaddlers.org.