When the waves turn the minutes to hours how to#

When the waves turn the minutes to hours how to#

A more lasting memorial would be figuring out how to avoid tragedies like this in the future and the first step in that process is always an analysis of what went wrong. There was a memorial service for Allen Sunday in Duluth. The autopsy determined that he died of hypothermia sometime between 5:30 and 6pm Friday evening, right about the time the Coast Guard was contacted. Kachelmyers body was found at 7:30am in Justice Bay on Sand Island. The Coast Guard searched all night with a 4am crew change. The NPS and DNR searched until midnight when weather conditions had deteriorated severely.

The Coast Guard, Wisconsin DNR, and NPS responded with air and sea assets, including two helos from Traverse City and a Canadian Coast Guard C-130. When the friend arrived at Sand Island and did not find Allen at the campsite, he borrowed a radio and contacted Coast Guard Bayfield shortly after 6pm. The friend hollered to him to wait up but for whatever reason, Kachelmyer never turned around'. The fellow that perished, Allen Kachelmyer from Scandia, MN, had a sail rig on his kayak and 'according to NPS findings, Kachelmyer paddled away first. People tried to discourage them but they launched anyway. The Ashland paper is pay for view, but the gist of the article was that the the two guys launched from Little Sand Bay in deteriorating weather, heading for Sand Island's East Bay.

It was researched and written by Julie Buckles, who many of you may have met at the last Inland Sea Society Kayak symposium in Washburn, WI. The Ashland Daily Press published an in depth story on the kayaker that died in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore on the 10th of September.