Icom Canada Awards Radio for Best Story

The Trip to Muddy Hole Point

My name is Paul Langdon and I am the owner operator of Canoe Hill Adventures based from Laurenceton, NL. We run kayak tours of various lengths in the Bay of Exploits. And this is my story….

*Click photo to enlarge

In the beginning

Four summers ago one of my guides and I were guiding a group of five Ontario residents on a six-day kayak trip to the Exploits Islands, located at the headlands of the Bay of Exploits, NL. The paddle from the launch site to Exploits Islands is approximately 14 km and on a warm summer day with light winds, we all paddled comfortably to our base camp. From there we paddled and hiked for five days exploring all of the remarkable sights the bay and islands could offer.


Paul (right) with his guide, Jason. (Photo credit: Carol Hodgins, Wanapitei Chateau, Tamagami, ON)	Chart showing the open water crossing.

My trusty

Icom I use an Icom M32 marine transceiver to monitor Channel 16 and to constantly listen to Environment Canada and the continuous marine broadcast for weather warnings. Everyday decisions whether to paddle or not to paddle and where to paddle are based on wind direction and speed, so receiving the weather channels is very important. Equally as important of course is the ability to communicate with guides and Coast Guard stations should something go awry while paddling.

To go or not to go

On day six of our trip the entire group paused at the south west end of the Duck Islands while I was trying to make a decision whether to make the 4 km open crossing from Upper Duck Island to Muddy Hole Point. The marine forecast from my Icom was telling me the wind would pick up to 20 kts from the SW by noon. It was blowing about 10 kts as we looked across the run. The group had told me they were intermediate paddlers and my observations throughout the week were that they just may be that. My decision was to go for it as I felt that they could handle a 20 kt headwind. I asked my assistant guide to lead the group across and I would sweep behind to ensure everyone’s safety. About a km into the crossing, the wind, as predicted, began to freshen up and I noticed for the first time that some of the group began to tire.

Can you hear me now

My guide was beginning to increase his distance between us as he was with two of the stronger paddlers. The winds picked up again and I soon realized that three of the paddlers were having trouble and would need assistance. I used my Icom to communicate with my guide to inform him that a lady in the group needed to be towed. He returned to the rear, attached a tow rope to her bow and headed out again.

This guy is good

Being very strong he surged ahead with her, but the group separated again leaving me to paddle beside two more paddlers who were now tiring quickly. Using my Icom again I called my guide and told him to get the two stronger paddlers and the person he was towing to Muddy Hole Point safely and return with his tow rope.

The boss can paddle too I

had connected my towrope to the weaker of the two remaining behind and kept encouraging the other to just keep at it. I received a message back from my guide telling me that he made it safely and he was on the way back. I soon saw his yellow kayak surfing in a following sea towards our location. He soon arrived and fastened the second towrope.

Are we there yet

It turned out that the forecast had not been accurate. The winds had now picked up to 25-30 kts and were so strong that as we were towing our weaker paddlers a visual reference to the shoreline to the west gave us the perception that we were barely moving. It was tough work, but we eventually got them safely back to the departure site. What was normally a four-hour paddle took us nearly eight and all were physically exhausted. One of the weaker paddlers told me that as he was paddling he was having a fantasy about the internal combustion engine. He told said that he would have traded anything for just one piston.

How about that Icom

I have summarized the eight-hour ordeal is just a few lines, but it was a continuous period of hard work and decision making that I felt was aided immensely by my dependable Icom M32. There was no way of communicating with my guide without its assistance and I used it many times throughout the ordeal.


Paul's trusty Icom M32.	The crossing as viewed from Exploits Island looking south with Muddy Hole Point in the far right.

When only the best will do

The amazing thing about the radio was that on a previous trip, while cleaning dishes at the waters’ edge and in the dark, I heard something fall into the water. I felt around for whatever it might have been but felt nothing. About 45 minutes later I wanted to listen to the marine forecast and reached for my radio in my pfd pocket and…..it was gone.

I hurried to the waters’ edge with my flashlight and began to search the area where I had been bent over and cleaning dishes. There it was; my Icom lying in about 18 inches of water. I reached in, pulled it out and dried it in my clothing. Figuring it was a write off, I turned it on and went to the weather channel. The broadcast was totally garbled and again I thought it had met its end. But suddenly the transmission became clearer and in no time was back to normal. The Icom (and PFD) you see in the photo is the same unit and I have been using it ever since that day.

Nobody is perfect

I have also included a map showing the crossing from upper Duck Island to Muddy Hole Point. There were about 8 more km of hard paddling after we reached Muddy Hole Point but we could have got them to shore quickly in the event of a capsize during that leg. The decision to make the 4km open crossing was not something I’m proud of but I do try to justify it somewhat based on the forecasting errors.

So that’s my story (and I’m sticking to it…Editor’s note)

Paul