On October 8th the Great Lakes paddling community suffered on incomprehensible loss when Nick Walton succumbed to hypothermia in a downwind race on Lake Michigan. Nick was a professional canoe racer and over the past couple of years had discovered a love for surfski racing. You can read his full obituary here



I was a participant in the race and have spoke with many of the racers since the incident occurred. This podcast is my best attempt to explain what I know from this very tragic day.



There are lessons to be learned from what happened to Nick, and my sincere hope is that these lessons will save many lives in the years to come.



My sincere condolences to Nick and his family.



Below is the YouTube recording of this podcast. As we get into the podcast I use my Garmin track to show the race route and provide more context to the location where we were racing.




https://youtu.be/6HXsndxDasg