Better wind bound than dead

After writing my “Wind bound” posting a thought kept bouncing around in my head, so I am putting thoughts to paper. In the modern world we tend to live by the clock. We have routines we stick to and time schedules we build our life on. A reliable person is one who appears at work, at appointments or at home for meals, on time.

Indians on the other hand live more by the day or by the season. They are on time if they arrive in a day or two. They learned long ago to bend with Mother Nature.

People who have camps and cottages in the lake country bring their rigid routines with them from the city.
These habit can end up killing you, if you do not learn to compensate for the weather or the season.
I have heard many stories of people out in boats or canoes who suddenly came face to face with bad weather and failed to act wisely
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High winds, plus the waves they create, can turn a lovely day on the lake to a gut wrenching experience.
Unexpected rain or sleet can chill the unprepared to dangerous levels. A snow storm or freezing temperatures that come without warning can also kill a person in a short space of time if they are not dressed properly. I am not talking about city living but being out in the wilderness.

In the last 200 years the records are full of stories of people who drowned on the lake during a storm. In far too many occasions an investigation into a tragedy showed that the person or people involved were more concerned in getting home for supper or before dark. They were faced with being “wind bound” or storm bound and instead of thinking clearly, they took off for home, and died doing so.

Whenever I headed out into the lakes and woods of Northern Ontario, either by boat or on foot, I had a rule. My family and friends understood that if the weather turned against me I would stay put and wait it out. In other words I would not risk my life to get home at a given hour or before dark, just because common rules said I should do so. I would say, “Give me a day or two to get home before you call the police.” I had no wish to be rescued when I was simply wind bound and waiting for conditions to improve.

Many old tales of canoeing trappers, hunters, and voyagers mention being “wind bound” from a few hours to many days. It was comparable to getting stuck in heavy traffic in a modern city. It is an acceptable reason to be late in either case.

Why then does the weekend warrior fail to sit out the high winds or storm and risks his life to get home?  When you interview a survivor of a boat or canoe that swamped in a storm, far too often you hear how they were trying to get home at a given time or before it got dark. In hindsight it seems nothing but stupid to lose your life trying to get home before dark.

A cold rainy night shivering on a rocky shore is a small price to pay against dying.

Being wind bound is like having an insurance policy to stay safe. Don’t live by the clock and end up dying because of it.