Star Swift

Avoiding liability is the reason behind the growth of checks, according to Star Swift, an assistant professor at Grand Valley State University's Seidman Management Department.

"Attorneys are telling clients to do more and more background checks because they can be held liable," Swift said.

Star Swift, a professor at Grand Valley State University near Grand Rapids, circled the lake alone in 2000.

GRAND RAPIDS -- After 80 days of traveling in her kayak, battling the Great Lakes region's most rugged and dangerous coastline, Star Swift will admit that Lake Superior taught her a few major lessons.Many were simply about herself.Swift, an attorney and law professor at Grand Valley State University, completed the 1,300-mile circumnavigation of Lake Superior this summer.She left June 10 from Big Bay, where her family has a home, followed the shoreline toward Minnesota and eventually Ontario before returning to Big Bay on Sept. 2."The biggest challenge was the crossings," said Swift, 46, referring to the time she and her kayaking partners spent crossing open water between points of land, often many miles offshore."The crossings are mentally fatiguing," she said."They really play on your mind because you know what can go wrong."

A treacherous lakeWhat can go wrong is almost anything.The lake is known for its treacherous, violent nature.Gale force winds can blow up without warning, driving walls of water like freight trains into the ragged, rocky shoreline where they explode against the rugged cliffs, and no safe harbor exists.
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The exposed crossings, Swift said, were a necessary evil.She had to be back at the university to teach in the fall.There wasn't time to follow every nook and cranny of the lake's jagged shoreline."The biggest seas we encountered were about 10 feet," Swift said "They came out of nowhere and totally engulfed us.We were paddling down the Pukaska, Ontario shoreline and were out quite a ways, and they were getting huge."They went from 2-footers to 10-footers in about two hours.We were wondering how much bigger they could get, but fortunately we found a bay to pull into."

Living with the elementsWhile open water proved to be the biggest challenge, Swift, a driven athlete, said her days on shore proved the toughest times."The toughest was at Gooseberry Falls, Minnesota," she said."The wind was blowing 40 miles per hour.We got socked in for four days.It was very discouraging."The wind and rain were so bad, there was nothing to do but sleep in the tent and go into the state park building there where they had a fireplace and we could stay warm."I wasn't prepared for the waiting, but I had to buck up."It was one of the many lessons Swift would learn.There is a natural rhythm involved in such an extensive undertaking.
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With so many miles to go and so much unpredictable weather, Swift found herself chaffing any time progress slowed.Her style is more that of a sprinter than marathoner.Coming to grips with it would take some doing."I was dying when I had to wait," Swift said."I was like an unbroken horse.But part of what you learn is that you have to go at the lake's pace."That she would learn in the good company of others.Swift took up kayaking only seven years ago.She'd spent a lifetime on the water, the last 20 years involved with sailing.

Keeping her company But the simplicity of kayaks captured her imagination and in 1998 she traveled to Greenland to paddle with a group in remote fjords.In 1999 she ventured to Chile to paddle, again with a group in Patagonia.This summer her goal was to paddle around Lake Superior.
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But Swift would come to appreciate the company she was soon to keep.Her paddling partners each had something to offer.
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"When she first caught up with me and first asked to paddle with me, I told her, 'No, I wasn't interested.' I think she was shocked," Swift said.
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Swift agreed to a trial.The two managed to forge a friendship over the next few days, and Swift said she began to feel the safety of numbers.

© 2002Betsie Bay Kayak

GRAND RAPIDS -- After 80 days of traveling in her kayak, battling the Great Lakes region's most rugged and dangerous coastline, Star Swift will admit that Lake Superior taught her a few major lessons.Many were simply about herself.Swift, an attorney and law professor at Grand Valley State University, completed the 1,300-mile circumnavigation of Lake Superior this summer.She left June 10 from Big Bay, where her family has a home, followed the shoreline toward Minnesota and eventually Ontario before returning to Big Bay on Sept. 2."The biggest challenge was the crossings," said Swift, 46, referring to the time she and her kayaking partners spent crossing open water between points of land, often many miles offshore."The crossings are mentally fatiguing," she said.
...
The exposed crossings, Swift said, were a necessary evil.She had to be back at the university to teach in the fall.There wasn't time to follow every nook and cranny of the lake's jagged shoreline."The biggest seas we encountered were about 10 feet," Swift said "They came out of nowhere and totally engulfed us.We were paddling down the Pukaska, Ontario shoreline and were out quite a ways, and they were getting huge."They went from 2-footers to 10-footers in about two hours.We were wondering how much bigger they could get, but fortunately we found a bay to pull into."

Living with the elementsWhile open water proved to be the biggest challenge, Swift, a driven athlete, said her days on shore proved the toughest times."The toughest was at Gooseberry Falls, Minnesota," she said."The wind was blowing 40 miles per hour.
...
With so many miles to go and so much unpredictable weather, Swift found herself chaffing any time progress slowed.Her style is more that of a sprinter than marathoner.Coming to grips with it would take some doing."I was dying when I had to wait," Swift said."I was like an unbroken horse.But part of what you learn is that you have to go at the lake's pace."That she would learn in the good company of others.Swift took up kayaking only seven years ago.
...
But Swift would come to appreciate the company she was soon to keep.Her paddling partners each had something to offer.
...
"When she first caught up with me and first asked to paddle with me, I told her, 'No, I wasn't interested.' I think she was shocked," Swift said.
...
Swift agreed to a trial.The two managed to forge a friendship over the next few days, and Swift said she began to feel the safety of numbers.
...
Grand Rapids attorney and Greenland kayaker Star Swift used a Betsie Bay Grafite paddle on her part-solo voyage across Lake Superior last summer and gave it her top rating; she also gave an A+ to her kayak, a 17 foot, 36-pound Betsie Bay Valkyrie.

"I thought I was going over more than once this summer but never did.I pulled or paddled her over countless rocks, pebbled beaches, logs and sand, yet her hull still looks pretty good."So said Swift's review of her equipment when she posted it on the West Michigan Coastal Kayakers Association Web site (http://www.wmcka.org), which tracked her lake crossing last year.

Presenter: Star Swift, Professor of Labor Relations, Grand Valley State University and Chair, Michigan Employment Relations Commission

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