Whitecap-covered Lake Alice was giving Jay Thurston and Mike Kinziger fits late Saturday afternoon.

The pair’s ultimate hope for the day was making it to the Tomahawk dam by 9 p.m.

Thurston and Kinziger had to get off the Wisconsin River for two hours from about 3-5 p.m., Saturday, due to high winds. However, they made it past Whirlpool Rapids.

“The wind is making it miserable for them,” Diana Thurston, Jay’s wife, said, watching the pair crossing Lake Alice. “They’re going forward, but it’s windy.”

If the pair stopped for the night at Tomahawk dam, they would be behind by two stops on their itinerary. They had planned to reach Grandfather dam by nightfall.

Thurston and Kinziger are in the early stages of a 436-mile canoeing trip down the Wisconsin River. They were heading straight into a strong southwesterly wind for the second day.

Earlier in the day Kinziger said he felt good. Thurston, at about noon, said he was on the mend after suffering from an upset stomach on Friday night.

After crossing Lake Alice, the two are to turn south down the river across Lake Mohawksin. Tomahawk dam is located where Dean Road crosses the Wisconsin River south of Tomahawk.

Being four hours behind isn’t such an obstacle to overcome, and in the big picture, doesn’t matter much. Thurston said before he left for the trip that at this stage in his 50-year-plus paddling career, he’d simply like to finish the trip. Improving on the 8-day effort that he and Kinziger accomplished in 1983 was the goal above that; followed by the ultimate goal of finishing on the itinerary.

Kinziger was up for the challenge, too, fulfilling the promise he made to Thurston after the pair had set a canoeing record on the Yellowstone River in 1985. Kinziger and Thurston also set a record for canoeing the St. Croix River, going 177 miles in 41 hours in 1984. That trip was aided by exceedingly high water levels, which is what they will encounter on the Wisconsin River if the weather allows them to approach the Lower Wisconsin Riverway.

This will be the final update for Saturday. The Broadcaster hopes to have another update sometime around 8 a.m., Sunday. Website updates will be available subject to cell phone reception and the support needs of Thurston and Kinziger as they head downstream. Jay Thurston, 75, of Viroqua and Mike Kinziger, 60, of Moscow, Idaho, are attempting to paddle the length of the Wisconsin River. Their itinerary calls for them to finish in six days and 10 hours, which would set a new speed record for canoeing the river.