Idea for ballast in high winds

Lighter is better except in high winds. I keep some empty gallon jugs on board to fill as ballast when conditions get nasty. Each gallon is 8.3 pounds. If you wipe out, the water jugs won't take your boat to the bottom as rocks or other heavier-than-water ballast will. In the Boundary Waters the wind can appear unexpectedly, and that accounts for most of the deaths there - a sudden wind or storm when a party is crossing a lake. So carry the empty water jugs. Four or five will stabilize a small, lightweight canoe.