Big Waves On Lake Michigan

surfinjoe

surfinjoe

New Member
Feb 23, 2007
946
Michigan
Boat Info
220 Sundeck 2007
Engines
350 MAG w/Bravo III
So we were in Holland Michigan last weekend. Had a great time and the weather was nice (cool but nice). Anyhow, Sunday came and we went to our favorite beach that is between Holland and Saugatuck. We arrived around noon and spend the entire afternoon there. Around 4:30 pm, we decided to climb the sand dune and get some excercise. It took us about an hour, and we really enjoyed our hike. Upon our descent, I noticed that almost all of the 50 or so boats that were around us were gone or pulling anchor. The waves had really picked up and were around 4'. We were anchored off shore only 20 or 30 feet, so we didn't have far to go, but the boat was kind of getting beat up on the hook and would be hard to board.

So long story short, we headed back and found the waves to be on the top side of 4' (maybe bigger). The old 220 SD handled them quite well indeed. We took one wave borad side and a few over the bow while trying to pull the anchor in, but once we were underway it was no issue. The bilge only ran once. It gave me good practice at handling rough water. As we returned to port, I saw an aluminum row boat with a 10 hp motor on the back and a couple of guys getting ready to go out fishing for a bit....bud light in hand. As they approached the mouth of the inlet, they noticed that the waves were quite large. The captain decided to turn around, but was a little late, A nice 4' roller came as he was turning and almost capsized his boat. I can't believe that some people are that crazy. Anyhow, if they made it out I was going to enter them into the Darwin awards but their brain cell must have sparked at the last second. Oh well.
 
In my opinion, the guy with the 10 HP stick steer outboard needs some sort of intervention. Soon!

I'm sure many here have "large wave stories". How they handled them, how well the boat performed and so on. However, I am not one of them. If there is one thing I hope never to see, its a 4+ foot wave while I'm on a 25' boat. I'm sure my lack of experience will come into question. But from my point of view, I see my enjoyment level dropping to sub zero......Not where I want it to be.
 
We had the boat out on Sunday (East Chicago ) and it was rough we took a few hard waves and we turned right around and went back in. 31' Vanguard and it still was rolling us.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 4
 
surfinjoe said:
It gave me good practice at handling rough water.
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I've maintained for many years that just about any dummy can drive a boat out on a lake where it's calm. It's challenging conditions such as you faced that make us better skippers. Every time we face a new challenge we should learn from it, whether it's at home, in the car, on the boat, etc. Doesn't matter where we are, what matters is how we handle the new challenge.

Good on ya for learning from your experience.
 
I have came in before with 4' waves rocking the hell out of everything and there are people going out in 10'-12' inflatables with a stick steer and a cooler - no life vests on, I just can't believe I don't read about it in the paper the next day.

LK
 
We can't always control where we are when the seas rise up. Being calm and in control is key. Keeping your crew calm is also key. I never felt like we were in danger, however my senses were 'hightened'. I actually really value this experience and I have a better understanding of how my boat performes in rough water. Throttle control between waves was also key. Power 'up' the wave and let off 'down' the wave worked well for my size boat. Trim up to keep the bow high and cut the waves at about a 30 degree angle. When approaching the inlet, you have to keep her up on plane until the waves are managable otherwise you risk taking a wave over the stern and possible loosing some contorl.
 
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surfinjoe said:
The waves had really picked up and were around 4'.
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I spent Saturday night at anchor in Erie. The overnight forecast was for <2's from the north. I was a little concerned because the anchorage is completely exposed to the north, but I decided to do it anyway. I didn't sleep, AT ALL. At 2:00 am, the first wave came over the bow. By the time I got to the cockpit, the dinghy (which I had stupidly left tied to the platform) was almost entirely under the platform. Two of the 6 other boats in the anchorage had broken loose or had weighed to reset. They were driving in what seemed like circles, but at least they weren't on the beach. I later heard that they dock on pier next to mine, and they claimed they were in 6-8's. I think reality was about half that, but I can appreciate the feeling!

On my way home the next morning, I witnessed the exact same scenario: a boat barely large enough on a GOOD day, doing a quick 180 at the last possible second. That probably happens at every port in the world on a regular basis...
 
It was a little rougher in Holland Sunday. Where was that video taken Scott? It would have been cool for me to take some pic's or a video, but I was focused on getting back safe. We had the good sense to put on our PFD's until we got back to Big Red. Saturday was good. I would say 1'-3' waves but nothing scary. We didn't go out Friday due to the wind that day.

sfergson727 said:
[video=youtube;vyzDXaO1CS4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyzDXaO1CS4[/video]

Here's a video I took last week in my whaler. As always, the video doesn't do the waves justice, but these are 5-6 foot waves. I took the 340 out in 8-10 foot waves later in the day, I was really pleased with the way the boat handled....took me 3 try's to get it back in the slip though. :smt013 (30 knot crosswind slightly quartering)
Click to expand...
 
mwph said:
In my opinion, the guy with the 10 HP stick steer outboard needs some sort of intervention. Soon!

I'm sure many here have "large wave stories". How they handled them, how well the boat performed and so on. However, I am not one of them. If there is one thing I hope never to see, its a 4+ foot wave while I'm on a 25' boat. I'm sure my lack of experience will come into question. But from my point of view, I see my enjoyment level dropping to sub zero......Not where I want it to be.
Click to expand...

Out here we can have weather conditions change in minutes going from 0 wind calm water to 10- 25 knot winds with 2-6' wind waves without any warning or small craft advisories, we have been caught in a couple this year it's no fun pucker level goes to 100. Last time it happened it took us almost 2 hours to go 5 NM at about 5-6 knots being slammed on the starboard side and bow with 15-25 knot WSW winds and steady 4-6' wind waves while traveling South we were taking water over the bow and windshield it seemed about every 4th or 5th wave. This was one of the first times I actually started to wonder if we were going to make it back to the marina there wasn't anywhere to get out of it without beaching the boat, lesson well learned we should have gone North about 2 miles to a marina for the night your life isn't worth being able to say I made it. When we were back home I looked at some buoy info where we were it had several gusts to 30 mph constant 15 mph no wave info.
 
To my knowledge, there were no small craft advisories last Sunday.

Bob & Sue said:
Out here we can have weather conditions change in minutes going from 0 wind calm water to 10- 25 knot winds with 2-6' wind waves without any warning or small craft advisories, we have been caught in a couple this year it's no fun pucker level goes to 100. Last time it happened it took us almost 2 hours to go 5 NM at about 5-6 knots being slammed on the starboard side and bow with 15-25 knot WSW winds and steady 4-6' wind waves while traveling South we were taking water over the bow and windshield it seemed about every 4th or 5th wave. This was one of the first times I actually started to wonder if we were going to make it back to the marina there wasn't anywhere to get out of it without beaching the boat, lesson well learned we should have gone North about 2 miles to a marina for the night your life isn't worth being able to say I made it. When we were back home I looked at some buoy info where we were it had several gusts to 30 mph constant 15 mph no wave info.
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I wonder if there were excessive employee absences at NOAA last wkd. Of all the times they've screwed me, Saturday stands out. As I was listening to howling wind and waves crashing over my bow, NOAA claimed "N Winds 5 mph, waves 2 feet or less".
 
Were you in the Put-In-Bay/Kelley's Island area? I know last weekend was the big Grand Haven Coast Guard party. Maybe NOAA employee's were busy at the party.

RollerCoastr said:
I wonder if there were excessive employee absences at NOAA last wkd. Of all the times they've screwed me, Saturday stands out. As I was listening to howling wind and waves crashing over my bow, NOAA claimed "N Winds 5 mph, waves 2 feet or less".
Click to expand...
 
Yep - Kelleys North Bay. I expect them to get forecasts wrong, but I always thought it was reasonable to expect them to get the CURRENT conditions right!
 
RollerCoastr said:
I wonder if there were excessive employee absences at NOAA last wkd. Of all the times they've screwed me, Saturday stands out. As I was listening to howling wind and waves crashing over my bow, NOAA claimed "N Winds 5 mph, waves 2 feet or less".
Click to expand...

I think those same guys must do shift work in the Chesapeake Bay. It's common to hear current forecasts like that all the while you're getting beat up from winds 3x the speed.

I've been involved in a few of these types of seas being discussed and I have learned a lot from them. Someone mentioned keeping your passengers/guests comfortable...that is the key. The only time I have ever had guests widen their eyes is when I have to make a turn from one river into the mouth of another, usually going from a head sea to a following sea with a turn around 130 degrees. These rivers are miles wide near the Chesapeake so the water here can get quite turbulent. I've always wondered how to best handle this situation. Going broadside to a wave or to is unpleasant. I've learned to counter steer some to keep the boat more upright when it rises up the side of a broadside wave and then oversteer when it comes back down. Trying to eliminate the heel or lean of the boat. Do I have the right idea? I don't have much choice but to go broadside at some point in order to make the turn. I think it just needs to be made as quickly as possible so as not to take too many waves broadside in these conditions...
 
There were no small craft advisory for southern Lake Michigan. NOAA said 10 to 15 knot winds with 1 to 3 foot waves. It was much more than that. It took a bit to get back into our slip. I havent been out in rough water like that since our last fishing trip out of Key West. But the kids thought it was fun like a roller coaster.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 4
 
I heard the reports of 1'-3' waves and didn't really even worry. I would say they were more like 3'-4' or more. Again, it was a good experience however a little warning would have been nice.

Next question: WHERE DID SUMMER GO????????????
 
We are in White Hall Michigan, and we're 5 miles from the big water Lake Michigan, we listen to NOAA all the time and they are always wrong, it says 1-3 footers and we take a drive in the car to see the big water and there it is 5-6 footers and winds at 25 knots....Holy Crap, when can they be right???
Now I do a bouy report from Muskegon and have found a web cam in the white river light house, which looks at the Big Water...
 
boltman said:
We are in White Hall Michigan, and we're 5 miles from the big water Lake Michigan, we listen to NOAA all the time and they are always wrong, it says 1-3 footers and we take a drive in the car to see the big water and there it is 5-6 footers and winds at 25 knots....Holy Crap, when can they be right???
Now I do a bouy report from Muskegon and have found a web cam in the white river light house, which looks at the Big Water...
Click to expand...

Mainstream news was saying 7 ft waves on LM today. You never see that reported on mainstream media. Doesnt sound like it was a secret. I live in Texas.
 
On the rare occasion we wake up and see whitecaps, we just go back to sleep. "Maybe we'll go out after lunch".
I had to run back to the marina in a strong, windy rain one time. Worst 45 minutes of my boat ownership.
 
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