Giving Sea Ray owners a bad name

[sbw1]

Have always heard that the Great Lakes can turn into the worst of boating environments very quickly. No personal experience there and little to no knowledge.

Do you have tides? are they significant?

When you see the inlet looking like the photo - would you even want to be on the other side of it?

When the lake looks like the pic you want to be on the beach looking at it, not in a boat. I highly doubt the USCG would attempt running out of the inlet in these conditions, and they do go out for training in some pretty rough stuff.

 

[sbw1]

"When the gales of November come early"

People commonly speak about the lake being angry during these storms. That of course is hyperbole. These conditions are simply the normal seasonal changes that occur on the Great Lakes. Those of us who live here enjoy the changes and majesty Mother Nature displays every fall. Our children used to bring their college friends home for the Thanksgving holiday so those who lived far away would not be lonely over the long week end. Our favorite reactions often came from the east coast natives who had never seen a Great Lake. Most common expression was, "This looks just like the ocean." Another, "Wow! You can't see the other side."

 

[firecadet613]

If you're on Facebook, here's a link to the USCG Duluth playing in their inlet yesterday....

https://www.facebook.com/424859537619849/posts/2232857126820072/

 

[Great Lakes]

If you're on Facebook, here's a link to the USCG Duluth playing in their inlet yesterday....

https://www.facebook.com/424859537619849/posts/2232857126820072/

Holy Shit!! That’s insane. Twin Turbo 825hp Rolls Royce had no issues.

 

[RollerCoastr]

Have always heard that the Great Lakes can turn into the worst of boating environments very quickly. No personal experience there and little to no knowledge.

Do you have tides? are they significant?

Lake Erie can have a serious seiche. It can go up or down by several feet, and rapidly. With the high water earlier this season there was a day that I had to take off my shoes at the edge of the parking lot and wade through thigh-deep water to reach the floating pier. I opened up the boat, unloaded the cart and returned it to the end of the pier, which was no longer submerged. An hour later, it was all underwater again.

 

[mobocracy]

The Edmund Fitzgerald was lost in a storm that was comparable to this one. It broke into two pieces when the bow and the stern were floating on different waves with a trough in the middle. These storms occur routinely this time of the year on the Great Lakes.

Holy Shit!! That’s insane. Twin Turbo 825hp Rolls Royce had no issues.

These are actually MTU Detroit Diesel engines driving Rolls Royce waterjet propulsion.

It didn't make sense that a boat that size would have gas turbine engines.

 

[Great Lakes]

Lake Erie can have a serious seiche. It can go up or down by several feet, and rapidly. With the high water earlier this season there was a day that I had to take off my shoes at the edge of the parking lot and wade through thigh-deep water to reach the floating pier. I opened up the boat, unloaded the cart and returned it to the end of the pier, which was no longer submerged. An hour later, it was all underwater again.

This isn’t an exaggeration. See it first hand myself at rollers marina.

 

[firecadet613]

This isn’t an exaggeration. See it first hand myself at rollers marina.

Now that I'm on fixed docks vs floating on the south side of Lake Michigan, I concur. Amazing when you think of the volume of water moved in such a short time.

This was last week, a few harbor towns down from @sbw1 photo.

https://www.facebook.com/130665870404819/posts/1608107045994020/

 

[FootballFan]

The eco system of the Great Lakes is interesting.

Question: Do you wind tides? not sure if that is the correct term. There are places where the water gets piled up because of wind or other conditions.

There is an occurrence in the Keys - around Key Largo where they have annual floods, this year it is worse because of storms has caused the gulf stream to pile up water inside of FL bay. Water is not getting out, so it is higher than normal.

I know other times the water gets pushed out of the bay with prolonged wind.

How accurate are marine forecasts on the Great Lakes? Do they account for the specific conditions (ie: Size of the body of water with shallow than ocean depths?)

 

[RollerCoastr]

Question: Do you wind tides? not sure if that is the correct term. There are places where the water gets piled up because of wind or other conditions.

Yep, that's a seiche. Somehow that term isn't widely known even in the GL.

How accurate are marine forecasts on the Great Lakes? Do they account for the specific conditions (ie: Size of the body of water with shallow than ocean depths?)

The accuracy of the forecasts seems to be getting worse and worse.

 

[firecadet613]

Forecasts are pretty accurate. I use a combination of these and the Wind Finder app.
https://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/marine/zone/gtlakes/lotmz.htm
https://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/marine/zone/gtlakes/lmopen.htm

Being on the south end of a North / South lake, anything out the south makes for a decent day. Last week I had to make a 15 mile run to haul out, but the 30mph winds out of the south were a non issue as I ran 1-2 miles off shore.

 

[Strecker25]

Have always heard that the Great Lakes can turn into the worst of boating environments very quickly. No personal experience there and little to no knowledge.

Do you have tides? are they significant?

When you see the inlet looking like the photo - would you even want to be on the other side of it?

I have very little first hand boating experience in other parts of the country and I know squalls can come up quick in the ocean...but the speed that weather can hit you on Lake Ontario (and the other Great Lakes) is nothing short of incredible. You can see a wall of weather on the horizon and not have enough time to get the anchor pulled before it will go 0’ to 3-6’.

the other difference is 3-6’ on these lakes is significantly different than 3-6 swells on an ocean. They’re extremely steep and past 2’ are often breaking even in open water. Most wave action is created by wind

1-2’ forecast is the most I’m willing to voluntarily travel in on our 290 and even that is uncomfortable. We’ve come back from Canada in 3-4’ and it’s absolutely miserable.

 

[Woody]

View attachment 76196
People commonly speak about the lake being angry during these storms. That of course is hyperbole. These conditions are simply the normal seasonal changes that occur on the Great Lakes.

I dunno, I think 'angry' is a good description sometimes. A friend and I were at Isle Royale and it started to get stormy. He went into an old fishing camp for cover. The entrance is narrow and depth was a question, not having outdrives I could trim up like him, I didn't go in. I went to an old park service dock a few miles away. Once there I could see the low islands and reefs weren't blocking the wind/waves good enough so I headed to another location about 9 miles away.

The lake changed, the clouds were dense, heavy looking and black they came down low, the water looked black too. It got dark enough that I turned on my running lights though it was only about five in the afternoon. The waves had turned into what looked like large cones in the 8' range. We were doing about 8-9mph, it wasn't too rough a ride, but some bad rolling side to side as we'd be sort of glancing of the base of those peaked waves.

I said to my wife 'look at how the water is moving, it's like it's alive and mad about something'. She didn't like me saying that. I realized it all was spooking her out when I saw how tight she was hanging on to the grab rail. It definitely was strange for a while, hadn't seen that before. I was getting spooked a bit myself, all that was missing were Kraken tentacles reaching up from the water.