Quote:
Originally Posted by kbudd
...North storm force winds to 50 kt. A few storm force gusts to 55 kt possible mid to late morning. Rain and snow showers. Waves 10 to 14 ft occasionally to 18 ft building to 18 to 23 ft occasionally to 28 ft into the afternoon....
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Not bad ... for little Great Lake
. If you want to really get scared, come up to Superior
.
I jest, of course. All the Great Lakes are not to be taken lightly. They are big enough to produce huge waves. But the waves are tight and steep, and because
weather changes much quicker over the continents, things can go from calm to "
all hell breaking loose" in a very shore time. This makes the Great Lakes far more challenging than most ocean conditions.
This past season I sailed four of the five Great Lakes (missed Michigan, unfortunately). We've spent the last near-decade on Superior, so I was prepared to be underwhelmed once we got into Erie and
Ontario. Boy was I wrong! Turns out Erie was the spookiest. It would go from flat to boiling big waves in 20 minutes. And
Ontario gave us the most challenging overnight sail of the whole 1500 nm journey.