Ten degrees down by the bow

[30yearslater]

Hello fellow Lake Ontario sailors. How are you making out with the high water? I launched April 14th and fortunately where I am at, I have floating docks. Most of my colleagues have docks underwater or are unable to transit under fixed bridges. Stopped at the Port of Rochester last evening and was impressed by the piers being about 16 inches from going under. Definitely not a good situation.

[Crew of Turning]

More water coming your way until the snow melts north of Superior. In our area of southern Georgian Bay we are 600mm above datum at slack water (no wind). Our marina has put a lot off effort into raising and lowering fixed docks. The rocks are still there but on longer awash.

[Jim Cate]

Ho! Wasn't it just last year or so when all you GL sailors were whining about LOW lake levels? For those of us who sail in tidal waters, your complaints seem trivial!

(Just kidding, of course)

Jim

[Crew of Turning]

Jim this will be our 3rd year with high water, No complaints from a lot of us who have seen the cycles before, Hopefully the Detroit river will shoal up and slow the flow.

[30yearslater]

Actually Jim you raise a good learning point even in jest. Here's how this differs. Sailors and support services (marinas) have the ability to set up their facilities based on tidal ranges which are predictable. Setting up for the range of a spring tide is quantifiable as the lunar cycle remains constant. What we are seeing here is the result of the IJC (International Joint Commission) adjusting water levels by releasing or holding water at the dams on the St. Lawrence River. Lake Ontario being at the bottom of the food chain benefits and suffers from water flowing into it from the upper lakes based on their levels. If the upper lakes have large rains or snows that water then makes its' way to Ontario via the Niagara River. There is a natural cycle to it with lower levels in the late summer and fall as rainfall is less. IJC has reduced outflow through the winter on the St. Lawrence and increased last summer and fall. With heavy rains and snow in the GL Basin the levels rose faster than planned resulting in the current ultra high levels few remember ever seeing. Hurricane Agnes in 1972 resulted in such a situation. Now the problem is the IJC can't release more water or Montreal goes under. The overall issue is the threat to shorelines including several nuclear power plants. The competing interests (shipping, power generation, shoreline property, recreation and environmental factors) are all affected positively or negatively.
Again thanks Jim for presenting an opportunity to share some information about this unique area.

[pcmm]

Originally Posted by Crew of Turning

Jim this will be our 3rd year with high water, No complaints from a lot of us who have seen the cycles before, Hopefully the Detroit river will shoal up and slow the flow.

Last year was a low water year on Lake Ontario. Everywhere we went last summer they kept warning us that the water was lower than usual and we might get stuck... and we only draw 4ft!

[UNCIVILIZED]

Go to Youtube & do a search under "sailboat heeling under bridge", you'll get lots of interesting options. And having grown up on the Great Lakes, I can certainly remember the "lean years". We had boats with keel-centerboards till I was in college.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiv0fxFcV3I

[Mike OReilly]

I’m personally loving the higher levels right now. By the end of last season we barely scrapped back into our marina in Belleville. Of course, I think the beginning of last season also had water levels quite high — not as high as this year, but pretty high.

I’m new to Lake Ontario, and am amazed at the seasonal variation in water levels. Not sure how normal this is, but nothing like I was used to on the upper Great Lakes.

BTW, for a historical perspective you can check out the Great Lakes Environmental Research site: https://www.glerl.noaa.gov//data/das...GLD_HTML5.html. For Lake Ontario it looks like water levels have been quite stable since the finalizing of the modern Seaway.

[astokel]

I had noticed above average water levels at the Outer Harbour Marina in Toronto this year. Yesterday water was lapping over the land docks. The floating docks were fine. I was there today and the land docks were about 6 inches above the water. Yesterday there was a heavy westerly, so it must have been a sieche.

[rpjn59]

How the heck did he get those bags to move out board? I can see lines when he was pulling them into the boat after going under the bridge, but getting them out board to start listing the boat?

[td0tz]

Originally Posted by rpjn59

How the heck did he get those bags to move out board? I can see lines when he was pulling them into the boat after going under the bridge, but getting them out board to start listing the boat?

Lower them on deck, lift them over the side. Watch the magic begin!

[LeaseOnLife]

Originally Posted by 30yearslater

Actually Jim you raise a good learning point even in jest. Here's how this differs. Sailors and support services (marinas) have the ability to set up their facilities based on tidal ranges which are predictable. Setting up for the range of a spring tide is quantifiable as the lunar cycle remains constant. What we are seeing here is the result of the IJC (International Joint Commission) adjusting water levels by releasing or holding water at the dams on the St. Lawrence River. Lake Ontario being at the bottom of the food chain benefits and suffers from water flowing into it from the upper lakes based on their levels. If the upper lakes have large rains or snows that water then makes its' way to Ontario via the Niagara River. There is a natural cycle to it with lower levels in the late summer and fall as rainfall is less. IJC has reduced outflow through the winter on the St. Lawrence and increased last summer and fall. With heavy rains and snow in the GL Basin the levels rose faster than planned resulting in the current ultra high levels few remember ever seeing. Hurricane Agnes in 1972 resulted in such a situation. Now the problem is the IJC can't release more water or Montreal goes under. The overall issue is the threat to shorelines including several nuclear power plants. The competing interests (shipping, power generation, shoreline property, recreation and environmental factors) are all affected positively or negatively.
Again thanks Jim for presenting an opportunity to share some information about this unique area.

Interesting, I didn't know, they are managing it that way. I am sitting at Lake St Clair, way upstream of you, Lake Superior, Huron-Michigan, St Clair, Erie are tracking at last years levels, with little increase in April, only Lake Ontario gained 0.5 meter in April. To me this looks like inflow is average, same as last year, but they plugged the Seaway downstream from Kingston. Is there more flow from other tributaries, risking too high levels at Montreal?

Dirk

[Tetepare]

Sodus marinas don't want to launch. Too much risk bringing the boats to the slips. I'm guessing AC power to docks is off too. I'm ready to launch but there are boats in front of me.

[Cu Mor Glas]

Originally Posted by Tetepare

Sodus marinas don't want to launch. Too much risk bringing the boats to the slips. I'm guessing AC power to docks is off too. I'm ready to launch but there are boats in front of me.

I'm in the oak orchard river. Well I'm not "in" because just 20 minutes ago I finished putting my vdrive back together. So maybe next weekend I'll be in. But the marina I'm hauled in has their docks above water and the power on. As does the marina I'll be using once I'm in the water. I lot of the private docks in the river are awash. And the marina by the bridge at rt 18 is well under water. There are boats tied there, but hip waders are recommended to get to your boat.

[30yearslater]

Hi Tetepare, one guy in our Meetup group said the same thing about Katelyn not wanting to launch. He has a Catalina 36 up there in Sodus. Cu Mor Glas are you at Gatlens right now? I'm at the county docks next to the Sheriff's boat. Mighty lonely up there at the moment. Some of the OOYC members are going to short term dock there while the water remains high and the bridge prevents going farther upstream. Hello Lease on Life. There is some Plan 2014 that was put in place to regulate higher highs and lower lows the last few years to assist the environment some how. They got caught with their pants down when they started raising the levels and higher than average rain fell in the Great Lakes Basin. Now with the upper lakes dumping in at record rates the IJC can't release without causing problems on the St. Lawrence. Of course the flow is so high there this will cause higher fuel consumption for the traffic heading upbound. An off year for certain. Hello astokel. I am planning on visiting Toronto July 6 -9 and hope things will calm down by then. Getting a dock anywhere this year could prove interesting if the water continues to rise.