What Happened?

[Durangutan]

So, I haven’t been on CF in ages and with cabin fever setting in I thought I’d check the ol’ Great Lakes forum to see what’s going on. To my surprise, there are only two threads... well, three now. Am I broken or did something happen?

[Durangutan]

Never mind. I guess it’s just been quiet the last 100 days...

[JPA Cate]

From what I've picked up from other posting, the closed borders and no sailing orders have kept activity down a lot.

One of our members is "stuck" in BC, while his boat is stuck in Nova Scotia. He has done a lot of Great Lakes sailing in the past.

Ann

[GordMay]

Although there’s not much ice, yet, the Great Lakes waters are currently inhospitable for sailing, or watersport. Thunder Bay HARBOUR is partly frozen, but the Bay is still wide open.
About 50 per cent of the lakes’ surface area usually ices over in winter on average.

[Durangutan]

Thanks Ann. Much of the problem is my ineptitude. I didn't realize "Last 100 Days" was selected in the display options and thought that years of threads had disappeared.

Yeah, we canceled a trip from Lake Michigan to Buffalo, NY because of the border closure. We did have two enjoyable sailing vacations up there but I heard some marinas were closed due to the high water levels and/or due to the unmentionable.

[JPA Cate]

If you want to catch up, you could try a CF Custom Google Search (a ways down the Search menu), and see what you could find.....

Ann

[pcmm]

Originally Posted by Durangutan

Thanks Ann. Much of the problem is my ineptitude. I didn't realize "Last 100 Days" was selected in the display options and thought that years of threads had disappeared.

Yeah, we canceled a trip from Lake Michigan to Buffalo, NY because of the border closure. We did have two enjoyable sailing vacations up there but I heard some marinas were closed due to the high water levels and/or due to the unmentionable.

Most of the inactivity was due to the lockdown this year. We weren't even allowed to launch until mid june! couple that with closed borders, clubs not offering reciprocals this year (due to covid) and a general feeling of unease to travel outside of region and its been pretty quiet.

Thankfully we didn't have the high-water issues of a couple of years ago! that would have just made it all worse!

[hlev00]

I expect a lot of newbies are picking up on the FB groups. It's too bad as it dilutes the power of our community. I'm seeing the same thing happening with boat specific forums that have been running for years on other platforms but don't show up on google searches. Fortunately CF seems to get picked up so at least people searching for solutions will come across CF that way.

[SV Siren]

I did a keyword search for "Great Lakes" and got a return for 499 mentions, some of which were posted in that particular subcategory. If the returns are limited to a time span, then yes, it has been quiet. The FB groups for the Great Lakes have been as busy as ever though..or so I have noticed from my visits.

The Chesapeake Threads on a couple of forums seems to take on a life of it's own, but that is a localized area. When you say Great Lakes, it encompasses a pretty large region that is roughly 1500 Km as the crow flies, or 1850 Km through the water distance...a pretty big area..but never the less, it is not a very active chat.