Ya, It's Only a Lake, But...

Stoo · 23 October 2006, 22:24

I know you guys are far to polite to say it, but in case you think our Great Lakes are pretty whimpy boating territory compared to your Sea, I thought I would post a few pics I took a while back. These were taken about 10km from my house along the southern shore of Georgian Bay, in Lake Huron. The cliffs you see are between 20 and 25 metres high! The white stuff on the trees is ice! I took these from my boat...

OK, the last part I made up...

BogMonster · 23 October 2006, 23:59

Looks a bit choppy. If you weren't in your boat taking the pictures, were you swimming?

Stoo · 24 October 2006, 01:28

That's it... swimming! No, I hiked out to the shore and wedged myself in a crack in the rocks. The bedrock was actually shaking... I suppose compared to your neighborhood, this really would qualify as "a bit choppy"!

prairie tuber · 24 October 2006, 02:04

Great photos Stoo!

There was a discussion last year about how dangerous inland lakes can be, particularly HOMES, in this thread:

http://www.rib.net/forum/showthread.php?t=9074&page=2

codprawn · 24 October 2006, 02:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stoo

That's it... swimming! No, I hiked out to the shore and wedged myself in a crack in the rocks. The bedrock was actually shaking... I suppose compared to your neighborhood, this really would qualify as "a bit choppy"!

Well yes to be honest BUT that cold - what a killer!!! Our waters are bad enough in winter - survival time is in minutes rather than hours around here - must be seconds with you!!!

prairie tuber · 24 October 2006, 02:17

Once it's cold enough, we Canadians walk on water.

Stoo · 24 October 2006, 02:35

Thanks PT... an interesting thread. Your Lake Winnipeg sounds a bit like Lake Erie.

BogMonster · 24 October 2006, 09:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stoo

That's it... swimming! No, I hiked out to the shore and wedged myself in a crack in the rocks. The bedrock was actually shaking... I suppose compared to your neighborhood, this really would qualify as "a bit choppy"!

I have seen stuff looking a bit like that very occasionally, but the South Atlantic isn't as horrible as it is generally made out to be. That's impressive

Stoo · 24 October 2006, 10:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by codprawn

Well yes to be honest BUT that cold -

Oh it's not that bad. It warms up quite nicely by mid-August. Surface temps can get up to perhaps 13 or 14 C. It only lasts for about 3 days before it starts to cool off again. You are right though, generally it is the cold that kills boaters. Lifejackets only serve as "corpse-corks"...

pathalla · 24 October 2006, 16:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stoo

I know you guys are far to polite to say it, but in case you think our Great Lakes are pretty whimpy boating territory compared to your Sea, I thought I would post a few pics I took a while back. These were taken about 10km from my house along the southern shore of Georgian Bay, in Lake Huron. The cliffs you see are between 20 and 25 metres high! The white stuff on the trees is ice! I took these from my boat...

OK, the last part I made up...

typical Great Lakes squall... not the best boating weather but we take what we can get...

jyasaki · 24 October 2006, 16:56

If you took them from your boat, I hope it was on a trailer, and shot through a window in your garage... While sipping a nice hot toddy.

jky

Stoo · 24 October 2006, 20:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by jyasaki

If you took them from your boat, I hope it was on a trailer, and shot through a window in your garage... While sipping a nice hot toddy.

I mentioned earlier that I took these after hiking to the shore (it's part of a National Park). The biggest danger was that there were tree branches coming down everywhere due to ice accumulation.

A friend at the time (now deceased), who was an 80 year old retired commercial fisherman, said it was the worst storm he could ever remember. The Coast Guard reported 25 - 30 foot seas during that storm.

pathalla · 25 October 2006, 01:29

The Lakes they do get riled up, especially when it runs hard west, northwest, doesn't it Stoo?

Stoo · 25 October 2006, 02:09

Where I am, we get it from the north-west as well as the north-east (as in these pictures). This past summer, we had a lot of your wind coming our way from the south, but we are in the lee in that case, so it's not so bad. My place looks out to the north-west and at this time of year we tend to spend more time looking at the lake, rather than being out on it. I refuse to pack the boat away until the snow prevents me from backing down the ramp... Hopefully, I'll be good for another three or four weeks... Then I'm going to drop in on Tomas in the Virgin Islands!