Lake Michigan is on Fire!!!
 

I just went out to the Pier, I saw waves hitting the N side and going as high as the marker, the buoy says some 7s and with a 30+ mph wind we should see some 8s to 9s and a hopeful rouge wave of 10. I also think they will die a little but space out to nice rollers, I am taking the Zodiac out, if anyone wants pics I will have the camera and I will look, or more likely listen for you. I even wear a helmut sometimes, this may be one, a good vest, the lanyard and I even tie a rope to my ankle so I don't loose the boat, with wind and waves like this the boat would be gone even if stopped. When we say 10 is big it is because the waves are a second apart and about 10ft wide so they are 10 ft walls of water. So look for this and I will follow you.

That's some big water.
I used to love running in the 3-5's on Erie, and that was in a 25'.
Yeah, it's a quick fast wall of water.
In that size boat I got nervous in anything larger, but had been out in as much as 6-8's.

Be careful in that little blow-up boat - but have fun!!!

you are crazy, but hey, you only live once so live life to the fullest.

There is really nothing safer than this boat is these seas. I have been in 12-14s on lake Superior, the thing about this boat is it is impossible to sink it, with 5 chambers and a rigid hull it is very buoyant, you cannot stuff the bow and it is a very dry ride. It sails off waves like a jet ski and lands a ss first so it is soft. I would not go out in a boat this size unless it was a RIB. The Coast Guard can't be wrong.

Last time I checked, the US Military kinda likes 'em too....:cool:

Be safe out there!!

Only calling for a high of 64 degrees in Chicago tomorrow, I can't believe the season is over already..... :traurig001:

Loading the boat onto its winter home called the trailer tomorrow AM... :( Yeah, I know it's early but my wife is pregnant and due in about a month so it's time for me to shift gears... ;)

I used to go diving out in Lake Michigan and Lake Superior in an inflatable. It was a Zodiac. Like you say,they are very safe in big water. I remember once we got caught out in some big water. Had 3 guys, 3 sets of dive gear and a foot of water in the boat. Still floating . Just bailed out with a small bucket and kept her going. When I took it out by myself its exactly lilke you describe
You are going to have a blast out there!

A nice feature of the newer RIBs is the self bailers, there are 2, 3" holes at the back of the cockpit that suck water out fast, I have had a lot of water come in when I had a wave break on the side right into the boat, it was done on purpose to see what it could take, I also was heading down a wave, pulled back on the throttle and let the wave break over the stern, it just passed right thru. It has 2 bilge pumps also but water rarely gets into the hull. The rating is for 11 people or 3200lbs so you can imagine the buoyancy, you could fill it with sand and still float, the old adds had a football team standing in and around it and it hardly settled in the water. I will surely take pics. Dyno went out with me once in 6-7 ft waves, he had a blast too.

Zodiacs are freakin awesome. My cousin has played with one all summer. Zodiac with twin 250 Merc egg beaters on the back. RCMP West Coast Marine Service and their patrol is 600miles of pacific ocean coastline, between Alaska and Washington State. They do both law enforcement and search rescue, etc. Their requirement is the boats in service must be able to handle any weather conditions, which near Alaska can get a tad nuts! :cool-smiley-027:

I was looking for you, where were you :drink: