| MILD THUNDER |
01-24-2014 09:54 AM |
Maybe I suck at judging wave heights. All I can do is go off NOAA reports when it comes to boating (even though they can be misleading). On lake Michigan, I have found when getting ready to take the boat out, I can expect these scenerios
Wave Forecast Nearshore Within 5 nautical miles of shore.
1ft or less. Good day for a nice cruise. Even the guys with 25ft boats can come out and enjoy the day.
1-2FT. The guys in the 25ft boats can still come out, but It might be a bit bumpy, and chances are not doing any top speed runs. A little chop to get the larger boats running faster but still able to drink a beer underway.
1-3FT. Things are getting more fun. The 25ft boats are catching good air for photo op's. The 35-40' boats are running fast, with the occasional throttling.
2-4FT. 25FT boats are getting beat up. All they can do is maintain a steady speed, and hope to reach the destination in a timely fashion, before anyone gets sick or falls down. 35-40's are starting to catch good air, definitely some throttling going on if your running hard. Youll catch a couple random hits that tell you to take it down a notch.
3-5's. 25FT boats stay in the harbor, or are in for a wet ride. 35-40's are having a hard time running fast. The waters are confused and beginning to be unpredictable and hard to read. Its a very lively ride in a large offshore boat.
4-6's. The Cig and apache guys come out and tell everyone else it was a smooth ride and they hit a new top speed record, not realizing their nose has grown 3 inches before the story is over.
6-8s. Your borderline busting a stringer, the fun factor has dropped to 0. Your just trying to make it to protected waters asap. Your pleasure boats microwave explodes, your norcold fridge just busted a Freon line, and you chipped a gear off your lower gear set. You come to the understanding of why the old Apache raceboats had no cabin, just bulkeads and stringers.
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