What is a good source for Lake Ontario marine weather forecasts for a few days out?

I started out using weather.ca, but it did not seem very informative. Lately I have been using wunderground.com, the Lake Ontario marine weather is hard to find, but pretty detailed. Any other suggestions?

What weather will you boat in? I try and avoid thunderstorms, and when they say that the waves will be 3-5 feet or higher. I assume that experienced boaters go in waves a lot bigger than that. What is your threshold?

This one use to be fairly decent http://www.greatmich.com/greatmarine.htm but, they went realy down hill this year. Last year they had a much better forcast other than the time I decided t go to PIB in lake erie from Port Huron. Forecast for the weekend waves no more than 2 feet conditions on the return no less than 4 feet. realy sucked driving back at 20-30. took 12 hours return - going was like 5-6 housrs

http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/maps/EastGL.shtml


I usually click on bouy #45012 to see whats going on. I haven't found an accurate forecast. I'm comfortable in anything up to 4-5'. Beyond that beats the boat too bad. I've been out in 10' once, that was a handfull. The waves on Lake Ontario are steep and inconsistant. Very difficult to find the "sweet spot" with. If you are traveling a long distance like Hot Stepper was, anything past 3' would be very wearing.

Where on Lake Ontario are you planning on running?

I run in the Toronto area about 1-2 times a week on average and maybe 3 out of 10 times out will it be calm, the rest of the time expect to be on the throttle like a friggin hawk cause that lake can get nasty very quickly.

You can always just run close to shore or go put around in the harbour but that isnt really very much fun.

If you are boating in Toronto watch out for debris in the water.....it is bad news. I have seen picnic tables, logs, lawn chairs, construction pilons, etc. You have to be alert especialy if you are running fast.

im a big fan of sailflow.com. they have radar, wind speed/direction, satalite and a bunch of other good stuff.

I put the boat in at Lakeview, and either drive to Toronto Harbour or Hamilton. I try and pick the less rough days based on the forecast.

What do you mean when you say "get nasty"? And what do you do when it does?

This is what I have been using:

http://www.wunderground.com/MAR/LO/062.html

It is word for word the same as sailflow.com, it must come from the same source.

When I say get nasty I mean the lake gets very rough

When this happens I throw on a life jacket and give 'er

I was out today at about 3pm on Lake Ontario, and the swells seemed really big. It seemed that we were really coming out of the water. I was going about 70kph or so, when we went off a really big swell the engine would over-rev, and sound different, and we seemed to be way up in the air, then we would free-fall and crash into the next wave. Is it possible that the boat was fully out of the water?

It was pretty intense, but I have so little boating experience to know if it was dangerous, or nothing. There were not too many other boats out at the time. Now we all are covered in bruises from bouncing around.

If the engines revved the props were out of the water. Not safe for a novice. You need to learn to throttle properly before you blow a drive. Throttle back as the props come out and get back into it on re-entry. rough water can break a lot of stuff. It is also a fun challenge to run in. You should find someone to help you learn. Be carefull and good luck!