Best boating imo. Water can kick up fast. Pulled into a bay in my 25 Sunsation for about an hour once, 1-1.5 when we stopped 4-5 when we left. Fun ride. Been out in 6-8 too. Absolutely no fun.

L. Huron and L. Michigan
 

Anyway, 3 quick questions:
1) Do ya stay close to shore?
2) Does it ever get warm enough to swim in?
3) Any interesting stories?

Wife and I usually boat L. Huron between Port Sanilac and Detroit. And L. Michigan from Charlevoix to Harbor Springs and Grand Traverse Bay.

1). Usually stay within 10 miles of shore. (:evilb: 'Cept when da wife wants to get frisky out on the sunpad, then out to 15! :party-smiley-004:)

2). We jump-in at about 68F. (:drink: 'Specially after heated sunpad events :cool-smiley-026:.)

3). Headed out on L. Huron to a sandy state park beach 20 miles away. Was a clear calm sunny day. After several hours, the on-shore waves suddenly increased in magnitude. Was a ***** pulling in 80 feet of anchor rope in 4-footers. :hitfan: 20 knot crosswinds, 3 foot chop mixed with 10 foot rollers... not a pleasant ride home.

Based on my experience, the best way to stay safe is to check weather trends from several sources. Especially during the time you are returning home.

My three sources are; 1). NOAA marine forecast, 2). Three local coastline marina forecasts, and 3). Local NOAA buoy data.

How do you get the data from the second two sources? Sun pad fun! Yay! Don't try that on Lake St. Clair. They have super border cams!!!!

NOAA data
 

:party-smiley-004: SUPER border cams???? Sheesh, and I thought the perverts with binoculars on freighters were bad! :eek:

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/marine/zo...akes/dtxmz.htm

http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=45149

http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=ftgm4

And depending on wind velocity, I often just check hourly accuweather for Port Sanilac (MI), Lexington (MI), Port Huron (MI), and Grand Bend (ON).

I mainly track trending winds, and NNE wave magnitude (emanating from Canada).

Lake Michigan can be some of the best boating around but as said before, it can turn on you just like any other big water and make you have to change your pants when its all over.

A few years ago we took my buddies 25 Sea Ray from Michigan City to Chicago. It is only 38 miles but it is deceiving because you can see the city in the skyline as soon as you get out onto the lake. We pointed right at the skyline and headed out in 2-3 footers. Once we got into the middle of the lake we ran into 8 foot rollers so we headed towards shore and creaped our way to chicago with life jackets in hand. What was supposed to be a 1.5 hour trip took us 8 hours and LOTS of gas. We were all so scared that at the end of the trip he caught a ride back to Michigan City to pick up the truck and trailer and then drove back and got us and the boat. Nobody wanted to experience that again....
Since then we bought our 270 Powerquest and my wife refuses to cross in any direction.... She wants to be near the shore. I would do it but I would be much more careful since that experience.

Thanks for the info. Yup, super cams! One is for night vision and they have super zoom. Keep your pecker in your pants. Big Brother is watching you!
http://i763.photobucket.com/albums/x...s208Medium.jpg
http://i763.photobucket.com/albums/x...s204Medium.jpg

+1 for border cams
 

:coolcowboy: Yeah, next time I had better hide it in something ASAP! :lolhit:

Anyway, I'm glad the borders are watched. :flag:

I am too. I've never had any problems with the many law enforcement agencies on the border waters. I just try to pee off the Canadian side if not too far from shore :).

Did you see Lazlo's post?

I have been caught a mile or so off south bass by a storm at night, came out of nowhere like hitting a light switch. Winds clocked on the island at 78 mph. Was out on erie once, stopped to pee, standing up I had to look up to see the tops of the waves. The old nova got a tad bit of air that day.

Laz's post.. (oops) http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/a...ugh-water.html