Re: [Paddlewise] Lake Michigan Crossing Article

From: Doug Lloyd <douglloyd_at_shaw.ca>
Date: Wed, 04 Apr 2007 17:04:22 -0700
Mike, I guess Michigan Lake has significant fetch on a northerly or nor'easter 
wind. Buoy 45007 is north of where the incident took place. Sharon said that 
waves are typically bigger closer to shore (south of the buoy) and that 
there is a time delay when comparing wave heights near shore to the further 
upwind (in this case) buoy. She felt the two paddlers were fairly accurate 
in their guestimates (let's face it, that's usually the case - a 
guestimate), especially given the Chicago Police marine unit reported 
similar wave heights.  I think she rounded up to 10 feet in part of here 
subjective comments, which may have been slightly higher than fact, although 
we all know the odd wave set can be a little higher than the average 
significant wave height. Sounds like she did her homework. Still, not a bad 
job, given she didn't appear to be a paddler or knowledgeable with respect 
to marine navigation experience.



I'll see if the two fellows have anything to say about the leak issue. I 
know for me, as crazy a paddler as I seem, there are three fundamental 
considerations to a safe paddle I look at seriously. They arbitrarily 
include the paddler, the boat, and navigation. Sounds like the boat part and 
the navigation part may have been compromised for the crossing attempt. I'll 
often compromise the navigation part in the interest of  finding a challenge 
close to my thresholds or slightly more in - staged degrees.



Doug L





> Ooops, I need to print a retraction. I made an error in converting UTC to
> CDT when I said the wave hts that day were about 4-4.5' at the South lake
> Mich bouy. It was pointed out to me back channel thatfrom 7pm to 8pm CDT
> the wave hts from the data file were 7.4 to 7.7 feet. So it appears the
> hts reported in the article are pretty close, 6-8' and then 10'. I'm very
> sorry for the misrepresentation.
> -mike
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Received on Wed Apr 04 2007 - 17:05:43 PDT

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