"prodigal1" writes:

depending on the severity of the winter over the past 25 years I have
seen _many_ square kilometers of pack ice as late as early June that
have rendered the far east end of the lake unpassable as the ice, driven
by the prevailing westerlies, piles up against the ice boom placed at
the entry to the Niagara River

Sage advice.

Also included in that ice are tree trunks that have come loose over the
winter and drifted down the Great lakes chain.

In the Pacific North West, they are called loggerheads.

On Lake Eire, the usual comment is Son-Of-A-Bitch, hope that f**ker didn't
hole the hull.

BTW, that boom across the river is there to protect the docks on the Black
Rock canal.

It's nice in that part of the country during July & August.

Been there, done that.

Lew

Thanks guys, this is finally getting to the solid advice I was looking for.
I'll probably have to do some of this trip in the dark and I would hate to
hit a chunk of left over ice or a tree trunk. Even in the daytime, it would
be hard to see either. I'll plan on early June or a longer trip.

--

Roger Long

Roger Long wrote:
Thanks guys, this is finally getting to the solid advice I was looking for.
I'll probably have to do some of this trip in the dark and I would hate to
hit a chunk of left over ice or a tree trunk. Even in the daytime, it would
be hard to see either. I'll plan on early June or a longer trip.

I wanted to add that one of the hardest passages I've had (my wife would
say "worst," but I enjoyed it too much to say that) was crossing Lake
Ontario from Whitby to Oswego in early June. This was our first long
cruise (the mast was down at that point) in our new catamaran.

We had planned to do the 110 miles as an overnight, but a major front
blew through. We did plan "B" - leave at 5AM - and discovered a bit too
late that is was blowing 25+ knots and there was a short chop, 6 to 8
feet, with some 10 footers. It was downwind, so forging on was a better
option than turning back. The first 50 miles took less than 6 hours -
at times we were surfing up to 13 knots - but in the middle of the lake
both engines died. We never figured out whether it was a dirty tank
from construction, or bad fuel, but the anti-siphon valves were clogged.
Going back and forth between the engines I could keep one going at
half speed with the manual fuel pump, but it was mostly windage and
waves that brought us the rest of the way, still doing over 6 knots.

The valves got replaced in Oswego, and we learned that a boat the tried
to do the reverse trip had come back in after the mast lashed on deck
had broken free and had to be wrestled into submission!

The moral is don't assume that because these are "lakes" they are always
benign.

On Tue, 07 Dec 2004 08:29:47 -0500, Jeff Morris
wrote:

The moral is don't assume that because these are "lakes" they are always
benign.

===================================

Absolutely right. The smaller great lakes like Erie and Ontario can
generate some ferocious short period waves, especially in shallower
water.

Here are a few things from my experience to add to what has been said.
You shouldn't make concrete plans for sailing on a particular day or
weekend in the spring or fall, but it would be unlikely that you will have 3
really bad weekends in a row. The weather on Lake Erie is nothing if not
variable and the forcasts are not real reliable beyond a day or two.
I would not skimp on weather exposure gear. The water is deadly cold in
the spring. I bought some real ugly bright orange fleece lined rubber gloves
that are just the ticket for helming when it is cold and wet. There are
some nasty shoals in the western end of the lake, so proper charts are a
must. I would not rule out spring or fall trips, but the only way I know is
to be ready and then wait for a window of opportunity.
We went from Port Stanley to Erieau and back on a 27 foot C&C in the
middle of October this year and had a great time. It was the Canadian
Thanksgiving weekend and I had wanted to go the previous 2 years, but did
not mainly due to weather. I have found that provisioning for hot food and
drinks while underway is a really good idea.

Here is a link for the Canadian forcast for western Lake Erie.
Take a look around the site, they have a fair bit of data.
There is ice information there, when there is ice, as well as current radar
for precipitation.
http://weatheroffice.ec.gc.ca/marine...e_e.html?45132

This link is a U.S. text forcast that I use all the time as well.

http://weather.noaa.gov/pub/data/raw...cle.glf.le.txt


Steve Thomas,

on the north shore.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Roger Long"
Newsgroups: rec.boats.cruising
Sent: Tuesday, December 07, 2004 5:27 AM
Subject: Would like Lake Erie reports


Thanks guys, this is finally getting to the solid advice I was looking
for.
I'll probably have to do some of this trip in the dark and I would hate to
hit a chunk of left over ice or a tree trunk. Even in the daytime, it
would
be hard to see either. I'll plan on early June or a longer trip.

--

Roger Long





"Roger Long" wrote in message
...
Thanks guys, this is finally getting to the solid advice I was looking
for.
I'll probably have to do some of this trip in the dark and I would hate to
hit a chunk of left over ice or a tree trunk. Even in the daytime, it
would
be hard to see either. I'll plan on early June or a longer trip.

--

Roger Long