The Great Lakes were angry yesterday!

[2ndovc]

They were predicting 10'-12' waves on Lake Erie yesterday. I didn't see any quite that big but plenty of 8'-10's First time in a long while we haven't had a frozen lake this time of year.
Be a good day for a sail if it wasn't so cold out there.


jb

[Old No7]

One of my most favorite song lyrics of all........

"Does any one know where the love of God goes when the waves turn the minutes to hours?"

* RIP the Edmund Fitzgerald Captain & Crew *

Old No7

[2ndovc]

One of my most favorite song lyrics of all........

"Does any one know where the love of God goes when the waves turn the minutes to hours?"

* RIP the Edmund Fitzgerald Captain & Crew *

Old No7

That is my favorite line from a wonderful song. It's so true, I've been on the Atlantic with twelve foot waves on top of 20' rollers on a 40' sailboat. That was probably the only time I was really scared on the water. I was about 14, but trusted the Old Man to get us to where we were going.
Lake Erie is very shallow and the big waves are usually very close together. It can be really abusive but most times it's a lot of fun. Doesn't happen often but when it does it's pretty wild.

jb

[Twodot]

makes me a little sea sick just looking at the picture.
..

[Bill in Oregon]

I'm done with that kind of cold, thank you.

[.45colt]

Yep Jason it was really rippin down at the lake yesterday !! I took the Grandkids down there just to experience the howling gale . with no ice on Erie the beach erosion is really bad this year. My front yard is one mile from the beach and at this rate it could be high priced lakefront property in no time.!
It won't be long and I'll have to Boys down there where they can throw all the rocks they could dream of.

[Old No7]

Lake Erie is very shallow and the big waves are usually very close together. It can be really abusive but most times it's a lot of fun. Doesn't happen often but when it does it's pretty wild.

The combination of shallow water and high winds creates "square waves" where they're as close together as they are tall -- unlike ocean swells which are usually spread apart. With square waves all you do is POUND and hang on for dear life.

A friend of mine in the merchant marine once told me the "worst weather and waves" he had ever experienced were on the Great Lakes -- even worse than the North Atlantic, due to the square waves they encountered.

Old No7

[piller]

Looks like sand dunes out in the Oklahoma Panhandle.

[2ndovc]

Lake Erie is very shallow and the big waves are usually very close together. It can be really abusive but most times it's a lot of fun. Doesn't happen often but when it does it's pretty wild.

The combination of shallow water and high winds creates "square waves" where they're as close together as they are tall -- unlike ocean swells which are usually spread apart. With square waves all you do is POUND and hang on for dear life.

A friend of mine in the merchant marine once told me the "worst weather and waves" he had ever experienced were on the Great Lakes -- even worse than the North Atlantic, due to the square waves they encountered.

Old No7

Very true. An old friend of my dad's once met Ted Turner shortly after he won the America's Cup. He said the worst sail he ever had was on Lake Erie. That still makes me chuckle. I grew up out there and never knew the difference until we started sailing the Caribbean. Once you get outside of the islands, those waves can be huge.

jb

[2ndovc]

Yep Jason it was really rippin down at the lake yesterday !! I took the Grandkids down there just to experience the howling gale . with no ice on Erie the beach erosion is really bad this year. My front yard is one mile from the beach and at this rate it could be high priced lakefront property in no time.!
It won't be long and I'll have to Boys down there where they can throw all the rocks they could dream of.

I saw on the news that the East side is really taking a beating along the shores. My uncle has a house on the Lake on the West Side of Lorain. I remember back in the late '70s he and my dad built a huge concrete breakwall to slow down the erosion. There was one concrete truck after another coming and going for days. That thing is so big you could tie up a destroyer to it, if the water was deep enough. I used to sail my little Laser to their house, beach it and walk to McDonalds for lunch. Got caught out there in one of those wicked summer storms one day, talk about a wild ride home.

jb

[TraderVic]

Rode out two typoons (hurricanes) at sea in the Pacific Ocean on Navy destroyers. It was like being on a horrific carnaval ride for three days (each).
I would agree the Great Lakes storms are likely worse. My wife and I get up to the North Shore (Sourh Shore also) of Lake Superior as often as we can.

[Larkbill]

Rode out two typoons (hurricanes) at sea in the Pacific Ocean on Navy destroyers. It was like being on a horrific carnaval ride for three days (each).
I would agree the Great Lakes storms are likely worse. My wife and I get up to the North Shore (Sourh Shore also) of Lake Superior as often as we can.

My Dad was out there on an Atlanta class light cruiser. After the first typhoon he said he would rather face a kamikaze attack.

[TraderVic]

Rode out two typoons (hurricanes) at sea in the Pacific Ocean on Navy destroyers. It was like being on a horrific carnaval ride for three days (each).
I would agree the Great Lakes storms are likely worse. My wife and I get up to the North Shore (Sourh Shore also) of Lake Superior as often as we can.

My Dad was out there on an Atlanta class light cruiser. After the first typhoon he said he would rather face a kamikaze attack.

A lot of the crew got sea sick, so you can imagine what it was like to walk, climb ladders between decks, etc.
I never got sea sick, but one gets tossed every which way, resulting in bruises all over.
One learns very quickly to "time" your ascent or descent on a ladder. If you're going up, you wsit for the ship to go down into a wave trough. If you're going down, you wait for the ship to climb out of a trough.
A good example is you can almost leap up, from one deck to the next, in a single bound. Just make sure you're centered going through the hatch.

[bikerbeans]

I loved being at sea in rough weather. Nobody ahead of me in the chow line.

BB

[2ndovc]

I loved being at sea in rough weather. Nobody ahead of me in the chow line.

BB

jb

[Larkbill]

Rode out two typoons (hurricanes) at sea in the Pacific Ocean on Navy destroyers. It was like being on a horrific carnaval ride for three days (each).
I would agree the Great Lakes storms are likely worse. My wife and I get up to the North Shore (Sourh Shore also) of Lake Superior as often as we can.

My Dad was out there on an Atlanta class light cruiser. After the first typhoon he said he would rather face a kamikaze attack.

A lot of the crew got sea sick, so you can imagine what it was like to walk, climb ladders between decks, etc.
I never got sea sick, but one gets tossed every which way, resulting in bruises all over.
One learns very quickly to "time" your ascent or descent on a ladder. If you're going up, you wsit for the ship to go down into a wave trough. If you're going down, you wait for the ship to climb out of a trough.
A good example is you can almost leap up, from one deck to the next, in a single bound. Just make sure you're centered going through the hatch.

Dad got his Purple Heart running to general quarters, jumped and tucked to go through a watertight door and the ship went down. Klunk. He woke up in sick bay with a killer headache and a Purple Heart. Said they were told to stay in their racks during the storms unless on watch. Had to tie themselves in. The worst part was the whole ship smelled of vomit for days after.

[Griff]

Spent the better part of two years in the waters off VN, and experienced a couple of typhoons. Good stuff... separated the old salts from simple sailors. I never got seasick, except for a short stint on the USS Kitty Hawk after an injury. I suspect it was a combination of the difference in roll rate and the narcotics I was given for pain control.

[2ndovc]

Great stories guys!! Keep them coming if you can. I wanted to join the Navy coming out of high school but my dad talked me into going to college instead. I was always reading and watching movies about submarines in WWII and he had an accountant that was on one. He used to tell me stories about being depth charged by the Japanese for days. I think the Old Man put him up to telling me the worst parts of it. I'm grateful for my education but I always wonder how things would have been different.

jb

[TraderVic]

Spent the better part of two years in the waters off VN, and experienced a couple of typhoons. Good stuff... separated the old salts from simple sailors. I never got seasick, except for a short stint on the USS Kitty Hawk after an injury. I suspect it was a combination of the difference in roll rate and the narcotics I was given for pain control.

My destroyer was around the Kitty Hawk in the Tonkin Gulf and again in Hong Kong.
We were anchored in Hong Kong harbor and the Kitty Hawk was anchored about 5-6+ miles out - the backside of Hong Kong, due to it's size. Navy rented regular ferries to run the crew in and out.
I came down with tonsilitis while on the Gun Line, was told by our chief corpsman that if I didn't improve by the following day, they would hi-line me off to a carrier for surgery (don't remember which one). Thankfully I improved.

[Griff]

Yep, I was on a Destroyer, many, many days on the gunline and several on NSAR. During a replenishment, I had a case of dry foods dropped on my back. Chopper'd me over to the KH, spent 3 days getting x'rayed and evaluated. The doc's talked about a medical discharge, as they said I probably wouldn't walk again. Our chief corpsman said if I wanted to walk, I'd better get outta the rack... against the advice of the docs. So, with a back brace and crutches I got highlined back to our ship and started a grueling rehab... at sea. I think it helped that I'd been a lifelong deepwater sailor, I thought our Destroyer was huge...

And while I was pre-ordained to be a sailor, I truly think it's the best of the services. Teamwork, good food, and while the deprivation of land can affect you severely, the joy of landing is overwhelming.

[TraderVic]

Griff, which can or can(s) were you on ?

For me......

First WESPAC ; USS John R Craig DD 885

Second WESPAC ; USS Hoel DDG 13

[2ndovc]

That's awesome guys!!

Thank you for your service!

Jason

[piller]

Salt Water is not someplace I have been. Glad you all served. My High School Government Teacher was on a Destroyer in the Gulf of Tonkin for his Senior Trip. I don't know which one or what years. He had some stories about the electronics going out each time they fired the guns.

[pshort]

Howdy Folks,
Storms were my business while in the Navy in the '60s,,
Vw-4, Hurricane Hunters out of JAX.....
Flew in several hurricanes..
C121-N were the a/c of choice at that time...
I was ATN, ran the radio while airborne......

Paul

[TraderVic]

I was reflecting back on my experiences in SE Asia while participating in this thread. It has been some time since I viewed them, but I have hundreds of 35mm slides that I took overseas ; on the Gun Line, during unreps (I was on the midships high line during unreps), ports, etc.
One of my best sunset slides was in Subic Bay, tied outboard of the USS Turner Joy, her after gun mount stood out in the crimson sky.
My best friend in the Navy was from Ventura, CA and when we were stateside, we would head north through LA Area and party with his friends around Ventura, Oxnard and Camarillo.
Before we would head north out of San Diego, we'd stop and get a quart of Coors for each of us and head up "5" , "405" , and then "101"....
Sorry, lost in thought and rambling aimlessly.
Vic

[2ndovc]

I can read these all day.

Thanks again for sharing!!


jason

[claybob86]

I was on the Constellation and always admired the seamanship of the destroyer and frigate sailors during underway refueling in rough water.