NOAA has a buoy that provides wind speed and wave height data and allows them to predict, with pretty good accuracy in my experience, the conditions for the following day or two:
OPEN LAKE FORECAST FOR LAKE HURON: Harbor Beach to Port Sanilac
Less than 1' -- Puuuurrfect
1-3' -- A little bobbly - worth taking meds just in case
2-4' -- Probably not wise for your first outing
3-6' -- Fine for pirates, everyone else stay on shore
4-7' -- If you're game, we'll go, but we may call it out there
5-8' -- Head to the river or crack open some beers!
Any winds from the West are fine but the bigger the fetch (winds out of the East or North) the more wary you need to be.
PVT: Going back to the original post; I would have to say that the you didn't exactly call the dive--it was more like it called you! The people who stayed on the dock (who in fact were way more experienced divers) called the dive. You were forced to sit the dive out because it was too rough and so the boat headed home. I hope your dive on the New York was a good one and I hope we can dive her again together in better weather!
Rich: You did second-guess the captain in your previous post, so to defend his choice: the boat went out because the divers were reasonably experienced and the wind was coming out the South and waves were unlikely to get any bigger. My previous statement that boat should not have gone out was an economic one, really; pounding through 28 miles of heavy seas for two paying divers... My statement about the New York on the other hand was a practical one though. The North Star would have been a much better choice. The journey out and back is much shorter and would have been across the face of the waves: less time, less bouncing, and less fuel used. I would love to see you out on the boat one day. We have great deals for groups and instructors with students.
The Great Lakes Diver is a custom built dive charter vessel, specifically built to handle diving on, er, the Great Lakes! As well as being extremely sea- or rather lake-worthy and having more than the required amount of emergency equipment and comms (4 first aid kits, 3 O2 bottles, two VHFs, depth sounder, radar and a real toilet!), she has a walk-through transom, a hefty ladder and lots of places to grab on to for stability. We generally go out with four crew and our goal is to get divers in and out of the water safely, which we can do pretty easily in even the worst weather. (If you are able to make a figure 4 to don and remove your fins then it would certainly help but even if you can't, for whatever reason, you will be just fine!) Oh, and did I mention that she has 2x 325HP engines and cruises fully loaded at around 30 knots (Pt Sanilac to the New York on a calm day: 25 minutes)?!
In the event that we do get 'blown out', which has only been three times this year since May (conditions were phenomenal through the season until August when it has started to blow from the North and East more often), we will always offer to reschedule or refund if that is not an option (i.e. for people traveling from further away). If you have booked a charter, check the NOAA link above. It is reliable and it what we base most of our forward planning on. If you haven't been out on a Great Lakes charter yet, ****! There's only a few more weeks left in the season! This is the Great Lakes WRECKING Crew, right? (should there be a movement to split this forum into quarries / lakes sub-forums? 1 vote here!)
Dive safe and party hard afterwards people!
Rick
