Exciting…7.0 knots and 10 foot waves

Saturday I went sailing with the husbands of 2 of my wife’s cousins.  My youngest daughter’s wedding shower was being held at my house and the guys and I made a bee-line for the boat.  There were big winds and big waves. 

There were storms on Lake Michigan Friday with waves to 15 ft coming over the Waukegan Harbor Marinas breakwater.  I watched this on the Marinas web cam Friday afternoon.

The forecast for Saturday called for waves to decline to less than 1 foot on Sunday.  When we left, the waves were about 4 - 5 feet with no white caps in sight and the winds were 15 knots.  While we were out, the wind switched direction a bit and instead of the wave heights declining, they built to 5 – 7 feet with white caps and the occasional 10 footer and the winds got to 23 knots. 

It made for an exciting ride.  We recorded a max speed of 7.0 knots, a new record for “Thanks Dad”. Once the big winds and big waves hit I needed to be at the helm and keep a close eye on things, so I didn’t get a chance to break out the video camera to record the excitment.

Heading out before the wind and waves picked up

On Sunday a friend from work and I went out.  Winds and waves were much lighter.  Winds were 5-10 knots and the waves were less than 1 foot.  The best part of the day was the last 30 minutes as we headed back towards Waukegan, when the winds picked up as we got closer to the shore line and we were sailing at 5.0 knots.