Having lived near and swum in Lake Michigan’s smaller and warmer cousin, Lake Ontario, for most of my life, I can shed some light on the temperature question. All the Great lakes have thermoclines, warm on top in summer, cold on top in winter. The majority of the lakes’ water volume is cold. There is also significant warming near shore. Consequently, if you are swimming at a shelving beech with a gentle onshore breeze water temperature is likely in the 70s in August. Unfortunately, the temperature can change rapidly. My most memorable swim in Lake Ontario occurred in July several years ago. I had signed up for a sprint triathlon. The evening before the race the water at the beach was 77 degrees F and there was a gentle offshore breeze. The following morning during the final pre-race meeting the water was 55 degrees F , and the race director announced the swim would be shortened and would be cancelled if the water went below 50 degrees. The women’s heat stated about 30 minutes later, the water was 50 degrees. When the men’s heat started about 10 minutes later the water was 47 degrees. I had come prepared to swim in 77 degree water and was wearing swim trunks. But, as my feet, calves, knees, thighs, and other parts rapidly went numb I Iooked over and saw my younger brother striding ahead, eyes forward, determination in the set of his jaw, so obviously I could not quit. (Later, I learned that he had been looking at me for any signs of quitting, because he was planning to quit immediately if I did.) I dove in and started swimming for the first buoy. I quickly discovered that immersing my face in the water was not an option, as it brought on an immediate and severe headache. By the time I rounded the final buoy and turned toward shore my arms and legs were not quite working right. In addition the wind had picked up a little further, creating a short period chop, which constantly struck me in the face. After mistiming a few breaths and getting a nice nose and throat full of water I was ready to swallow my pride and be rescued. I put up my hand and one of the safety boats tossed me a float. They proceeded to tow me to shore behind the float, I was so cold I briefly considered letting go and inhaling water just to end the suffering. When I reached shore, I found that I could neither stand nor walk. I crawled up on the hot beach, and after a bit I was able to stand. I began to shiver so severely that I could not put on my shoes. It was difficult to speak intelligibly. I had been in the water for less than 25 minutes.
By noon that day the air temperature was in the 80s and the water temperature at the beach was 42 degrees. In all the times I swam in that lake I only encountered such conditions once.
Re: tides I suspect that website defaults to a three foot tide for any location where no data has been entered.
Interestingly, someone posted a link here a couple or so years ago indicating that recorded hypothermia cases were highest in Florida. I suspect because the warm air fools a lot of people into underestimating water that is not quite so - even if warmer than your experience. Cold enough is cold enough and as we get older it does not have to be as cold to create a problem.
First lesson learned, all those websites with water temperatures are BS. I spent quite some time in the water with just my regular clothes, and temperature never was an issue. I didn’t measure it, but maybe 70°F? No idea. It didn’t even feel wet or uncomfortable.
Don’t do exactly what I did:
there only was a small time window, so I went out despite 23 km/h wind. It was quite hard to get away from the shore due to the waves, but paddling itself was OK
waves sometimes were up to 1.5m. that wasn’t bad as long I rode into them at 90° or so. But to go around the island, they came from the side
I fell off about 5 times. Self-rescue wasn’t too bad. But once the iSUP landed on my head and it always was upside down. This was mainly due to my aluminum stadium seat. You definitely want to have some practice/fitness to self-rescue before doing such things!
Around the seaside of the island I ended up walking in hip-deep water till I reached the calmer side of the island
When going back to our house I also had to walk the remaining 200m since the waves got too high to et back on. I already started cruising and zig-zagging to get closer toe 90° to the waves, but it didn’t work out as planned.
One smart thing I did and learned last year was, I dragged one of the red kayaks that belong to the house to the shore. That way I had a beacon to know how to get home. From a distance the wooded shore all looks the same and with the sideways waves you can’t just go long the shore to find your starting point.
Lessons learned:
don’t go out above 15 km/h wind speed. This is hard to do on the Michigan side since that means on a 3 day stay, you may not have the right conditions.
Probably should have used a soft kayak seat that would be lighter and softer when it hits my head. it also would sit me 1-2" lower.
On another day I attempted to go around State Peninsula Park on the Greenbay side. But it also was at 23 km/h and I just gave up after some time attempting to go out. It was a bit bad timing since I depended on my family driving me over and dropping me off.
I’m glad I did it, but next time I will just stick to the Greenbay (West) side of Door County and will focus on days with less wind speed. The Greenbay side sometimes seems to have 10-15 km/h days.
I may have missed someone mentioning it earlier - if so, sorry about that. It is generally not a good idea to go out alone. In your case, since you had no experience on this particular trip before - it would have made good sense to go with one or more other paddlers.
It is unclear whether you checked the marine forecast before going out, but I am guessing not. 23 knot winds- if that is what you mean - are rarely a surprise. And they are way beyond the remit for anyone inexperienced in bigger water regardless of SUP or kayak.
Did you measure the wind in kilometers with an anenometer, or are you confounding knots and kilometers? Marine forecasts give wind speed in knots, one knot is 1.15 miles.
23 kilometers is 14.9 miles. Challenging and a bit past the wind creating whitecaps (happens a bit past 12 knots), but well outside of small craft advisories.
15 kilometers is about 9.3 miles, or would show up in a marine forecast as about 8 knots.
I am glad you made it back, but this is one of the cases where it was in spite of your choices. The self-rescue thing is not solved by having a softer seat but by going into conditions with the skills to stay upright in a mess.
Windspeed is from weather app and in km/h. That likely is from the nearest weather station. I don’t think you can measure it yourself. First, they measure in 10m height or so. Second, standing on the shore with trees etc. still is different from wind off-shore.
Sometimes you just have to do it, even if not ideal. it was this, or not at all and I’m glad I did it and had fun. I could have swam back to shore from any of the spots I was. The only real fear I had was that if I’m too close to shore and tip over, my head could hit the rocks. Or my seat hitting my head.
OK. So it is a land based measurement, albeit one that uses units odd to me.
You need to look at the marine forecast for Lake Michigan.
The link I provided about has daily info similar to this - TONIGHT Northeast winds 10 to 20 kt becoming east late this evening, then diminishing to 10 to 15 kt after midnight becoming southeast 5 to 10 kt late. Waves 1 to 3 ft.
Unless/until you know a good bit more about how conditions develop on open water than now, at the least you should have info like the above.
Relax, I’m not even in Door County anymore. No one will drown
I’ll just go by my new rule that 15 km/h forecast will be my upper limit. If I ever go back to the great Lakes, I sure will stay close to the shore. Well, maybe far enough to not be in the shallows with larger waves. But at under 15 km/h everything should be much better. Alternatively, avoid white caps.
Here at home on simpler lakes and rivers, I usually try to stay at around or under 10 km/h wind. Not for safety, but because wind from odd directions makes going in a specific direction harder.
I sure learned from it. I’m also not planning to go out on the Lake Michigan side anymore. Next time I would limit myself to the West coast, which tends to have much less wind on average.
Sounds good. Really not trying to go overboard on nanny here. It is just that open water paddling - which Cana Island location sits at the downwind side of - is a different set of criteria before you ever leave the shore. A lot of people unused to big water don’t realize this until they are literally in the drink.
As to waves near shore - two things can make waves more challenging nearer shore. One is the decreasing depth of the bottom, causing a pile up and breaking. The other is being near something like a rock cliff or a breakwater, where waves hit something hard and the energy bounces back. AKA clapitois. Being out a ways from either of these is easier and it also increases the need to stay on/in your craft because the swim to shore is now longer.
The good news for that lake is you do not also have to account for major tidal surges.
I personally am too lazy to have to stand up on a craft at this point, take the easy way out and sit inside. I do admire the energy to work harder than me.
It is psychological. When it is wavy, I try to be near the shore near safety. ironically, that is where the danger is (higher waves, and potential to hit rocks). I think at or under 15 km/h, it is perfectly safe.
