Keeping Lookout

A conversation among Whalers
jimh
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Keeping Lookout

Postby jimh » Sat Sep 12, 2020 12:12 pm

On Friday, September 11, 2020, we got a break from the cold, rainy, very high winds that had been our everyday weather for about a week, and instead had beautiful blue skies and very light winds. We took advantage of the warm air temperature--64-degrees-F--and light winds to haul our boat over to Leland, Michigan, to launch there and go for a boat ride in a placid Lake Michigan.

We had just been over to Leland the day before to buy some fresh fish from Carlson's Fishery, and there was zero activity at the boat ramp. We must not have been the only people who had boating-fever the next day when the weather improved. About five boats launched or loaded in a 30-minute interval just as we backed down to launch.

We headed north from Leland along the high sand dune bluff coastline, generally following the 6-foot depth contour on the chart. Because the lake level is five feet above chart datum, we were in about 10 to 12 feet of water. [Actually, the level of Lake Michigan was about 52-inches or 4-feet 4-inches above chart datum.] We observed the effect of high water and erosion of the sand shoreline on many home properties on the shoreline. There are many very large summer homes perched on high dune bluffs, perhaps 100-feet or more above the beach. These homes typically have elaborate wooden stairways constructed on the steep dune face to allow them to get down to the water. In several cases where there were those long, elaborate stairways, they now ended about halfway down the dune bluff, and signs of wrecked timbers from the lower parts of the stairs that caved in when the dune collapsed under them were evident. Oh, the problems owning multi-million dollar summer homes sited precariously atop sand dunes.

We cruised about seven miles, going along at low speed, perhaps 5-MPH, focused on the shoreline to starboard, and observing the many efforts of shoreline property owners to repel the relentless waves coming into their beaches with a 100-mile fetch from the open lake. Some owners had installed hideous amounts of rock rip-rap, which will be an eyesore for the next 100-years. Others did more esthetically compliant efforts to halt erosion, making nice terraces of rocks and sand. Others had ugly huge bags filled with sand or maybe concrete, tubes three feet diameter and maybe 20-feet long. They won't be easy to remove, either.

Now back to the main point of this article: keeping watch.

At one point we were in about 17-feet of water, and maybe 150-yards from shore, when I happed to look to Port and seaward. My jaw dropped as I saw we were just passing an enormous deadhead, a log of maybe 1-foot diameter, stuck in the lake bottom and with its top just awash. If our course had been ten feet farther offshore, we would have struck the dead head dead center, so to speak.

While we where only making 5-MPH, the damage could have been significant. If a boat hit that dead head at planing speed, it would be a disaster.

So even on a beautiful day, completely blue skies, sunshine, no other boats anywhere in site, and chugging along at only 5-MPH, it pays to be vigilant about what is directly ahead in the water. We were lucky to miss this hazard and then lucky be aware we did miss it. We turned around and went back to the dead head so I could put a waypoint on my electronic chart to mark its location. So now we know, at least, where it was on that day. The deadhead was sitting almost perfectly vertical, so I wondered if it might be quite embedded in the sea bottom, or maybe even be a big piling from an old dock that would normally be very visible except for the extra five feet of water on the lake this year.

A couple other comment about Leland:

The water level right now is just a few inches below the top of the seawall and dock at the marina office building and showers. The Army Corps of Engineers is predicting the possiblity of the lake rising in the Fall, perhaps as much as another foot. As a hedge against flooding of the beautiful and relatively new structure, it has been surrounded by a three-foot high wall of giant concrete blocks, interlocked together and sealed to be very water-tight with some tubular foam "pool wings."

Launching and loading at Leland was a real pleasure. First of all, the parking lot is well above lake level, so you do not have to wade out to get to the courtesy dock. Also, the ramp slope is just perfect for launching and loading. Not too steep and not too shallow--it is just right. The ramp downslope is 14-percent or 8-degrees. The boat came off the trailer without any drama, and it loaded back onto the trailer just perfectly. It is a great ramp. The only problem is the town of Leland has become overrun with tourists, and vehicle traffic at the ramp area is crazy. There is such limited parking that people remove the orange cones intended to inform them not to take up a trailer parking space and instead park their Toyota PRIUS sedans in them--it's always the people driving the PRIUS that think they are exempt from normal behavior.

Masbama
Posts: 355
Joined: Thu Oct 15, 2015 8:33 pm
Location: Mobile, Al

Re: Keeping Lookout

Postby Masbama » Sat Sep 12, 2020 10:03 pm

Interesting. I have had those moments of inner fear when I see a big floating log to my side that I did not notice. There is also a saying that “it’s the ones you can’t see that are a problem”
And I agree; PRIUS owners can be a bit self righteous.

jimh
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Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2015 12:25 pm
Location: Michigan, Lower Peninsula
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Re: Keeping Lookout

Postby jimh » Sun Sep 13, 2020 8:13 pm

ASIDE on driver behavior as a function of vehicle type: a university on the west coast conducted as study of driver behavior as a function of vehicle type. The test was to have a volunteer college student try to step into a marked crosswalk as a vehicle was approaching. The test tracked whether the vehicle yielded to the pedestrian in the crosswalk by vehicle type. The study found the Toyota PRIUS was among the vehicles least likely to yield to the pedestrian.

See: https://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/0 ... -suggests/

For some other less-scientific comments about PRIUS drivers see: https://medium.com/@Nostradommie/7-reas ... 60c318b1d7