wind speed. white caps??

[TimC]

at what wind speed does white caps occures??

just checked the forecast and it said 15 km of wind on Saturday, how rough would that be??:confused:

wife said she is not going to out when there are white caps on the lake.:(

[nicemustang]

Depends on lake size, where are you going to be?

[TimC]

thinking about going to Pigeon or south buck.

i heard the boat launch at Pigeon is scary when windy?

[Drewski Canuck]

Oh to be an undertaker.

I will bet anyone on the board that we have at least 2 boating fatalities this weekend.

The ice is just off. the water has not turned over. The water is at best 34 F. The usual recipe is a winter of cabin fever mixed with a generous amount of alcohol coupled with arrogance. Stand up to take a pee in a small boat and put everyone over into the water.

PLEASE use some common sense. Pinehurst Lake should have at least 8 white crosses at the boat launch just like you see on the highway ditches. Sturgeon deserves at least 2 and Alberta Beach gets at least 4 that I know of.

If it is rough, the fish will be there the next day. Even a life jacket does little for you if you are in for 1/2 an hour at this time of year.

Drewski

[Walleyes]

at what wind speed does white caps occures??

just checked the forecast and it said 15 km of wind on Saturday, how rough would that be??:confused:

wife said she is not going to out when there are white caps on the lake.:(


Like mustang said it has a lot to do with the lake itself. But with only 15km/hr winds I highly doubt any lake will have white caps 15k is really nothing at all just a nice little chop.

Good luck.

[nicemustang]

15 km/h on a big lake like pigeon might be pretty brutal. But depends where you are fishing or where the wind is coming from. Lots of trees and cabins around the PP, if it's a West wind it might be OK. But what about wind gusts.

In perspective, last weekend at Travers the wind was 15 km/h (posted) but gusted alot to 30+, it was impossible to anchor at the spillway when it was that windy.

[Waxy]

Like mustang said it has a lot to do with the lake itself. But with only 15km/hr winds I highly doubt any lake will have white caps 15k is really nothing at all just a nice little chop.

Good luck.

I agree, 15km/h is what I call a nice "walleye chop", that's generally pretty safe. If you wait for winds less than 15km/h to head out on the water, you won't do much fishing in southern AB or SK. :lol:

Don't quote me on it, but I would guess somewhere in the 25-30km/h range on the average lake to get real whitecaps. It doesn't have to be consistent either, just lots of good gusts to that range can do the trick. 50kmh+ and you're dealing with BIG rollers.

Like was said above, just be safe and use common sense, especially at this time of year when water temps are completely unforgiving and make any boating accident potentially fatal.

Tight lines...

Waxy

[fatrack]

Water conditions depend on lots of factor and not just wind speed. Fetch has a lot to do with how rough it will get. The fetch is the distance the wind has to work on the water. The longer the fetch the bigger the waves. If you stay close to a lee shore (wind coming off the shore) you will gain some protection because the fetch is reduced the closer to shore you get (assuming the wind is coming from shore direction). One thing to keep in mind is if you break down under these conditions the wind will blow you offshore unless you can anchor or fix the problem. Your local library probably has some good books on boating and seamanship.

[bsnyder]

at what wind speed does white caps occures??

just checked the forecast and it said 15 km of wind on Saturday, how rough would that be??:confused:

wife said she is not going to out when there are white caps on the lake.:(

15 K on Pieon not bad, 12"ish waves (exelant fishing usualy) 15K at slave 48" waves, big diferance! We ware full survival suits this time of year, just in case.Both conditions can be safe depending on experiance and boat.

[Walleyes]

Now I don't want to get into an argument here guys it would defeat the purpose of the thread but lets keep it real and not scare people,, again...

I would like to see the day that 15k winds create white caps on any lake.. Now I'm not talking about days when we have 15k winds with gusts to who knows what but a steady 15k wind is hardly even measurable more of a breeze in all reality.

[nicemustang]

Right, I was think MPH actually, my mistake and makes a big difference. Wind gusts though can be difficult to anchor yourself down on a big lake.

[JohninAB]

15 kmh winds on Pigeon will not get any white caps that is for sure. Gusts will be a steady 15 kmh wind and you will be good to go. As with most things in life, a little common sense, knowing your limitations and good planning will make most trips enjoyable.

[I-Love-Eyes]

Drewski-canuck

I don't want to be picky but just to clarify; I think you meant to say
HYPOTHERMIA?

hypErthermia is heat stroke

Either one can kill you:cry:

[Drewski Canuck]

I have a case right now involving diminished predictive accuracy due to temperature variability involving the Intoxilizer 5000C. Hypothermia, due to fever, has been on my mind alot lately. Freudian slip. Sorry!

All the same, be careful around the water this weekend.

My bet for biggest number of mishaps will be Sylvan and Pinehurst.

Drewski

[I-Love-Eyes]

"My bet for biggest number of mishaps will be Sylvan and Pinehurst."
Drewski; Add Pigeon to that! I sure hope and pray you are wrong, but, unfortuately, the first long weekend and there are gonna be brainless idiots out there--drinking while boating, quadding or driving. There's going to be more that just water accidents. My bet is a lot will happen on Monday on the drive home.

TimC; Sorry, we kinda changed your thread subject on you.

[TimC]

"My bet for biggest number of mishaps will be Sylvan and Pinehurst."
Drewski; Add Pigeon to that! I sure hope and pray you are wrong, but, unfortuately, the first long weekend and there are gonna be brainless idiots out there--drinking while boating, quadding or driving. There's going to be more that just water accidents. My bet is a lot will happen on Monday on the drive home.

TimC; Sorry, we kinda changed your thread subject on you.

No problems I-Love-Eyes.

I hope the cold weather will keep some of the ski boats off the lake. (personally i don't think i will see many people sking or boarding this weekend at all).

With the fire ban and all, i hope my first May Long with the boat will be good.

[floppychicken]

...lake in some NASTY wind last season. We were just at the mouth of the narrows heading back when the wind REALLY kicked up. By the time we were half way across the bay, the Sailboats had anchored and there wasn't a boat to be seen 'anywhere', not even by the Dam. It was an eerie feeling watching people 'watch us' and pointing from the shore.

I'm not sure how fast the wind was going but it was CONSTANT. There were no gusts either, as the Wind Speed would slowly increase and slowly decrease in intensity.

Weirdly, there were almost NO Whitecaps but a fine even spray of the tops of the waves and they were coming directly at us in bizzarre sets of 4's and 6's. Then within a few seconds you would SEE and feel the waves change about a hundred yards out and you'd get 2 REALLY big rollers between sets when that happened. Those were the hardest on the boat.... and our Psyche.

Anyway, we made it to the East side of the inlet (almost opposite the launch) and promptly ran out of gas..... The wind had finally subsided as well. We were lucky....

Wind Speed on that little Trip ? Dunno, but on the way back home I put my hand and arm out the window of the truck and the comparison was definitely more than 50k/Hr.

Cheers,

/FC....