Niagara Jetski Album 2015 -Brian's Proformance machine. What's under YOUR hood?

NiagaraMike

NiagaraMike

Location
Niagara
Not dumb at all... a lot of locals are likely not aware either!

You are right of course... the great lakes are inland freshwater seas ... size-wise. Lake Erie is 388 km long.

If you have the winds from the correct direction and strong enough Lake Erie can go huge in half a day or so. For Lake Erie west winds blowing the entire length of the lake can really build at the eastern end. Similarly ENE winds blowing over Lake ON can do the same at the western end. Etc.

Ocean waves are generally cleaner and have a better period - as they are generated further away and get cleaned up along the way.... and often have winds blowing against them to make them cleaner.

But we surf our lakes on good storms and locals can have some fun near home. This site allows you to check out how fast waves can reach pretty decent heights.

http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/res/glcfs/

According to the Port Colborne buoy data ... the waves hit 9.2 feet Nov 01 2015 at 1 pm.

Could be pretty big again tomorrow.

Hope some of this helps!
 
Proformance1

Proformance1

Liquid Insanity
Location
New York Crew
The window of oportunity is smaller for clean waves on the Great lakes also. Once the storms pass and the winds drop, you can have clean surf for a few hours. Trouble is that can be at 2-5 AM, lol. We nd up with a lot of blown out slop that most would never ride. You get used to what you grow up with and make the best of it. Flat, surf, chop, etc. that is why you see so many motor set ups, hulls, riders etc. They are all necessary. A stock SJ is no fun on a small pond, but given some clean surf and footholds and you can have a blast.
 
J

jdesuperjet

Location
Beaverton, Oregon
I read about how the wind and the depth are factors in creating some waves after I sent the question..
interesting info about that lake.
fresh water sure is much easier to deal with than salt water.
surf here at pacific city Oregon is stacked close together and a lot of white wash 80% of the time and the waves get scary big sometimes.
best surf in june thru September.
 
NiagaraMike

NiagaraMike

Location
Niagara
jdesuperjet said:
I read about how the wind and the depth are factors in creating some waves after I sent the question..
interesting info about that lake.
fresh water sure is much easier to deal with than salt water.
surf here at pacific city Oregon is stacked close together and a lot of white wash 80% of the time and the waves get scary big sometimes.
best surf in june thru September.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Learning from you too...

I am still learning about the two lakes closest to me and trying to figure the days that are best to drive. As a photographer I need decent light ... and I need the waves to have size and form for the riders. I hear you about the wash a lot of the time... here likely even more. Ours can get very big too but not anywhere how scarey big yours get.... and our main season is often in November... the gales of November.

I have only learned about most of this in the last five years or so when I got into surf-related images. I have listened to the locals and watched a lot more closely since. I used to wonder why some days had chop and others had defined waves. Wind direction and gusts and the things you mentioned and more ... all play a role. And with the internet sources that I gave you and more of them I can better predict which days will be more favourable but it still can fall apart fast as weather around these lakes is very changeable ....

I love winter surf on Kauai and was lucky to survive body 'surfing' on the north shore on NYD a while back. POWERFUL SCARY WAVES. Now if I were a skilled surfer it could have been different. Lived to tell the story but I was foolish to go in at all.

FOr sure salt water in your machine is a whole new issue for you to deal with...

My favourite secenario is west winds overnight to make huge rollers then switching to a little N component to clean the waves. You do not get the large waves staying very long as the north wind defeats them but you do get cleaner waves.
 
NiagaraMike

NiagaraMike

Location
Niagara
jdesuperjet said:
I read about how the wind and the depth are factors in creating some waves after I sent the question..
interesting info about that lake.
fresh water sure is much easier to deal with than salt water.
surf here at pacific city Oregon is stacked close together and a lot of white wash 80% of the time and the waves get scary big sometimes.
best surf in june thru September.
Click to expand...

If you want to see how things develop today... on a typical WINDY day.

Wave predictions

http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/res/glcfs/glcfs.php?lake=e&ext=wv&type=F&hr=01

Wind predictions

http://www.windfinder.com/forecast/port_colborne

More information including water temperature etc. and both history and forecast

http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/res/glcfs/

present conditions at the Port Colborne Buoy

http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=45142

Not sure if I will go as it could be somewhat dark much of the time... will play it by eye (look outr the window) ... something weather people could do more....
http://www.theweathernetwork.com/hourly-weather-forecast/canada/ontario/port-colborne

From the looks of things it could be midsized waves and reasonable conditions in the afternoon.

Have a great day.
 
J

jdesuperjet

Location
Beaverton, Oregon
little bit off the ski subject but since talking a bit about the great lakes.
November 10th will be 40 years the Edmond Fitzgerald sank due to winds and waves on lake superior..
Interesting fact since were on the subject for a moment of wind and waves on the great lakes
 
NiagaraMike

NiagaraMike

Location
Niagara
jdesuperjet said:
little bit off the ski subject but since talking a bit about the great lakes.
November 10th will be 40 years the Edmond Fitzgerald sank due to winds and waves on lake superior..
Interesting fact since were on the subject for a moment of wind and waves on the great lakes
Click to expand...
I was SO thinking of that same idea... not the anniversary so much but the sinking... immortalised by the Gordon Lightfoot song. 4.6 foot waves or just under 1.5 metres at 11 am. Likely not worth the drive to Lake Erie.
 
NiagaraMike

NiagaraMike

Location
Niagara
DSC_5014-1adcr50te.jpg



Quit fogging around.

Nice move... terrible conditions. Could barely see Brian. FOOOOGGGGGG...

=================

Here is Paul coming in with Brian not too far behind with the truck (out in the water) on the right edge for perspective.

DSC_4975-1cr25.jpg


Here is Paul doing a backflip on his Rickter.

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========================

AND wait a minute.... where did this lovely lady come from? I haven't got the foggiest...
Or are those beer glasses on again? Maybe fog ain't so bad after all....?

DSC_4991-1cr25.jpg
 
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NiagaraMike

NiagaraMike

Location
Niagara
djkorn1 said:
Love your shots of Erie. Just chop on this side of the lake in Cleveland. The water was actually down 5-6 feet by the islands.
Click to expand...
Thanks DJ. If I lived closer I would be out there more.... makes sense about the water being down as it was up that much at Buffalo according to the news. I also could not walk a section of the beach as it was covered in water and the waves made it even higher.... so I shot the first one from a distance and the second one from another location. WILD day it was!
 
Proformance1

Proformance1

Liquid Insanity
Location
New York Crew
7' was the reported seiche. Looked pretty close at the docks considering the 6' poles above the docks were almost under water. Docks are abpout 2' tall so I would guess 6-7' for sure.
 
NiagaraMike

NiagaraMike

Location
Niagara
Proformance1 said:
7' was the reported seiche. Looked pretty close at the docks considering the 6' poles above the docks were almost under water. Docks are about 2' tall so I would guess 6-7' for sure.
Click to expand...
Yes... that night reported 6 feet on the Buffalo news.

I copied the Port COlborne Bouy data from the NOAA site for my records to store with my images in case it becomes important for magazines or other media.... here is the wave height etc. for that day.

Image1%20Fri%20Feb%2013%202015.jpg
 
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