themarv

Ok, I'm not new to boating,, however I am relatively new to lake michigan, and boy did she throw me a memory I'll never forget this past weekend! !! We launched in Waukegan harbor on Saturday morning, me and 2 others in a powerquest 290enticer, my brief in his 290enticer and a friend in his donzi zx33. Air show was great! Had a few problems anchoring but finally got the hang of things. After the show my brother headed back to Waukegan. Myself and the other boat I was with headed towards Indiana to check out the dunes. We arrived at the dunes around 5 Chicago time. From the dunes we headed to the new buffalo yaht club. Hung out there waiting for a friend to arrange some slips for our overnight parking. Grabbed a bite to eat at the stray dog and went to bed. Next morning we followed my friend in a 35ft center council donzi across the lake to Chicago for the airshow, (should have checked the weather) guess some nasty stuff rolled in. Was flat as glass in front of new buffalo at 8am. We got 3/4 way there and the chop/rollers picked up. So, we stopped and chatted back and forth with one another, we said ehh, may as well head to Waukegan, shows canceled, weather was foggy, was just a **** day. Well, by that time the rollers started coming at us, I'm guessing from trough to peak about 3_4'.. about 15 miles up the shoreline things started getting hairy to say the least.. my balls of steel in my newtome 29' powerquest we shriveled up into my stomach. . My 2 passengers were looking at me like I should pull into a harbor or something dumb like that. Problem was there were no more harbors, the 33ft donzi next to me was having a hard time as well however not quite as hard as my twinengine boat that I thought could handle everything. As I look at my passengers, I couldn't actually tell them what we were about to face was the worst I had ever seen, I also couldn't tell them I was pretty sure the rollers we now were in were very close to what I thought had to be 8s with the more often than not 12 rogues that were coming from strange angles of attack. I no longer was questioning what I should do anymore, I knew I must reach a harbor, the only one. . Another 20 miles away. I quickly told everyone on board how this was an offshore vessel that could handle waves such as those in the movie "the perfect storm" . I was completely Bull****ting, but I couldn't let them know that. Every wave and roller that came, I strategically assessed in the 3 seconds between my angle of attack, I called out the ones to my passengers that looked like they could smash all my stringers at one, "here comes a fun one".. what could I do? There was no where to pull for protection!! I ordered one passenger to don a life jacket.. I knew me and the first mate were going down with the ship if need be. We took a large one over the bow which drenched us more than the others, bilge pumps were ripping as I yelled over the soaked helm "is that all you got you f**** bi***"!! I was at a point of no return, I knew I mentally would give up before my well designed vessel.. we powered through those waves. With the 33zx donzi right beside. The Waukegan smoke stacks in view was our saving grace. I won't lie. Probably one of the scarier moments of my life. Once we reached the harbor, we pulled our boats out and relived that epic experience via pictures and moments that were burned into everyone's memory banks. After we had a shore lunch (hotdogs from the hot dog and 1lb sausage stand, we left. While stopped at a red light with my foot on the brake, my boat was smashed from behind , yes, both outdrives were smashed into by the huge pickup truck behind me. As I got out to check, a larger African american and her friend coming out of the liquor store pointed and said, and I quote "hahahaha! Poor white boy gots his big espensive boat all smashhed into, haha, shiyyt, that funny!" . So my question is, has anyone had a boat hit on the trailer? What should I check other than the obvious and what should I tell the adjuster to get things like gimbal replaced because I'm sure they base to be messed up, may not show it on initial inspection but could go out anytime due to the accident. Also, does anyone know the wave heights in front of Glencoe, north shore area around 1-4 pm sunday? Took us almost 4 hours to travel that stretch to Waukegan. Waves were worst I've ever seen. I apologize for typos or runons, this was all done via my phone. Great show though on saturday. I will never travel again without hourly weather updates. The lake doesn't take my vessel however a poor guy working overtime for a seal coating company sure took a good smash to it. Thanks for any input.

ICDEDPPL

Some people think a 25' boat is perfectly fine for lake Michigan "as long as you know how to drive it" .
I think those people never go out much.

Crazy story man! Sorry about your boat

themarv

Well said. I had a 21' out last year for the show. I figured, no problem at all with the 29, boy I was mistaken.

Jp4603

I heard those powerquests handle the waves about as good as a dingy. Might be time to upgrade to a real boat!!

themarv

Says the turkey who was in awe at 2footers on saturday.

MrCIG

Welcome to Lake Michigan the inland Ocean!!!!!!!

Been there done that more times then I can remember. Always keep an eye to the sky. That lake will go from 0 to Crappy in no time. We left New Buffalo this year started with 2 footers then to 6 footers in the middle till we got close to Hammond. Makes for a long ride.

Sorry about you boat getting rear ended. I would have a pro look at all the gimbals and stringers etc. to see what has been compromised.

Mark

Cole2534

Damn, Lt. Dan, glad you and Forest made it in OK.

What about having a very thorough survey of the boat performed?

As to the onlookers- f uck 'em.

woody81

The lake wasn't too bad in the morning heading from Indiana to Chicago. The forecast called for 2-4 footers all day. Going from Chicago to Indiana about 4 o'clock got really bad. The waves were crashing over the bow of my donzi 38 ZX. I held a good 40 mph most of the way back. Everyone aboard was still smiling when we got back. It was a rough day. Quite a learning experience for everyone.

waycool marine

we pulled into Waukegan for a rest stop ,as you guys left the ramp. our ride from diversey to whinthrop over 2.5 hours of not fun our quess was 6-7 with 10-12 swells . when we left whinthrop at 10 am wheather said it was going to get sunny and lay down. wrong again . it was still better than staying home to trim the bushes or clean the garage. sorry about the boat if you need another set of eyes on it pm me and we can get together im in mchenry

chris21hope

Rough day! Most people think Lake Michigan never gets bad because it's a 'lake,' but these people have obviously never been in it. It can get just as rough as any ocean.

Fight for as much as you can get from the insurance company, including a survey. You don't want to end up with problems a year or two down the road because the insurance company didn't do it right the first time....