[madrasahs]

Originally Posted by rickstr66

8' - 10' high wakes????? Think about that for a second..... nevermind 17'. Seriously....... stop and think about that. Go up to a tree and measure 8-10' and then 17'. That's open ocean stuff.

OK, take it up with laker Tim McNitt:
"One Osage Beach salvage company reported raising three sunken boats in 24 hours beginning Friday night. "It looks like the ocean out here," said Tim McNitt, who owns Atlantis Dive and Dock Salvage of Osage Beach...So far this year, he’s raised 15. He said he measured an 8-foot wave over the weekend at Grand Glaize Beach."

Originally Posted by rickstr66

I have been boating regularly on the lake for 15 years and have never come across an 8'-10' wake. People constantly over estimate boat wakes and wave heights. Many a time I have heard guys explain how the lake had "6 footers out there" or even higher.

Go to Rattlenake Gal's concurrent post WRT the Old Mount. Here's what you'll find: "...Waves running from four to ten feet in height are seen each year..."

(There's three ways to measure waves -- I'm talkin' wakes, though).

Originally Posted by rickstr66

I was on the lake 2 years ago in July under the worse conditions I had ever experienced. There were legit 4 footers out there. I have never seen 6 footers on the lake.

"I was on the lake 2 years ago in July", too, and a combined wake had me thrown from my sailboat! (I realized later how it happened, and been watching for combined wakes ever since).
http://www.winnipesaukee.com/oldforu...mes;read=57548 Cruiser wakes that strike each other don't "travel" like waves...they collide...and shoot straight upwards. Fortunately, my boat can't be sunk easily.

Just dealing with a single Big Boat wake produced this "SeaTow" news item from this from three months ago:

A wake from a passing boat caused a 25-foot commercial salvage vessel to sink Monday evening on Lake Macatawa, Coast Guard officials said.

Chief petty officer Todd Stein said the boat, which belongs to St. Joseph-based Sea Tow, sank about 7:30 p.m. near Drake Point Light, which is across the lake from Big Bay.

According to Stein, Sea Tow employees were sitting in the boat completing paperwork when a 33-foot cabin cruiser passed about 30 yards away. The cruiser was traveling westbound at an estimated speed of 12 knots (or 13 miles an hour).

"The wake crashed over the stern, and it was swamped and subsequently capsized," Stein said. "We had a very busy weekend assisting other boaters, and we wrapped up the busy weekend by salvaging our own vessel."

The boat -- valued at $23,000 and based at Eldean Shipyard -- remains structurally intact, but could be a total loss because of damage to its engine and electronics. Pharisa said mechanics will inspect the boat to determine its fate.

The above account sounds like it was just a cruiser "mindlessly enjoying the lake".

Big Boats can create huge wakes -- much less combined-huge-wakes. I'd love to be at the helm to demonstrate -- for you -- how huge wakes can be crafted intentionally.

If you've started your boating career with a big inboard, fifteen years isn't many years.