[Rattlesnake Guy]

Jazzman, answers below.

Originally Posted by jazzman

I'm looking for opinions on living broadside (or north-east side), on Winni islands. The direction means the most depending on the island you live on. The longer the wave have to be influenced by the wind will have a HUGE effect on the size and style they achieve when they hit you. Long run in high wind can result in "rollers". Short run might mean white caps on much smaller peak to trough differences. We had been on the lake a year when we bought, but frankly gave no thought to the questions you asked. We got very Lucky because of the shape of the island and how it saves us from the "longest" direction. The waves can be 10x worse, just a 100 feet off our dock. The waves usualy pass with about a 10-20 degree shore impact which make s ahuge difference in energy.

1. How many days a season do you fine yourself stuck on the island (or on the shore)? In 10 years we have been stuck on shore maybe 3 times. We usually delay a few hours which can make a huge difference. We have not really ever been stuck on the island as we leave in what is usually a favorable direction. Boating in gaps in the radar is much more common reason to leave early or stay late. (We don't like getting wet anymore)

2. How often do you find yourself freezing and wishing you lived someplace where the sun might shine for more than a couple hours a day? As much as I love the fall, I am not a big fan of late October on the Island (compared to the rest of the year) This is really only an issue on rainy days which make it unfun to be outdoors. But in reality we go every single weekend anyway. In the spring we are just so darn happy to finally be out on the island, the cold does not bother us.

3. Do you dare leave your nice boat unattended on the island during a storm (even with a breakwater)? Do you have mainland slips for your "nice" boat and your "work" boat? We also have one boat. No break water. On the Broads side of Rattlesnake. We tie the boat on the north side of the dock and use a pair of over sized whips to keep the boat about 3 feet off the dock. The gentle spring action of the whips is the only reason we can really keep the boat tied to our dock about 10 days a season. We store the boat in a very protected cove on the main land and never worry about the boat in that well protected area no matter what the wind direction is.

4. How do you protect your dock in the winter? All three of our docks are tilt up. We remove the panels and crank them up. We had a neighbor who left the last pair of post dangling in the water last fall and their dock got taken out over the winter. The biggest cause of damage appears to be when the huge ice sections start moving (due to wind). A dock has to be pretty tough to resist this kind of force. In 10 years we have had no dock damage during the winter. We had the most in season damage last year when the hurricane blew from the east and pushed one of our docks about 3 feet to the side. We used to tie our dock panels down when the water got high. Now we just put a couple star head screws in each panel as soon as we set up in the Spring. This saves us the panic trip up in the middle of the worst weather to screw them down.

Plus any other big pluses (I know... big view, lower cost) or minuses you might think of... We absolutely love being on the rough side of the Island. It can make the trip out and back a little white knuckle but we really really like watching the constant change in the wave types and severity. It is amazing how many different water patterns happen in one day. RG just got a time lapse app for her phone and we hope to do a day on the island recording. To be fair I think it is more appropriate to say we are about 70 degrees to the worst wave direction. The waves go past us and bang the shore but not nearly as bad as other parts of the island. If we were turned about 45 degrees CCW, we would not be enjoying the island nearly as much without a break water.

Break waters can be expensive. You can use them as a very effective gauge of how bad the waves are on any section of any island. It might be the best barometer of how exposed and subject to wave pounding a given side of an island might be. If you are looking to buy on a section of island where most of your neighbors have breakwaters and you don't be very concerned. A trip around just about any island will have sections of regular docks and other sections where nearly everyone has a breakwater. If you want to come out in bad weather you probably need to "be like your neighbors".

Other stuff:
It is cheaper to buy. Taxes are lower for the same reason. No cars. A lot more work to transport a gallon of milk from the grocery store to your fridge on the island. Tougher for visitors. (both good and bad) More challenging for contractors. (I am a do just about everything myself kind of guy.) You need to plan ahead well or learn to do without. When the power goes out, they don't just drive a big truck out to fix it.

Me, I'm enthralled by the views and the raw nature of it all, but it's easy when you only visit on nice days. The nice days are great but the bad days are worth it as well.