Traveling West Side of Lake Michigan - seeking advice

We will finally deliver our new to us boat from the Sturgeon Bay area down to and through Chicago and further south. Looking for advice on trustworthy apps/sites for Lake Michigan conditions from the locals - We will take the lake trip in 50 mile “chunks”… still unsure of the boat (new to us) and don’t want to be out on the lake with dead engines. All advice for this time of year (Late May - Early June) from the bay down to Chicago would be great… Thanks all!!!

I used to sail the Mac race but never did "The Hook" which is the route you sound like you are taking. I've also been gone from that area for over a decade so have no recent local advice other than seeing if you can speak with anyone who has sailed the Hook in recent years.



Otherwise, most cruising boaters I talk to use "Active Captain" to find out recent local information.



How far south are you going?

We have found Windy app to be fairly accurate.

Congrats on your new vessel! I haven't done any cruising on the lakes on my own vessel, but I drive one of the freighters out there. I use this site for weather most of the time:

https://www.weather.gov/greatlakes/

They tend to underestimate the wind pretty regularly though, so don't be surprised when the predicted gust speed is actually the sustained windspeed.

The Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab (GLERL) has a Coastal Forecasting System that has some good information too, though the site isn't as user friendly:
https://www.glerl.noaa.gov/res/glcfs/

Some other potentially useful weather stations, including several weather data buoys:
https://seagull.glos.org/map?coords=-85.0593262,43.3489729,6.9

https://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/

There's always windy.com

Good catch on the weather bouys, Dave. We use them here on Lake Huron all the time.

I'm leaving Chicago June 3 or so, heading for Lake Huron via the eastern shore. It's usually a nice time of year. I traveled the WI side in sailboats 30+ years ago, and have fond memories of visiting Sturgeon Bay and Manitowoc. They built submarines there during WW2 and delivered them to the Gulf of Mexico by barge. Interesting history. A lot of Loopers stop in Milwaukee and love it.

There are often multi day stretches of benign conditions when a high pressure system slows down and parks over the southern section of the lake. Westerlies aren't going to bother you much. Stay in port during strong north easterlies or local thunderstorm watches. If the weather is nice and everyone's happy maybe go a few extra hours to the next port if you want to make time. Night time operation is safe and easy in good conditions. There is very little vessel traffic along the shore, and minimal debris or hazards. It's usually an easy trip.

I use Windfinder and weather.gov. NOAA weather on vhf is also useful on that route.

Good luck with the new boat.

thanks for the great advise - we are headed south in "chucks" through the rivers to the gulf with at least one long stop over. - I'll check out active captain and the other apps and websites - thanks all!

We've had our boat on Lake Michigan since 2005. Sturgeon Bay 2005-2010.
Michigan side since 2011. You might consider a side trip north on Green Bay (Door County) before leaving Sturgeon Bay. Fish Creek is nice. Washington Island interesting, Fayette, Michigan simply stunning. Never went south of Sturgeon Bay on the Lake...always headed across to Michigan and then north. But from that experience, we learned that the Michigan side tends to encounter nastier wave conditions because of the prevailing westerlies and the long fetch. Fog can occasionally be an issue in the Spring, but easy enough to plan for. Radar is a nice security blanket. I use www.passageweather.com for wind and wave info. Seems to track fairly well with NOAA within 24-48 hours out.

My experience with Windy is - Don’t forget to look at the “Gusts” layer. I have found that more often than not will be the true measure of your comfort out there. It’s the gusts that tend to drive the wave height.

Wayfarer Dave covered the rest of the bases with his suggestions as well.

We are launching in Kewaunee soon and heading north. We found Kewaunee to be a great little town with just enough to do for a short stay.

Port Washington has a great waterfront as well.

Have a great trip!

Update and thanks. Completed the 500 mile trip w/o incident. Great advise on the winds - if they are coming from the south (blowing “up lake” from south to north) there will be stacked swells 4 - 5ft and if wind is over 10 knots, white caps on the swells. Good idea to hold up for a day or two and let the lake and wind calm.
We ran between 50 and 80 miles per day - Sturgeon to Manitowoc. Manitowoc to Milwaukee. Milwaukee to Chicago. Chicago down the ship and sanitation canal, Illinois river to the Mississippi. Ran our boat at about 1500 RPM using about 3.5 GPH per engine (8.3 Cummings). Average fuel price was about $6.00 and total cost was about $2,800. Marina cost was reasonable. Warning - marinas are VERY shallow south of Joliet - about 4 feet (maybe). Bridge heights in Chicago are at or higher (aka if 17ft, maybe 18) than advertised in Quemby’s (which is a great resource) along with the Great Lakes cruising guides.
The Brandon lock will let you through as soon as possible after 6:00 p.m. For those heading that way, recommend getting through Chicago early before tours start and parking on the wall at Joliet until the lock opens. Make plans to stay at a marina within your cruising distance before dark or have an anchorage selected. Best of luck to those who will likely do this in the fall.

Congrats on a successful journey. Got any pics of your new baby?