Smoke

[rfrance0718]

My brother and I spent the last 3 days cruising on Lake Erie, just like many, many similar sails, but, my word, the smoke changed so much. Usually we can see the monument on South Bass before we even get out of our harbor. It's about 5 due North, but on Wednesday it wasn't visible until we were almost there. Once we reached the mooring field it was really a downer. Even though it was sunny there wasn't much light and the beauty was just missing. You could see the smoke, smell it, and feel it in your chest. The next morning we took our running shoes to shore, but immediately realized that 70 year olds running in that soup was a bad idea. We went to the Battle of Lake Erie Museum and enjoyed the conditioned air instead.

None the less, the breeze was up and we dropped the ball and headed North. The breeze was on and we were close reaching in 14 knots or more. Since we couldn't see where we were going, we set the auto helm as that was easier than steering by the compass in the gusty conditions close to the islands. We had to sail high enough to clear the buoy off of Middle Bass Point and then bared off a bit to sail towards the North West Point of Peele Island. Usually you can see where you are headed but nothing was visable at all. We were sailing along at 6 knots with the main reefed to balance the helm, but things changed quicky. I hadn't seen anything on the radar before we left, and normally we could see storms long before their approach, but our first alert was a loud clap of thunder not too far away. When I looked at the radar it was a small cell heading west to East just north of our path. At the same time the wind dropped to nothing and we decided to fire up the motor and head back to the south. In getting the motor tilted down and starting it, while furling the genoa, I headed in what I thought was the intended bearing. Keep in mind that I couldn't see a thing, and the wind had changed so I didn't have any clues except that I wanted to head away from where we had been going. Funny thing, once I got going I looked at the compass and found that we were at about 300 instead of the desired 180! I was so disoriented that it was actually difficult to force myself to bare off far enough to get down to the desired direction. It was a strange experience that must be similar to a pilot not believing what his instruments are saying. (think JFK junior)

After the storm passed the wind came back and we decided to sail close hauled to the East towards Kelley's Island. The breeze was back up to 12 or so, and the Oday sails very well with the tiller just locked in the middle. This works better than having the auto helm engaged because the boat responds to the shifts instead of just going with the set heading. It was a six mile sail and we couldn't see Kelley's until we had gone more than 5. We sailed into the bay on the north shore, agreed that we had made our destination, and turned around for a broad reach towards Middle Bass Marina.

This was an easy 7 mile sail. The breeze was still up, but the waves were small, so they weren't fooling the auto helm. At the halfway point we looked around and couldn't see any land at all. Usually, we would be able to see Kelley's, South Bass, Middle Bass, North Bass, Ballast, Mouse, and the Catawba shore in the U.S. as well as Pelee, Middle, Hen, East Sister, and maybe North Channel Island, in Canada. It's a beautiful sight when it's  clear, but not so much on this day. Eventually we sailed into the marina, where we didn't see the sunset or anything that wasn't on the island itself.

By the next morning the breeze had shifted to a southerly and the smoke was mostly gone. The sunrise lit up the cabin and breathing was noticeably better. On our sail back we could actually see where we were going! We had sailed East to make it around into to the beautiful channel between North and Middle Bass. Then we beat through the channel and sailed close hauled on port until we could lay Rattle Snake Island, sail to the lee of Green Island, and round Mouse Island at the tip of Catawba. Mouse was 7 miles away when we tacked and we could actually see it. When we reached Mouse the wind had dropped and we motored the 2 miles to our harbor entrance. This left plenty of time to furl and cover the main, stow halyards, and coil lines. (although, the motor boat chop is a bit maddening in that area, and most was accomplished with a single hand) It was an agreeable ending to an interesting cruise.

[Riley Smith]

We had similar conditions once during March I remember. It was very dry and windy, and a fire got started in the north part of the county. We don't have many wildfires because there are so many watercourses around. Ditches, creeks, bayous and rivers are scattered all over, but this time it was so dry, their natural tendency to hinder fires was lowered dramatically. And many of these places are almost inaccessible by land. Add lots of natural grasslands and the fire would move very fast and change directions. I smelt smoke for a week and there was a bad haze constantly. From work, where we were 300 ft. AGL, you could see the columns of smoke to the north. Not a fun time because we lived on the southern edge of the threatened area. I had already seen a quick grass fire come through our neighborhood once. It moved faster than a man could run.

But this environment actually needs that occasionally. It clears out the choking jungle, and actually enriches the soil (although it's bad for the atmosphere). The natives used to use fire in a major way and one of our wildlife preserves here burns their acreage on a regular basis. Anyway, sound like the sailing was STILL enjoyable!

[Norm L.]

Then there is driving the back roads of south Louisiana in the late fall when they are burning the cane fields after the sugar cane harvest.

Being on the water with zero visibility is eerie. We returned from the Blue Hill Maine race weekend to Castine in dense boat length visibility fog. Eight hours of dead reconning pilotage hoping we got the tide movements right as we ran channel buoys.  No such guidance off the Erie islands.

Then 10 days in fog running on a freighter from New York to France. Horn going all the time but still at sea speed. But at least there was radar. Shortly after leaving NY we got a blip in radar behind us closing fast. I calculated 30m knots and we assumed it was one of the liners, I think the Queen Elisabeth. Approaching the English Channel we met an outbound ship going about 30 kts. We believe it was the same ship that got to Southampton, picked up a new load of passengers and was NY bound before we even got to Europe.

As for their (and our) compliance with the Rules of the Road in reduced visibility?

[rfrance0718]

I've always heard that the fog in Maine is something to be reckoned with. We could easily far enough to avoid collisions. I Sounds like your dead reckoning was successful. GPS is a pretty awesome invention. I only cruised for a couple of years before I added one to my arsenal.   

Someone on Facebook posted the following about the Canadian fires. , "Curiosity got the better of me, so I looked up the term "boreal forest," pine and mixed hardwood forest that grows in the parts of Canada now burning, to see if there's a way to understand why these fires in Canada are so bad.
Please remember that I only understand the tippiest tip of the iceberg here, but it's a start. Turns out there are some very good reasons why fires in boreal forests are so very difficult to extinguish and control.
While pine trees are rich in terpene, an ingredient in turpentine that is an excellent fire starter, hardwoods ensure that there is plenty of fuel for wildfires in tree branches and a whole lot of leaf litter on the ground. The perfect storm for wildfires, it might seem.
All that has to happen is to add lightning to the mix, and we've got smoke, air quality issues, pollen, and air pollution that have had me sneezing my head off and barking for weeks."

[Captain Kidd]

Very interesting trip. I've never experienced sailing in fog but I can imagine it being quite unnerving.

We're a good bit hazy from the fires even down here in Georgia (howbeit north Georgia).

[noelH]

Not sure if true, but seems to be more hazy days from forest fire smoke this year than ever.  At the western end of L. Superior we have been receiving haze from the western and eastern Canadian wild fires.  Just depends of the location of the H or L pressure systems.  Many days of stationary H pressure has also resulted in "sunny", dry, and windless days.  AQI luckily has stayed below 150 on the worst days. 

Must be moist warm air drifting over the Lake.  Major fog for a couple mornings.  Awake above the "clouds".  If it was like the worst of our haze days it would be one grey world.

[Noemi - Ensenada 20]

Not sure if true, but seems to be more hazy days from forest fire smoke this year than ever. 

Definitely more than ever.  All of it.

[sesmith]

We've been dealing with bad air quality from the fires since early June, first at our cabin in Central NY, then on our sailing adventures.  We left Erie, Pa on our boat headed for Lake Michigan around June 21.  We've had lots of low visibility days and respiratory issues from the smoke on the way, particularly when we hit Detroit and Port Huron.  The last couple of days up the Michigan side of Lake Huron (we're currently in Port Austin), I've had our radar reflector up and nav lights on. We've sailed in the fog in Maine, and it's similar, but fog is seems quieter and you can breathe it.  We do have AIS receive, so that's helpful knowing where the ships and some of the other boats are.  We don't have radar, but it would be helpful.

We've dealt with smoke from Canadian wildfires in previous years, but this has been the worst one for low level smoke.  You can't get away from it on a boat.  Walks on shore get exhausting quickly.  It does help, when we're stopped at a marina, to close up and run the ac at night, so we're recirculating bad air in the boat and not just bringing in more bad air from outside. 

Today is beautiful though.  Hoping or more days of favorable winds from the south 

[noelH]

Past years the rare days of smoke haze were due to western USA forest fires.  No AQI issues.  Just real beautiful sunrises and sunsets.  This season with the stationary H pressure around the region we are experiencing breezes from predominately NE to SE.  Normal summer winds are predominately westerlies.  The real bad air around Detroit and Chicago and MSP ends up eventually drifting here with the easterlies.

The Sponge caterpillars have arrived.  Took them ~160 years to migrate from MA.  Normally we have cycles of Tent cats that strip the leaves off the oak and birch.  These Sponge eat everything.  First to go are the oak leaves. Last are the conifers.  Not sure if the forest can deal with both critters.  Hopefully they compete with each other.  Carpet of dead caterpillars. I think they are starving to death.   If the forests have significant die out and our drier than normal trend continues.  Major forest fire risk.  Good thing we  finally received significant rain yesterday.  Only the 2nd time this year rainfall 24hr totals have exceeded 0.4 inches at the house. Actually more rain yesterday than the annual total to date.