Bailed to Safety Today: Something Missed?
 

Holla!
My family took the skis out to Wolfeboro for breakfast this morning, and it was a great ride over.
Leaving, however, the Broads had totally kicked up to where my wife ended up bailing behind a breakwater on Umbrella Point. We ended up waiting for a bit before I took my ski back to camp (Hanson Cove), where I grabbed the trailer and headed to the home whose house's breakwater my wife was at. I then drove her ski to Wolfeboro, where she met me with the trailer.
I'm the type to think "onward!" in these situations, but I think my wife was ultimately right.
My question: it was calm this morning with last night's storm rolling out, and the wind and weather reports were fine. What happened? Is there something I missed, or is this just the result of the wind lining up right with the direction?

Always looking to learn more!

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Glad to hear you're both okay Think. Wasn't on the water today, but the wind got crazy onshore.

Hi Think,

Wow! A tough morning, very glad to hear all are well now. I do not have thoughts on the weather, but I am not so sure you did the right thing by leaving your wife (and son?). Unless, of course, they were on the dock at the breakwater.

Looking forward to others' thoughts

It was sudden. I heard on Channel 9 this morning the wind was going to kick up so I suggested we go for a ride before it did. Well, just then I saw we were a little late, it was already beginning to kick up. We decided to go out for a little spin anyway but not to go in the broads. It came up quickly and got strong quickly. So moral of the story is, I can see how you got caught in it.

What I dislike about the Lake?

Too windy

Too crowded!

Yes, my wife and son stayed at the breakwater while I took the ski back. They ended up checking with the neighbor to let them know what was happening (and the neighbor was very nice).

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Anytime you're in doubt, heading to the nearest dock is always a good choice. It at least gives you a safe break to reset plans, as you did.
Prevailing winds are from the NW, so I'd guess it was still rough for a ski from Chases Point all the way back to Hanson Cove.
The Center Harbor Diner serves a really nice breakfast, and you're pretty much in the lee of the land all the way.

I moved my boat from a slip in Lakeport to my mooring half way up Paugus Bay today.

The original plan was to pick up some px at our community's day docks and go for a ride.

There were big white caps and the wind was blowing 90° to the targeted slip.

I cancelled the px and headed for the mooring.

It took about ten tries to line up and grab the pendant.

It's a new boat so I was extra paranoid about avoiding contact with my mooring neighbors but you know it's windy when the bow of a 6000# boat weathervanes so easily.

Because going to the mooring was unplanned my inflatable boat was not there so I decided to swim to shore.

I entered the water wearing a nice bright orange PFD.

I figured the wind would quickly move me the 500' to my sandy exit but it helped very little.

Wind sucks!

From the Barber Pole to just before the Graveyard and just after Moultonborough Bay were all almost flat as a pancake—that's why I'm wondering how much of this was simply a direction/confluence of winds.

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We got caught last year in a pretty good storm on our last day of vacation. We were going from lunch in Wolfeboro up to Ragged Island and had to abort mission 3/4 of the way there. The ride back across the broads to take out in Alton was sporty for sure! I never felt unsafe in our boat, but it was the roughest water the wife and kids had ever seen and they didn't enjoy it much...

NW wind
 

The winds were forecasted this morning by WMUR to increase from the NW as the day went on. That has the wind pretty much coming right down the Broads from Center Harbor to Alton Bay.

Any day we were going out ln our boat, we paid particular attention to forecasted wind speed and direction, and made our plans accordingly. Once out, I had an app on my phone that did a pretty good job of keeping up with wind increases. That was the good news. Bad news is that I deleted the app when I sold my boat in 2019, so I can't pass on the name of the app. Others have posted their choices for wind apps.

Bottom line, the smaller the watercraft, the more attention must be paid to forecasted direction and speed. (I'm guessing you're a little spoiled boarding up on your end of the lake. Good decisions after you get out are just that: good decisions ti be safe.

Dave

We have a weather station on west Welch. Looking at the data: the wind went from 10 mph average at 7:30 am to an average of 20 mph at 10:30 am. Fairly straight line ramp up and a jagged ramp down through the afternoon. Good call to bail.

Wind forecasts often do not pan out as Yogi said.

Alan

The Broads will get a lot rougher that within the area from Barber Pole to the Grave Yard. My experience is if you are in that area and there are white caps, I am doomed going back across the Broads. That area is mostly blocked by islands to not make a huge wave with the winds.
Sunday and the same thing happen, took the boat out and it was fine, tried to beat the traffic, coming back from Alton the NW wind picked right up and white caps were a flowing!! Happens quick and often. Just have to always check weather reports (I did not on Sunday).

So, is this the worst possible orientation? This is essentially "Longview," or the longest stretch of open water, right?

The waves were absolutely uniform, which made the peaks and troughs that might higher/lower rather than outright chop.

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Correct, that is about the longest wind fetch on the lake with a NW wind. On West Welch with a NW wind the fetch is only abut 1/3 of what you had. At our place 20 sustained from the NW kicks up some big rollers.

Alan

Ok, makes sense.

I guess my final questions:

1. When wind direction is given, it's in the "from" orientation? So, a NW wind means it's coming from the NW. I probably should know this, but all my apps use arrows.

2. The "fetch" is the distance that wind will be crossing the water unhindered?

If so, an E wind would've been much more favorable given we were hugging Wolfeboro/Tuftonboro Necks?

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Yes, yes, yes.

Alan

Gotta love the wind!
 

Grew up on the Broads so used to it. Why I bought a deep v boat big enough to handle the rollercoasters.

It also keeps the crowds away! So wave if you see a guy hopping white caps!

I find the Windfinder app to be reasonably accurate in predicting the winds for a given day, however with a caveat. Living on the eastern side of the lake with longest reach in front of us, I always look at their predicted gust levels and assume that is what we will see for sustained winds, with gusts even higher.