How Great are the Great Lakes?

"Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson, from Self Reliance

Few that know the Great Lakes question what makes them great, but I've come to realize there are many folks who know nothing about the Great Lakes, or totally misunderstand their significance. Once when I was visiting San Diego, a local at the bus stop asked me if the lakes ever completely thaw in the summer. Another time someone wanted to know if I was able to see Wisconsin across Lake Michigan while standing in Michigan. And like many Great Lakes sailors, I've heard multiple times from our salty brethren that we're just "pond sailors". I think I know what Emerson meant when he said; "To be great is to be misunderstood."

Words like "great" and "awesome" are totally overused in our society. "How was your day?" "It was great!"  "Did you see that new super hero movie?" "Yeah, it was awesome!" I know I'm biased, but I firmly believe the Great Lakes deserve the "Great" in their name.  Even so, they are a very underrated sailing and cruising destination. There are certainly better known cruising locales such as Chesapeake Bay, Puget Sound, the Bahamas, and the Sea of Cortez (Baja), but I'm not convinced they are ultimately any better than the Great Lakes. I'm pretty sure part of the reason those other places get more cruising love is because they all have salty water and so the freshwater in the Great Lakes gets unfairly stereotyped as less worthy. I'm also pretty sure that people who don't live near the Great Lakes or who haven't boated on them don't realize their enormity.

I realize there's much more to good cruising than simply lots of water, but take a moment to consider just how much water and cruise-able coastline exists in the Great Lakes. There is 6 quadrillion gallons of water, which amounts to one-fifth of the world's fresh surface water and is enough to spread evenly across the continental U.S. to a depth of 9.5 feet. The Great Lakes has 10,900 miles of coastline, equal to almost 44 percent of the circumference of the earth. Michigan's Great Lakes coastline alone totals 3,288 miles, more coastline than any other state except Alaska. So how do those numbers compare to the other better known cruising areas? See for yourself below. All maps were taken from Google Earth using the same scale.

Great Lakes
Coastline: 10,900 miles
Surface area: 94,000 square miles
Volume: 6 quadrillion gallons (5,449 cubic miles)
Chesapeake Bay
Coastline: 11,684 miles (including tributaries)
Surface area: 4,480 square miles (including tributaries)
Volume: 18 trillion gallons (16 cubic miles)
Puget Sound
Coastline: 2,500 miles
Surface area: 1,005 square miles
Volume: 26.5 cubic miles
Bahamas
Coastline: 2,201 miles
Surface area: 90,000 square miles
Volume: ???
Sea of Cortez (Baja, Mexico)
Coastline: 2,500 miles
Surface area: 62,000 square miles
Volume: 35,000 cubic miles

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Top 10 Favorite Affordable Bluewater Sailboats

Image
I've always said that my favorite boat is whichever one I currently own. Being able to call it "mine" makes it my favorite by default. My first boat was a $400 derelict that I loved (still love) deeply. And she loved me back. However, that doesn't mean there aren't other boats I love that I'd like to call "mine" someday. The following is my personal ranking of my favorite affordable (available for ~$50k) sailboats. I've rather arbitrarily set the price limit around $50k and called it "affordable" in hopes that one day one of these boats might fit my budget and help my family and I to sail far and live free. Also note that other than the top 3, these rankings change in my head almost daily and I really struggled to narrow the list down to just 10.   As you peruse my list, you'll notice that they're all bluewater cruisers . You won't find any modern designs, fin keels, spade rudders, sugar scoop transoms, carbo...
Read more

Go Small and Go Now! 5 Pocket Cruisers to Take you Anywhere

Image
"Go small, go simple, go now!" -Lin & Larry Pardey Iconic cruisers Lin and Larry Pardey are well-known among cruising enthusiasts for the above statement. Can it really be that easy? Grab yourself a small boat, outfit it properly but simply for offshore work, and get going while your dream and your body is still alive! Lin and Larry not only made the statement, they lived it. If you're looking to do the same, maybe some of the micro- or pocket-cruisers I've listed below can serve as your "go small" portion of the equation. Going small and choosing one of these or several other pocket cruisers will lead to trade-offs. Of course first and foremost you'll be giving up length, both on deck and at the waterline. This often leads to less storage space, less weight capacity, and slower sailing. But the upside is presumably less maintenance (less paint, less wood, fewer systems) and more affordable expenses. For example, replacing the s...
Read more

Escape to the Sea: How to get from the Great Lakes to the Caribbean

Image
Let's say winter's chill was something you could no longer take as a Great Lakes sailor. Or perhaps you just want to extend your sailing season beyond the boundaries of summer. What options do you have?  You could just opt for a bareboat charter somewhere in the Caribbean and consider the itch scratched. But then you'd miss out on all the adventure of moving a boat between the Great Lakes and the Caribbean. And you wouldn't be sailing  your  boat. I'm here to convince you that the best option is to sail your own boat south. What follows is an overview of the route you could take to get you and your boat to warmer water and weather from the Great Lakes. Route 1: St. Lawrence Seaway (including Lake Champlain shortcut) You're adventurous if you choose this route. From most starting locations in the Great Lakes, you'll also be seeing the most scenery and passing the ...
Read more