[esoxesox]

What you really want is for someone to say that you need that downeaster for those really rough days and the SC for the not so rough days...onward towards the 4 boat theory!!!

But, to your request, we have had a few unpleasant runs up here on Lake Superior. Not sure if any of you have spent any time on Lake Superior and I haven't spent too much time on the ocean so I don't have first hand experience on the variation of wave characteristics. I do know that Lake Superior, despite having a considerable fetch, produces waves that are under-developed which means they tend to be steeper than traditional ocean waves and they move more quickly than fully developed waves of the same length. Most operators, even the guys running ~40 foot sportfishers, would pass on a run if the lake were running 10 foot seas. Anyway, the first year we had the boat we took a trip to Isle Royale, an island 20 miles off the MN-Canadian border. We run from the northern tip of the island to the MN side, about 60 miles across open water. When we left it was sunny and the deck was like glass. About 15 miles into the run, pea soup fog rolled in and the 40 mph wind kicked up 6-8's. I don't know what their spacing was but we were running 26 mph into them and they kept appearing out of the fog. We ran 45 miles in those waves and I never once thought about our safety, except for the possibility of other boats in the area. Several bigger boats, 25' to 35', left ahead us and in the fog they were invisible to me. Ends up they turned south and headed back to the island. When we docked at the marina we got the same response we get frequently in this boat. People were amazed that we'd venture out in foul weather in such a ?little? boat. I'd still put my 20' rig up against many of the bigger boats running on Superior. She's agile in skinny water and able on the Big Water.

Scot

One other thing, there is a charter business up here that has quite a few sailboats on the water. He can't decide when to go out and when to stay in. When a distress call comes in on one of these boats he goes to get them no matter the weather. The owner has enough $$$ to get any rig he wants as a chase boat. He has a 23' CC. I think that is a pretty good endorsement.