09-20-2004, 03:36 AM
Ocean,
You hit the nail on the head!
Anyone that has ever been on Utah Lake and has been unfortunate enough to have been caught in bad weather knows you can be in two-three feet of water and still drown. There's something about the way that lake generates massive wave action? Very steep walls on the waves with large peaks and very small troughs between the waves. One of it not the worst lakes to be on during a wind storm like the one we had on Saturday!
You'd be amazed at the power and size of the waves out there! I don't know the exact circumstances of the individual that flipped his tube, but if he lives, he should consider himself very lucky! I know I do! Utah Lake is not a lake to be taken lightly during a storm or high winds. After my own very scary teeenage experience water skiing and being stranded almost all night on a mid northern lake sand bar during a night storm. I can attest to the power and danger of this lake. I would have drowned if I hadn't drifted over a shallow submerged sand bar that I could get my feet on. It allowed me to get some air between the big waves. I still almost drowned standing in just 2.0' of water. During the night, some of the wave's reached 3'-4' or more during a bad storm. The huge waves would crash over my head and knock me back and off my feet, forcing me to swim back to the sand bar. At times, I thought I was going to lose the battle, the waves were just too big and I was getting tired and losing my bearings. It all started out as a fun early evening water skiing trip with some friends. We launched out of Provo harbor. I took a big spill on a big wave and was waiting to be picked up by the boat. My friends in the boat couldn't get back to me because the boat went dead and was at the mercy of the wind and waves. I tried to swim back to the boat, but the wind was moving it away faster than I could swim. I lost sight of them as the Sun went down. The boat blew to shore near the American Fork habor around 11:30 pm and they walked to a house to call authorities to find me. It was Sunrise when a guy in a small fishing boat saw me on the submerged sand bar and pulled me into his boat. I was very tired, cold and in HT shock.
I have total respect for the power of the waves at Utah Lake.
Deadly wave action on this lake can happen within just minutes! The key is to respect this body of water and get off and stay off when there is any chance of bad weather occuring and / or high winds.
[signature]
You hit the nail on the head!
Anyone that has ever been on Utah Lake and has been unfortunate enough to have been caught in bad weather knows you can be in two-three feet of water and still drown. There's something about the way that lake generates massive wave action? Very steep walls on the waves with large peaks and very small troughs between the waves. One of it not the worst lakes to be on during a wind storm like the one we had on Saturday!
You'd be amazed at the power and size of the waves out there! I don't know the exact circumstances of the individual that flipped his tube, but if he lives, he should consider himself very lucky! I know I do! Utah Lake is not a lake to be taken lightly during a storm or high winds. After my own very scary teeenage experience water skiing and being stranded almost all night on a mid northern lake sand bar during a night storm. I can attest to the power and danger of this lake. I would have drowned if I hadn't drifted over a shallow submerged sand bar that I could get my feet on. It allowed me to get some air between the big waves. I still almost drowned standing in just 2.0' of water. During the night, some of the wave's reached 3'-4' or more during a bad storm. The huge waves would crash over my head and knock me back and off my feet, forcing me to swim back to the sand bar. At times, I thought I was going to lose the battle, the waves were just too big and I was getting tired and losing my bearings. It all started out as a fun early evening water skiing trip with some friends. We launched out of Provo harbor. I took a big spill on a big wave and was waiting to be picked up by the boat. My friends in the boat couldn't get back to me because the boat went dead and was at the mercy of the wind and waves. I tried to swim back to the boat, but the wind was moving it away faster than I could swim. I lost sight of them as the Sun went down. The boat blew to shore near the American Fork habor around 11:30 pm and they walked to a house to call authorities to find me. It was Sunrise when a guy in a small fishing boat saw me on the submerged sand bar and pulled me into his boat. I was very tired, cold and in HT shock.
I have total respect for the power of the waves at Utah Lake.
Deadly wave action on this lake can happen within just minutes! The key is to respect this body of water and get off and stay off when there is any chance of bad weather occuring and / or high winds.
[signature]