The Great Lake are just as dangerous if not more so than any salt water sea on the face of the earth. It
What kind of deadly monsters lurk in its depths? The salty sea abounds with great white sharks, vicious giant squids, hyper-venomous sea snakes to name just a few
Thank you for the link. I live about 30 miles south of the southern tip of Lake Michigan. Chicago news is my local news and we hear about these deaths often.
Also, let me take the opportunity to add something I forgot to my last post.
I made mention a few times about the Great Lakes being much shallower than the oceans. For those who may not know, and there's no harm in not knowing everything. The wind can make much bigger waves/rougher seas under the right/wrong? conditions in shallower waters then can be seen under similar conditions in deep water.
The Great Lake are just as dangerous if not more so than any salt water sea on the face of the earth. It
What kind of deadly monsters lurk in its depths? The salty sea abounds with great white sharks, vicious giant squids, hyper-venomous sea snakes to name just a few
So you want to go Darwin on this, eh? Well you're correct. There are no man eating creatures lurking under the waves in the Great Lakes.
However there are many people every year who lose their lives on the Great Lakes. You get on a 20/30 foot fishing boat, go out into to the middle of the sea, trusting your captain, hoping he/she looked at the weather report. Then, BAM, you just made breaking News on WGN @7. Yes, Darwin had a theory. At least a few hundred a year on the Great Lakes continue to confirm it.
honestly as someone who has never seen a great lake outside parts of lake ontario near watertown ny (where it was mostly in a nice convenient bay), this thread is fascinating.
I would have never though it was dangerous to swim in lake michigan or that boaters faced lots of issues.
40 drownings per year for a huge lake with densely populated urban areas right on the shore would probably make it pretty safe. Quite a few beach resort areas in Europe in Asia would have triple digit drownings per year and the yearly number of visitors less than population of Chicagoland alone.
Either lifeguards on the beach do a great job, or maybe people just don't swim that much as the water in the lake is a bit on the colder side for the most of the year. Or maybe both.
Good PSA thread. My colleague lost her teenage son in Lake Michigan. They were swimming but the wind and waves picked up. He got caught in the undertow and they couldn’t pull him out. Seems like this happens fairly often.
The Great Lake are just as dangerous if not more so than any salt water sea on the face of the earth. It
What kind of deadly monsters lurk in its depths? The salty sea abounds with great white sharks, vicious giant squids, hyper-venomous sea snakes to name just a few
Hardly anyone is killed by those compared to drownings, even on the ocean. But the Great Lakes do have Muskies, Snapping Turtles and Northern Pike. There have been some hoax claims of bull sharks, but the nearest confirmed bull shark capture was in Alton, Illinois 280 miles south. Regardless, it is important to respect conditions even on fresh water. The North Face founder died kayaking on a lake in Chile.
I live near the Delaware and there are always quite a few drowning each year. People don't realize there are currents below the surface that can drag you under at a moment's notice. Always wear a life vest in water like that.
Also, I'd bet Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri has more drowning deaths than the Great Lakes, as a few die every weekend every summer.
This is not even wrong! According to the Missouri State Patrol, who keep the official records, last year was unusually deadly on the Lake of the Ozarks -- 11 people drowned, 10 of them in July. Usually, it's much less than that: 5 in 2011, 3 in 2014, 4 in 2016, 3 in 2018, 5 in 2019, and just 1 in 2020.
I finally did see a couple of references to rip tides / rip currents in this thread. I think that's the common denominator in most of these tragedies on the Great Lakes. More about them here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rip_current I've grown up in Michigan and been to Lake Michigan, in particular, plenty of times in my life. I didn't learn how to swim until I was in high school, and would not consider myself a strong swimmer. I shudder to remember times when I was in the lake, up to my shoulders / neck . . . and had that terrifying feeling I wasn't in control . . . still managing to get myself to shallower water and then to the beach. I was lucky. On one of my last visits, to the Saugutuck area, I watched with other beach goers, as lifeguards pulled two men from the water. The older man lived. The younger man did not. This summer, it's 'seemed' like these stories are more common than in other years.
The latest Lake Michigan tragedy I've seen. Particularly sad. What a loss for the families.
How many people drown in the ocean per year? The great lakes are massive, there are a lot of people that go on the lakes. I imagine fewer people drown in Lake Michigan per mile of shoreline than drown in the oceans per mile of shore line.
Because people often go out and swim in windy conditions, where undertoe and rip tide often occur. Only swim in safe conditions and it’s normal. And if you can’t swim and go out swimming…well I guess that’s death by natural causes.
we had some relatives die off Cleveland about 10 yrs back, healthy teenagers- dam shame. Its the riptide riptide riptide . People just think thats an ocean thing and it gets even semi smart people in trouble because it takes you out even if you are wading waist deep. Swimming wont save you. If you ever get caught in an undertoe, you will know terror like you never have. I survived once, only at the last minute remembering to swim parallel to shore for a while then in. Scared the you know what out of me.
I’ve been caught in these currents & once as a kid I almost died – I thought I was going to be carried away forever, so I panicked & fought it & only survived because I got a foot on rocky shoal. As an adult I’ve also felt their pull but now I know what’s happening so I don’t have that death panic anymore. I just accept I’m going for a little ride & then swim out to the side & return to my beach towel. It can't be emphasized enough, these currents are just like a river going out from shore. They have sides, just like a river has an edge. If you can swim at all, just swim parallel to the shore/beach for a short distance to get over that edge - then you can go back home. It can feel scary to be pulled away from shore into deeper water, and while you swim to the side following the shore (not against the current) you will continue to be pushed out a bit. Don't freak out, this is normal. Just look up at those clouds, relax & follow the shoreline. You've got it. The last time this happened I didn’t have to swim very far & I was out. 5 or 10 meters?
Next up on LRC scaremongering: CARS! You can have nothing to do with them and still get hit! or.. Phones! They're just waiting to explode and you hold them right next to your head?!?!?!
The johnsons don't appear to be the only geriatrics that frequent the site
The human body can be contorted in a way that allows you to float without making any motion whatsoever. Arching your back and spreading arms and legs out usually does the trick. This can be maintained for hours.
Swimming lessons ought to be mandatory in many states. It would save lives.
I used to do open water swims, up to six miles. I was once dropped off the edge of a boat four miles out into Lake MIchigan and swam back to shore with relative ease.
