C&C 27 Association Forum

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Western Lake Ontario weather buoy

There is a large weather buoy in the Western end of Lake Ontario that makes an interesting day sail for sailors at that end of the Lake.  Here is a picture of the buoy:
<A href="http://members.rogers.com/rsengland/images/Weatherbuoy.JPG">http://members.rogers.com/rsengland/images/Weatherbuoy.JPG</A>
The buoy's location is 43.40 N 79.45 W (43°23'60" N 79°27'2" W)
Here are some approximate sailing distances from various locations, in nautical miles:
Toronto  12 nmi
Oakville  13 nmi
Bronte  14 nmi
Hamilton  20 nmi
Fifty Point  16 nmi
Port Dalhousie  14 nmi
Niagra on the Lake  16 nmi
Bluffers Park  18 nmi
This buoy provides current data and 24 hour graphs for all the important weather parameters.  Here is the Environment Canada Web site:
<A href="http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.phtml?station=45139">http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.phtml?station=45139</A>
This buoy provides the only way I've been able to find to calibrate my masthead wind speed instrument.  I went out to the buoy and recorded my wind speed readings in the vicinity for a half hour or so.  After returning home I went to the Buoy's Web site and noted the readings for the same time period.  After allowing for motion of my boat, I can calculate a calibration factor for the instrument.
Bob, S/V Heatwave

davidww1

Member

Re: Western Lake Ontario weather buoy

I had wondered why the data from that buoy often included wind speeds that didn't accord with what we were seeing near shore during summer. Reading your distances from various harbours, the penny dropped.

In the early 80's, LORC tried to get around the windlessness that had plagued its races previous summers by locating the Keel A course way out in the Lake -- 12 miles south of Gibraltar Point, to be exact. This turned out to be an absolute disaster. We often found ourselves windless, swatting flies and -- this was the killer -- watching the fleets race closer to the shore. We were so far out that we could see races on both sides of the lake when it was clear.

What none of us understood at the time is that a sea breeze is a closed circuit system, so the air that rises over land doesn't sort of disappear somewhere; rather, it flows back out to sea at higher altitude, then drops down onto the water to take the shoreward trip again. The area where this air falls, called the 'impact zone' by some, is almost totally windless. On the ocean, the sea breeze flows from ocean to land, so the impact zone is a band paralleling the shore. On a lake, where the breeze-generating land surrounds the water, the return circulation, coming from all directions, creates a massive impact zone in the centre of the lake.

A huge area with no wind, in which we were trying to race, and which is now home to the weather buoy.

David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV

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David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV