Talk to me about Buffalo, NY

[obrien19]

I do, but want to respect their privacy at some level.

My nephews/nieces play in the same baseball softball league as McDermotts kids. See him a lot just hanging out by himself. Avoids being a distraction at his kids sports. Very nice guy.

 

[drewkaree]

I thought the same thing. I want wind from the north east, NOT from the southwest. Use the land like a windbreak right?

For a big lake like that, I would think so, but it can be just the opposite for smaller lakes, depending on the topography underwater as well. On my lake, or Lake Winnebago, for that matter, it's fairly shallow, so certain winds will just make it hell to go out, even if it's just a 10mph day. There's not much land break on our lake, but an east wind seems to generate the worst conditions on our lake, even with another lake to the east, and connected to ours (so no land break at all above water). There's a shallow area dividing the two lakes, and it seems to be the reason an east wind isn't too kind to us, letting the wind skate over those shallows and hit us a bit harder.

Depending on the season, it can suck too. Constant or heavy south winds bring us tons of ice up on shore, to the point of damaging some boathouses that are set back 15+ feet from the shore. Thankfully, that hasn't happened for a few years, but we have to fortify our shoreline periodically to avoid erosion damage from the ice.

 

[Babin Farms]

For a big lake like that, I would think so, but it can be just the opposite for smaller lakes, depending on the topography underwater as well. On my lake, or Lake Winnebago, for that matter, it's fairly shallow, so certain winds will just make it hell to go out, even if it's just a 10mph day. There's not much land break on our lake, but an east wind seems to generate the worst conditions on our lake, even with another lake to the east, and connected to ours (so no land break at all above water). There's a shallow area dividing the two lakes, and it seems to be the reason an east wind isn't too kind to us, letting the wind skate over those shallows and hit us a bit harder.

Depending on the season, it can suck too. Constant or heavy south winds bring us tons of ice up on shore, to the point of damaging some boathouses that are set back 15+ feet from the shore. Thankfully, that hasn't happened for a few years, but we have to fortify our shoreline periodically to avoid erosion damage from the ice.

Mobile bay is shallow also and when the wind picks up its usually rougher than being out in the Gulf. It’s not too often that we are out there and if we are, most times its just crossing it to get to somewhere else.

 

[gthh]

Keep in mind “most” the boating happens on the river in Buffalo. For us, it’s like cruise night-we typically launch at the small boat harbor, cruise up the river to Tonawanda and dock at the pier and have lunch or dinner at the restaurants there (Dockside or Remington) or go around Grand Island (be sure you hug the U.S. side-the Canadian Border is very close to us in that area) anchor near Strawberry Island and have lunch.

Often the river is relatively calm especially toward the afternoon and twilight hours.

Lake Erie is always a gamble for our boats under 23’ and not much to do or see unless your piloting a sailboat or a cigarette boat (WOT!)

There are a lot of things to do and see on the River and is often navigable seas. The exception are near the bridges where the waters are always rough. (Consider trim tabs to lessen the rough ride in choppy waters)

I would encourage you to take an hour or so and trailer the boat to the Finger Lakes. I always feel more comfortable with the kids in the water in those glacier lakes.
Canandaigua and Skaneateles are our favorites.

 

[2kwik4u]

Keep in mind “most” the boating happens on the river in Buffalo. For us, it’s like cruise night-we typically launch at the small boat harbor, cruise up the river to Tonawanda and dock at the pier and have lunch or dinner at the restaurants there (Dockside or Remington) or go around Grand Island (be sure you hug the U.S. side-the Canadian Border is very close to us in that area) anchor near Strawberry Island and have lunch.

Often the river is relatively calm especially toward the afternoon and twilight hours.

Lake Erie is always a gamble for our boats under 23’ and not much to do or see unless your piloting a sailboat or a cigarette boat (WOT!)

There are a lot of things to do and see on the River and is often navigable seas. The exception are near the bridges where the waters are always rough. (Consider trim tabs to lessen the rough ride in choppy waters)

I would encourage you to take an hour or so and trailer the boat to the Finger Lakes. I always feel more comfortable with the kids in the water in those glacier lakes.
Canandaigua and Skaneateles are our favorites.

Thanks for the recommendations. We're not giving up on boating around here yet, but the learning curve is steeper than we expected for certain.

 

[2kwik4u]

@obrien19 @gthh

Took the boat down to Allegany Reservoir yesterday. This is definitely a lake more "our speed" than Erie.

Getting there was not great. There's no great interstate between Buffalo and there. We started out down the 219 until it ended (that's a wierd place), then went backroads all the way in. Q7 did fine with the 190, but those are some windy and poorly maintained backroads. I think next time we'll go down I90 to Dunkirk, then over on 60. That looks a little less "rural" of a trek, and likely easier on everyone despite being a 15-20min longer.

Once there, I have NEVER experienced such clusterfuckery at a boat ramp before. I've launched and retrieved on the 4th of July in the dark and the rain off the Ohio River and had a better experience. The general lack of any level of order was just astounding. People were being out and right rude and mean to each other. If anyone else was at Onoville park yesterday around noon, seriously WTF is wrong with you people?

Once on the water it was a pretty nice day. Water was nice and clear, and the lake was mostly calm. Not a ton of people out and about, but the wind was blowing right down the center of the lake. We cruised down to bridge and attempted to throw an anchor out only to find I was in 130ft of water with 100ft of anchor rope. I left it hanging while we had lunch, figuring it would still keep us off shore should we drift close enough. From there we "no waked" over to the dam and then back out to the main lake. Went a little more north and found a little cove/inlet on the eastern edge. Tossed anchor out successfully this time and let the boys play for a bit. Got "done" playing around 4 after being on the water for just a few hours.

Clusterfuckery remained at an all time high when we got back to the ramp. I was yelled at by two people for retrieving "in between" two other people. As best I can tell there were 3 lanes, and I used the middle. We don't need a courtesy dock to load/unload, but I guess everyone else around here does. Was accused of cutting line and being rude. I told me fellow boaters if they learned how to drive a boat instead of having 4 people holding lines waiting on trailer we could all go home sooner.

Overall a pretty good day. Not sure if I'll go back to Onoville after this experience, but that's not the lakes fault.

We still think we want a bigger boat at this point. Water was fine, the 19ft was great for this lake. 30mph at cruise was super easy and comfortable for everyone. The boys are bigger now and we need the space for them to play on the boat and NOT be right on top of us. If that helps with Lake Erie boating as well, I think that will be a win for us. Since this is likely the last outing for the season, we're going to table that thought until springtime. Maybe the boat show will have some discounts this year?!?!

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Sorry to hear about the clustfuckery… but it’s people and that happens. Glad to hear the day on the water was good !