I took as close to a knock-down as I ever want to on Saturday coming across Lake Michigan--got hit by a couple big waves in close succession while the tiller pilot was steering and had water coming in over the cockpit combing--and luckily both my friend & I were clipped on and not trying to move anywhere at the time. We were already bracing ourselves in the cockpit because the waves, which were higher than predicted, had been rocking us fairly significantly. The tiller pilot had been handling things fine until suddenly it wasn't. I got the tiller pilot off and took over steering, and the boat quickly got back on her feet. It was something of a struggle to steer her, but things definitely got better from that point on. After about an hour, things began to calm down.

After we got to Sturgeon Bay, I asked my friend if she'd make the same decision to cross, given what we'd experienced. She said she would, but I can't agree. I couldn't help thinking of how one or two small details could have led to a very different outcome. I don't think it was a bad decision to cross, given the forecast, but the waves & wind turned out to be just a bit more than predicted.