Evanston, September 7

The waves have been large all week with cold air temperatures and slowly falling Lake temperatures. We avoided the Lake. But finally we couldn't wait any more so we came anyway with 3 foot waves recorded at the buoy. With a west wind we figured the beach should be lower, that was not completely true. But these waves were soft, walking through the surf zone these waves would flow around us rather than knocking us around. There were a lot of strange holes in the sand, however making walking some what of an adventure. One good thing is that all the larger pebbles that had lined the water line making entry and exit uncomfortable are now up on the beach, a big improvement.

Swimming was actually easy, the waves were mostly long swells with a small bit of chop. When seriously swimming it seemed like swimming on flat lake water. Changing to a breast stroke however made the waves very visible. We did a short swim for various reasons, one being the cold air, about 60, and cool water about 66.

The other reason was to fool around in the waves. One thing that surprised us was the lack of a rip current by the near wall. Also Jody, and to a smaller extent I, tried to body surf on the waves. But again they were too soft, rather than carry you they just flowed around you.