I can’t stress how important this is, as I have been caught on two different lakes in Ontario when the weather turned “beyond” ugly ! Orangeville Ontario(Island lake conservation area), in a small aluminum rental boat with a friend, weather was clear all day, clouded over and felt that pre-storm wind on my neck.
Minutes from the dock we could not escape what was about to happen, boat only had a battery operated trolling motor on it……..needless to say we got hammered with nasty rain and waves on this small body of water, kind of like a floating cheerio in a bowl of milk being shaken !
We grabbed the paddles and paddled our asses off to the nearest shore. “VERY” important to observe your surrounding even when the weather forecast looks good from the day before.