Safety and rescue

Fetch

Also: fetch length, wind fetch

The fetch is the distance over which the wind blows across the water without obstruction. The longer the fetch, the higher the waves.

On a large lake with 30 kilometres of fetch, high, steep waves can build up in strong wind. Luc Mehl describes a fatal accident on Lake Nahuel Huapi in Argentina: a crossing of about 2 kilometres, with around 30 kilometres of fetch before it and waves of about one metre.

Sources and further reading

• Luc Mehl: Packrafting Fatalities

Research as of 13 Nov 2026. We have marked manufacturer information as such.