Jupiter Inlet

Every part of the country has boating that is challenging (even dangerous). I have heard how bad the water gets on the Great Lakes and about "crossing the bars" in the pacific Northwest. I have done neither, so can't comment on those.

East coast inlets, specifically those on the east coast of Florida can be very problematic.

All of the factors mentioned by ttmott - I agree with.

Couple of other points about them. For several that are not ship channels, they often times are not that deep. As the rollers start the trough in between can be several feet below MLW. Not hard for running gear to hit bottom - when the chart says several feet of extra water.

Second, these inlets are not static. Every time a major tropical storm or hurricane moves through - all bets are off on a lot of inlets. Government Cut is not going to change - but Stuart and St Augustine probably will.

There are no markers on the charts in St Augustine - changes too often. Is all temporary markers. I went in there this past week. Did some homework. Called TowboatUS, talked to a local captain there. Found out that 1) temp markers were correctly on station, they had not dragged off station, 2) dredging had happened since I was there 3 years or so ago, controlling depth was 14ft.

An additional note on St. Augustine, they didn't dredge a channel in a straight line. More or less straight from the STA marker, then takes an abrupt turn with a green temp marker at what feels like almost to the beach. In darkness or inclement weather would be very difficult to find.

Hiring a captain to run the inlet with you for the first time really wont help that much. As ttmott was alluding to, you have to learn what the different conditions are at different times - and understand what it means to that inlet.

Finding experienced captains and talking to them about when and when not to go is a good place to start.

Finally - watch when you are running them. Find slack water.
 
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This is Jones Inlet Long Island New York definitely no joke In this video these gentlemen were inbound after a day of fishing came home to pretty crazy conditions ,the mouth of the inlet is very wide but there are east and west sandbars the channel itself probably should be re-dredged even at high tide there are parts of the channel that are only about 7 feet deep in any kind of rough weather when the waves part out you don’t want to be rolling over that spot or you will bottom out your boat even on a calm day wind against tide still has 3 to 4 footers to contend with I found myself in a bad situation one time About three years ago incoming 15 to 20 knot wind screaming out going current light rain ,wipers going leaving the inlet I lost my starboard wiper I could not see from all the water splashing on the windshield As I was approaching A set of 3 waves with white water curling at the top ,because I could not see my instinct was to slow down which was a critical mistake because I allowed the boat to roll over the first 7 foot standing wave and buried the nose in the next wave and water rushed up the bow pushed through the isinglass and washed through the cockpit And spun me 90 degrees beam to the waves the third wave pick me up rolled me to the port gunnel when The boat righted I nailed the throttles turn the boat and raced back in between the sets of waves spent six months analyzing that incident scared the shit out of my 12-year-old son ( with life jacket ) if it hadn’t been for my full fuel tanks and water tanks and a very low center of gravity I believe the boat would’ve been lost that day The timing was perfect for those events that happened had I not backed off the throttle the bow would’ve pushed through those waves most likely without incident


I'm glad you made it through with just a scare. It happens so fast that you really don't have time to think about alternatives. Sometimes it looks like you are riding the back of the wave in front of you perfectly and the next set of waves behind overtake you in the inlet creating instant chaos. There is no where to go except forward. If you don't get on the throttles bad things happen. My biggest worry is someone coming out while I'm headed in....that just makes the situation far more dangerous. I'll watch the inlet for 15 minutes just to see how the waves pile up and to make sure no one is coming out.

Rough conditions make you want a bigger boat. The 50+ Sportfish boats don't slow down...they just plow through the waves.
 
I'm glad you made it through with just a scare. It happens so fast that you really don't have time to think about alternatives. Sometimes it looks like you are riding the back of the wave in front of you perfectly and the next set of waves behind overtake you in the inlet creating instant chaos. There is no where to go except forward. If you don't get on the throttles bad things happen. My biggest worry is someone coming out while I'm headed in....that just makes the situation far more dangerous. I'll watch the inlet for 15 minutes just to see how the waves pile up and to make sure no one is coming out.

Rough conditions make you want a bigger boat. The 50+ Sportfish boats don't slow down...they just plow through the waves.

Ahhhh - Florida inlets can have conditions that will toss a 50+ Sportfish around.

There was a video online a few years ago. 20+ year experienced charter captain on a 50+ Sportfish decided to take a short cut - which took him in a dicey inlet at the wrong time. The video showed him losing control - boat rolled - threw him off of the fly bridge. He hit the side rail which broke his back and killed him.
 
Ahhhh - Florida inlets can have conditions that will toss a 50+ Sportfish around.

There was a video online a few years ago. 20+ year experienced charter captain on a 50+ Sportfish decided to take a short cut - which took him in a dicey inlet at the wrong time. The video showed him losing control - boat rolled - threw him off of the fly bridge. He hit the side rail which broke his back and killed him.


This one?


Hard to tell what happened other than the Captain going overboard. Allegedly 9 foot waves cross rocked the boat as it passed through the inlet. Smart first mate gets control of the 48' boat and brings it in.
 
Yes, that incident was at Jupiter Inlet on an otherwise sunny beautiful day. Incoming surf lifted his aft starboard corner and caused the boat to pull a hard right and nearly roll....
 
I have run most of the Carolina inlets from Bogue to Port Royal in very rough conditions up to 12' swells. But I did it in a sailboat with 3000 lbs of ballast to keep me upright. No way I would do that in my present Sea Ray 330.
 
This one?


Hard to tell what happened other than the Captain going overboard. Allegedly 9 foot waves cross rocked the boat as it passed through the inlet. Smart first mate gets control of the 48' boat and brings it in.

It might be the same boat - but was not the same video. The video I saw was from someone's cell phone, no reporting. Evidently they were just randomly filming a boat coming in - and just happened to catch the events.

Was more or less a classic example of what ttmott described. Tipped over a wave, stern came out of water, boat broached. When the boat rolled over the captain was thrown off the fly bridge.

That same inlet on the same day - few hours later or few hours earlier would not have been an issue. Wanting to think the incident I am thinking about was Lake Worth - but could be wrong. I do remember the Captain was DOA, this report said the Captain was in the hospital with injuries.

Bottom line - as others have said you need to know the impact of your choices. Local knowledge is important. Most important is the timing.

There are inlets which I will go through anytime. Some I will only go through at specific times, and some that I am really not interested in ever going through.

Bottom line get some local knowledge that is recent. Talk to the towing service and get their input. Pay attention to the times of the tide cycle.
 
Just to add a little flavor to the Jupiter incident above, it’s worth noting that guy was a longtime seasoned charter captain and I can’t even begin to have a count on the number of times he went in and out of Jupiter. So the notion of being experienced enough to handle these situations is a misnomer as evidenced by this guy’s death.
 
Wanting to think the incident I am thinking about was Lake Worth - but could be wrong. I do remember the Captain was DOA, this report said the Captain was in the hospital with injuries.

DOA - that's how I recall it too.
 
He was DOA and the original footage was unedited as it was out on the web within hours. His tragic death was a tremendous education for myself and I’m sure many others. In the original footage the boat rolled so far over you saw one prop several feet out of the water the boat self righted which allowed the first mate to gain control. Very unfortunate accident as I have been through that Inlet myself back in 2007/08. You never ever want to see someone die so tragically but many got more than an eye opening and for that loss some good has come from the accident.

There was a Gentlemen there filming surffers beside the Inlet from a recently pass storm as I recall. He saw the sport fishermen coming in swing his camrea around and that’s the footage he captured.

Very sorry for his loss and he had been using the Inlet for years.
 
Where is the video that you're speaking about on Lake Worth. I can't find it.

Here's Jupiter again... Boat looks like he's doing ok at first riding the back of the wave... Whelp not so much!

 
This is Jones Inlet Long Island New York definitely no joke In this video these gentlemen were inbound after a day of fishing came home to pretty crazy conditions ,the mouth of the inlet is very wide but there are east and west sandbars the channel itself probably should be re-dredged even at high tide there are parts of the channel that are only about 7 feet deep in any kind of rough weather when the waves part out you don’t want to be rolling over that spot or you will bottom out your boat even on a calm day wind against tide still has 3 to 4 footers to contend with I found myself in a bad situation one time About three years ago incoming 15 to 20 knot wind screaming out going current light rain ,wipers going leaving the inlet I lost my starboard wiper I could not see from all the water splashing on the windshield As I was approaching A set of 3 waves with white water curling at the top ,because I could not see my instinct was to slow down which was a critical mistake because I allowed the boat to roll over the first 7 foot standing wave and buried the nose in the next wave and water rushed up the bow pushed through the isinglass and washed through the cockpit And spun me 90 degrees beam to the waves the third wave pick me up rolled me to the port gunnel when The boat righted I nailed the throttles turn the boat and raced back in between the sets of waves spent six months analyzing that incident scared the shit out of my 12-year-old son ( with life jacket ) if it hadn’t been for my full fuel tanks and water tanks and a very low center of gravity I believe the boat would’ve been lost that day The timing was perfect for those events that happened had I not backed off the throttle the bow would’ve pushed through those waves most likely without incident

Holy moly, that's captaining your vessel. Cool listening to you work the throttles...
 
wow, I've been through Jones Inlet many times....that is a scary video. I went through Shinnecock Inlet on my 280DA (I had @tdschafer aboard - LOL). We were in some crazy waves, 12' in the mouth of the inlet. It was a following sea and the spacing of the waves were so that you had to surf them in (a following sea). I kept on and off the throttle between the sets and we made it in without incident. It does give you an appreciation for how mother nature can change things up in a split second though....It was a crazy ride that day out in the ocean, and my props saw the day of light a few times.

@Havana Shamrock was behind us in a 320DA and Todd got a great picture of his spot light giving a "closer look" at the next wave.
 

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