safe sea conditions

My first open water scuba diving was in 10 footers off the Keys....rolling. It was not bad but we were in a 45ft dive boat. The biggest water we got in was off NJ. We tried to go out and dive but ran into 20+ footers. They were like mountains rolling into us. I went up to the bridge with the captain and it was quite a sight to behold and then we needed to turn around in a trough. Those turbo charged Cats really powered that dive boat. It was a sealed cabin crew boat (oil rig) converted into a Dive Boat. I think it's name was Thunderhorse out of Barnegat. The captain said it would right it's self if we rolled.....a real carnival ride to remember. I could tell he did this sort of thing before. When we were shopping for our 270 in Joppa, MD...a few owners there said their 270's have taken water over the bow in the Bay on bad weather return trips. I don't mind a rough ride but if I scared my wife....she'd be done with boating. We have been caught in a lightning/thunder storms with 30-40mph gusts and heavy rain but our river is not that wide to build more than 4 footers for a short period of time. We are fair weather boaters but a thunderstorm can come out of nowhere, Mike.
 
Wanted to see how it would handle it.

WOW! There's something I'd never do just to try it out! I had to bring this boat over to the sling for haulout - a 500' ride through the marina, with three 90 degree turns, a long straight run down a real narrow fairway with 40-50 sustained cross winds, culminating in a 90 degree right turn into the sling. Only did that b/c I HAD to. Every other boat due to be hauled out that October day decided to postpone. Needless to say it was NOT fun, but I didn't hit anything.

Had a hell of a time just getting the lines off. Took two men and all their strength to just pull the boat toward the piling to slacken the line enough to get it off the cleat.

Call me a wuss, but I'm staying at the dock in anything around 20 knots. Our bay is pretty wimpy but it's getting back into the slip that gives me the willies. This boat don't handle too well in closed quarters, even with a slight breeze!
 
That's because you have a Surface Area like a "Blow Boat" with the Sails up!!!

Bugs, thanks for realizing that! All these sundancer guys just don't get it. LOTS of wind resistance.
 
Once on the Chesapeake's eastern shore near Kiptopeake the weather turned bad in a hurry. There were legitimate 4-6 footers on the bay. We had to cross to Langley AFB/Back River to get back home. We were in my 210 that I have now. Wife was 3+ months pregnant at the time. It started out a nice summer afternoon with an almost flat bay. The radio started talking and I started prepping to get out of there. Tide was going out, waves were coming in from south east standing them up and making them tall. I put up the bow cover in case we shipped any water and got the life jackets on. We went along the Bay Bridge Tunnel as far as we could stand it and then turned north east trying to put the waves at our stern the best we could. We got wet from the wind blowing the tops of the waves off, but the wife actually went to sleep on the bench seat on the rear along with the dog. My little Sea Ray handled real well and am damn glad I bought a "good" boat.

Moral of the story, know how to handle wind and waves. Your boat will take more than you think, but when it reaches its limit you are done. Think thru your actions, and remember that Mother Nature does not suffer fools easily.
 
WOW! There's something I'd never do just to try it out! I had to bring this boat over to the sling for haulout - a 500' ride through the marina, with three 90 degree turns, a long straight run down a real narrow fairway with 40-50 sustained cross winds, culminating in a 90 degree right turn into the sling. Only did that b/c I HAD to. Every other boat due to be hauled out that October day decided to postpone. Needless to say it was NOT fun, but I didn't hit anything.

Had a hell of a time just getting the lines off. Took two men and all their strength to just pull the boat toward the piling to slacken the line enough to get it off the cleat.

Call me a wuss, but I'm staying at the dock in anything around 20 knots. Our bay is pretty wimpy but it's getting back into the slip that gives me the willies. This boat don't handle too well in closed quarters, even with a slight breeze!

I'm surprised your marina pulls boats in that kind of weather. My appointment was canceled a couple of years ago when the winds were blowing 30-35 knots.
 

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