islandhopper00
Active Member
Skill and experience trump electronics. I'm curious what your speed was coming across the Gulfstream last week?
For most of the crossing I ran about 3800-3900 rpm which equates to about 21-25 mph. But the seas were nearly flat, small rollers. I was limited by rpm range only. My cousin in a bigger faster boat 30ft Regal was running about 32mph. He would run till he was just about out of sight, drop off plane and wait for me to catch up. It's not as bad as it sounds, it gives his crew a chance to use the bathroom or get a drink...and I seem to close the distance pretty quickly.
Then the storm started moving in, and the wind kicked up the seas, so I slowed down. As the seas picked up I slowed down. At the pinnacle of sea height I was running 5-10 mph and giving the throttle, and my eye balls a good work out. lol.
When the seas pick up, I start to deviate off course so that I'm not bucking a head sea. I try to compromise between pounding and distance to waypoint deviation. Also if you think like a sail boat, when you get so far off course and need to turn to come back, you can run in a beam sea at a better speed and get away from the pounding. Kinda zig zag. It's all alittle tricky, but if you go with your gut, it'll tell you when you should be making a decision. Most just need to learn how to listen to your inner voice. lol.
Whoops, didn't mean to turn this into a lesson. Mike