The worst weather I've boated in was....

[GypsmJim]

1ST:
Young and foolish. In a 16' woody outboard. Working a summer job with another guy that liked to fish but had never been in a boat. The weather was 80F, calm and perfect. The forecast was wonderful. Friday afternoon. Decided to skip work and go fishing. Lake Erie was a sheet of glass. Fished about an hour and the bass were biting real good. All of a sudden the wind started to come up. By the time we got the lines in and the anchor up 4 footers were rolling. Half way in they got to 6 footers. I couldn't navigate the crests or toughs so we had to go follow the waves to keep the bow up. By the time we got in every screw holding the front seats were popped. The boat was heaving and so was my buddy....all the way in. That was his first and last boat ride.

2nd:
Out with a new girlfiend cooking chicken on the grill on a small Niagara River island. The same OB woodie. Just got finished with dinner when a T-storm started. (not on the weather radio). We were on the windward shore. It was too dangerous to leave so we put up the canvas camper top and waited it out in perfectly dry conditions. After the storm the winds were still at near gale conditions. Every time I tried to leave, the wind blew us back on shore. I ended up walking the boat around the end of the island and let the wind blow us over into the channel so I could drop the motor and get on our way. That was her last boat ride too.

Follow-Up:
Those stores were circa 1970. Shortly thereafter I met the girl that was to be my first mate for life, and never had a bad experience since then.

 

[Soulshine]

Soon after I met my wife, she went out on the lake with a group of us. Her first real boating experience.

Three boats, mine at the time a 29’ Chris Craft express. Flat calm August waters and hot as hell, so most people were swimming with the boats adrift about 50 yards apart. Sounds nice, right?

That storm smell and feel arrived as fast as the microburst did. Within a minute or so it was dark as twilight and a 40 mile an hour wind was blowing jelly bean sized hail sideways like bullets. Waves were about 4’.

Swimmers headed for the nearest boat and got on board while captains prepared to head about half a mile north into visibly clear weather.

My starboard engine wouldn’t start due to what I later learned was a crusty connection and the wind got into my canvas propelling me towards a stone bluff in a hurry. With one engine running, I couldn’t turn into the wind and away from the bluff, so I risked turning the way that the boat would go hoping to complete the turn before making contact.

The hail was inches deep in the cockpit and on the dash and there was no secure footing to be had, but my wife to be dogged hatches and held on tight without a sound.

10 minutes later we were back in the sun on mirror flat water watching the hail melt.

My wife loves boating despite this baptism and refers to that day often.

We were married on that boat close to that spot two summers later.

 

[FootballFan]

1ST:
Young and foolish. In a 16' woody outboard. Working a summer job with another guy that liked to fish but had never been in a boat. The weather was 80F, calm and perfect. The forecast was wonderful. Friday afternoon. Decided to skip work and go fishing. Lake Erie was a sheet of glass. Fished about an hour and the bass were biting real good. All of a sudden the wind started to come up. By the time we got the lines in and the anchor up 4 footers were rolling. Half way in they got to 6 footers. I couldn't navigate the crests or toughs so we had to go follow the waves to keep the bow up. By the time we got in every screw holding the front seats were popped. The boat was heaving and so was my buddy....all the way in. That was his first and last boat ride.

2nd:
Out with a new girlfiend cooking chicken on the grill on a small Niagara River island. The same OB woodie. Just got finished with dinner when a T-storm started. (not on the weather radio). We were on the windward shore. It was too dangerous to leave so we put up the canvas camper top and waited it out in perfectly dry conditions. After the storm the winds were still at near gale conditions. Every time I tried to leave, the wind blew us back on shore. I ended up walking the boat around the end of the island and let the wind blow us over into the channel so I could drop the motor and get on our way. That was her last boat ride too.

Follow-Up:
Those stores were circa 1970. Shortly thereafter I met the girl that was to be my first mate for life, and never had a bad experience since then.

Ohhhh to be young, single, trapped on an island, yet dry under the canvas

 

[TonyQSC500]

Being Ive grown up on the wester basin of Lake Erie I have been caught in many bad storms, but the worst was probably a few years ago coming back from Windsor. We came back in 10' waves. It made the 2 and a half hr trip feel like 4 hours and let me tell you my arm was sore from being on and off the throttles the whole time.

 

[Stee6043]

This thread should eventually be converted into a softcover book they sell near the checkout at West Marine.

Great read!

 

[Gofirstclass]

The mention above of some of the ports in the North Channel brought to my mind a trip I did with a friend and his parents ("Doc" and "Hester") on their ~40' Matthews full displacement trawler. The photo below is of a similar size Matthews, but not their boat.

We headed out from the Saginaw Bay Yacht Club, along with several other boats from their club. It was a high schooler’s dream trip. Two weeks on a boat, several other high school kids along including a few girls and no talk about school.

We headed up the east coast of MI to Harrisville then cut across the lake into the North Channel. We had two weeks to do the trip and the cruising plans didn’t allow for any weather delays. AS it turned out, we had one weather delay while we were in the North Channel so that put us one day behind as we headed for Meldrum Bay which was to be our last stop in the North Channel before we headed back across the lake. To make up time we had a long day’s run the day before we were to hit Meldrum Bay.

We pulled out of Meldrum Bay just before sunrise with the plan to hit Alpena, about a 90-mile run. When we were an hour or so off shore heading out across Lake Huron the winds and waves picked up with the wind out of the north and blowing pretty hard down the lake. The boat was rocking all over the place and I’ll admit to being a bit scared though I wouldn’t admit it.

I don’t know how big the waves were but I do know that from the helm seat, when we were in the trough of the waves, we couldn’t see out over the tops of the waves.

When we got a bit further toward the mid-point of our trip we spotted a lake freighter headed up lake for the Straits of Mackinaw. We tucked in behind the freighter and ran for over an hour behind it. Its speed was a bit faster than our speed and it was headed on NE course while our course was almost due south. The longer we stayed behind it the further ahead it got. Doc finally succumbed to Hester’s suggestion (“DEMAND”) that we change our destination to Rogers City instead of Alpena. That would have made this day’s run about 35 miles shorter but lengthened the trip for Sunday.

Doc gave in to Hester’s gentle suggestion and we altered course for Rogers City. This allowed us to spend a lot more time in the wake of the freighter where things were a lot calmer.

Doc called Rogers City on the VHF and told then we would be headed to their port and asked for some help getting in. They agreed and the landing was made without any problems.

Now, by way of a funny P.S. to this tale, Doc had bought several cases of Canadian Club Whiskey in one of the towns in Canada. When we hit the heavy waves during the crossing he had told the two guys take all of the whiskey and put the cases on the floor in the salon. As we were coming into Rogers City Marina he told us that once we got tied up we should put the whiskey back in the cupboards and closets where it had been stored so the customs guy wouldn’t see it.

When we got to our assigned slip the customs guy was waiting for us. He said he’d just finished inspecting the boat ahead of us and he’d be glad to inspect us to save him a trip back. Doc just about crapped wooden nickels but what could he say. He allowed the customs guy on board. The guy walked through the whole boat, wrote up his report of the inspection and gave the copy to Doc. As the customs guy left he commented “Oh, I noticed you have quite a few empty whiskey bottles down below. They were hard to miss because I had to step over them. If you’re looking for a place to dump all of those empty whiskey bottles and the cases there is a large dumpster just at the end of the dock on shore.”

It was obvious he knew they weren’t empties but he wasn’t going to pitch a bitch about it.

 

[Woody]

Being Ive grown up on the wester basin of Lake Erie I have been caught in many bad storms, but the worst was probably a few years ago coming back from Windsor. We came back in 10' waves. It made the 2 and a half hr trip feel like 4 hours and let me tell you my arm was sore from being on and off the throttles the whole time.

One of the things I appreciate about my 420DA with diesels, compared to my previous boat, is being able to drop tabs and stay on plane much slower. It sure helps to find the right fit with the waves. But I know what you mean, when they get big enough you're physically tensed against the boats motion, concentrating on what you doing, working the throttles...sometimes I feel tuckered out as if I've actually been working.