So your caught in a bad situation....

[riptide]

What do you do?

The post about running a bad inlet got me thinking about this post. Here are some things that people often times don't think of and they can save your life, the life of others and your boat.

Here are a couple of situations I've had in the last few seasons and how I/we handled them. Feel free to discuss, critic or critisize my choices this is important and should be discussed.
____________________________________________

Last season myself and 2 VERY seasoned Capts were off P Town when condions got really ugly. Rather than risk the run back to Plymouth we pulled into P Town and made other arraingments, I got my trailer brought to us the others moored for the night. We all had customers on board, it was a HUGE PIA, but it was the safe thing to do.
_____________________________________________

We ran my boat to Veatch Canyon several times last season (Some will say this alone is a mistake, but thats another topic) We had a good weather window for all 3 trips. However on one of the trips once at the edge the weather turned unexpectedly sour. The wind came up 15-20kts NE. Seas went from 1-2's to 7-8's (the bouys offshore were reading 7.8' - 8.2' during the time we were there)

When the waves hit the 4' mark I decided to pull up lines and head in. An online buddy boat (25 Contender) opted to stay and keep fishing) With seas building rapidly we began to run for home 125 miles away. Within 20 miles we were in 7-8's seas. We had to run right into them to get to the port we left from. It was brutaly rough for the 24'er and we were getting pounded and wet with every wave due to the tight set. We had several options:

1. Continue to our home port on the existing course and like break us, the boat or both.

2. Lay too and set the sea anchor out and ride out the situation. A good boat with a good anchor can handle a TON of rough water.

3. Adjust our course and head for another port (Remember ANY PORT IN A STORM)

I opted for #3. I know the fuel burn on my boat and what I have for range. I was able to calculate my fuel left on board and start to look at ports that allowed me to run a course that was not directly into the waves. WE launched from Falmouth, MA. Our options for a return port included but were not limited to:

Cuttyhunk
Block Island, RI
Point Judith, RI
Shinnicock, NY
and believe it or not we had range for Sandy Hook NJ

The best ride in these seas came with a heading towards Block Island so thats where we headed. It was a longer ride, but noticably less abusive to us and the boat. AS it turned out when we got within 40 miles of MV the seas subsided and we were able to redirect back towards Falmouth and get home to our original port.

The point here is YOU DON"T HAVE TO RETURN WHERE YOU LEFT FROM! You just need to return somewhere safely. Would returning to BLock Island have been a royal PIA... YUP!

Is it better to have to call work and tell them your stuck and won't be in, waste a ton of fuel running from Block to Falmouth when the weather breaks, or having your trailer brought down to RI to get you home.

OR

Be dead! :eek:

You decide.

Getting caught in bad weather or in a bad situation sometimes can't be avoided, how you decide to handle it can make all the difference in the world.
Think about a plan B or C even when your going out for a short day trip. In a 14' tin boat a trip out in Boston Harbor from Weymouth might turn ugly and require a return to a ramp in Boston or even north of the city. It's all relative. It doesn't have to be a canyon trip gone bad or a long range journey. THink about what you can do to make the return trip as safe as possible.

Also if you decide to divert to another return port, let SOMEONE know. Call with a cell phone, radio the CG or have another vessel relay for you. God forbid you have a problem if you filled a float plan they will look for you where you said you;d be. They will look along your forcasted route of travel. If we went down en route to Shinnicock, NY and they are looking along the path to Falmouth we may never be located. We told another boat we were diverting SW towards Block. If we had troubles they knew where to start the search.

So regarding a bad inlet crossing if it's REALLY bad or your not comfortable doing it.... DON'T find another inlet, port or just WAIT!

After making the call to go to another port my crew all said they never thought to head in somewhere else. It's ovious, but often overlooked. Hopefully by posting this it will click for someone when the time comes that they are in a bad situation.

Alright, now its time to hammer me. Opinions, comments, flames lets hear them!

[backman]

but the 7-8's are accurate and I would have said NE 20-25.

I was 10 miles below you and trolled into the seas for 2 hr's to reduce fuel burn while lessening the distance and avoid the beating. When it came up I was only able to make 16 knots and did not like the time/fuel equation that made; trolling into it at 6 knots was managable in an express and we even caught fish on the way!

We powered up 2 hr's later and made 19-20 knots for an hour, 22 knots the next hour as the storm blew itsself through.

In some cases; like the NE front we got caught in delaying your return a couple hours and riding it out is a reasonable alternative. I haven't done the mouth of the Merrimac in close to 15 years but waiting for the 45 minute slack tide period might have been a viable alternative to lessen the violence of the mouth.

Its also critical to know your boats best aspect for handling seas and use it to your advantage - with my deep V keel adn enclosed helm I am better off slugging 20 degrees off the seas than trying to ride in the trough as Terry was doing. I was not comfortable turning from the seas an having breaking 6-8's coming down on my stern - a slow and controlled slug tossed and turned us; periodically scared the p*** out of us, but was both the safest way to handle the situation as well as head in the right direction.

Sea anchors are a two edged sword - I have a big 9' paratech and 250' of 3/8" rode which is a lot of stuff to hang off the bow in seas. Once you do so; you are committed to riding it out and if the line snaps, a cleat pulls; etc you are going to quickly be sideways with no power and perhaps a ton of stuff dragging off your bow which has to be cleared. I would not willingly go dead in the water, nor would I shut an engine down in a storm either.

I think the key Terry points out is to use your best asset; your brain to think of various alternatives and choose the one that provides the highest safety margin.

[riptide]

Good input Larry.

FWIW, Falmouth jetties to my wpt. at Veatch 125.0 on the nose. ;)

I'll conceed to 25kts :eek:

I'm sure we agree, it SUCKED that afternoon. ;)

[Go Fish]

Clear thinking like Terry's is absolutely necessary when you are caught in it and need to get home but sometimes it is as simple as realizing you're beat before you get into trouble.

After gearing up for little tuna, planning the trip, preping the boat for trailering and making the haul from Hudson to Marshfield I called a trip after 10 minutes on the water.

Our plan was to spend the whole day fishing CCB in what was forcast to be 1-2' seas. Our intell was solid and indicated a wide open bite. The wind had shifted NE overnight and was piling up a tight 3-4' mess. There is no question in my mind that if we "toughed it out", at some point a little mistake would be made, probably right when a bonus 6' er from a wave addition showed up, and we would have gotten in trouble.

It was dissapointing, especially after all the anticipation, but honest assessment of my boats capabilities and my ability as a captian leeds me to believe we made the right call.

In my opinion, a good dose of humility goes a long way toward keeping you from sinking your boat.

[Fly Deacon]

When the waves hit the 4' mark I decided to pull up lines and head in. An online buddy boat (25 Contender) opted to stay and keep fishing)

These recent boat safety posts are invaluable and I have been studying and re-reading them over and over. I don't have a boat that goes long-range like most of you guys but I am concerned about what the fact that I have had a few too many close calls in my boat.

Terry - Incidentally what happened to the guy from the quote above?

[SamRiley]

Its also critical to know your boats best aspect for handling seas and use it to your advantage

Bingo. The only way to do this though is to take the time to test it out. I'm not talking about heading in to every gale to roll through but when you do come upon rougher weather you might as well learn from it. Ride at different angles to the seas and see what happens. Head into the waves then drop into neutral to see how your boat spins and rocks. I've learned a lot from playing around in 3ers. Funny thing I learned about my boat is that in some seas, the ride is actually better if I go faster. By keeping the boat on plain I can skip across the crests and not get smacked back by the waves.

Flat out dumbest thing I ever did was the first day out with the boat. Didn't check the forecast, didn't file a float plan and blew out of Boston Harbor looking for Cod in late November. Ended up at Minot Light with tight 4-5' seas out of the north. Minot Ledge itself had cresting 8'ers and made spinning around to head back to port harrowing. These were pre Grunden days for Shaun. I thought he was going to get pneumonia after being soaked for well over an hour.

[notime]

After gearing up for little tuna, planning the trip, preping the boat for trailering and making the haul from Hudson to Marshfield I called a trip after 10 minutes on the water.

In my opinion, a good dose of humility goes a long way toward keeping you from sinking your boat.

Hard to do, but no fish is worth dying for. I see it at the breachways during the weekends. Weather is nice at home, they drive down on Saturday morning and have no idea that the weather is rough on the ocean. I've done it myself once or twice. I quickly learned though that I don't enjoy fishing when I'm always worried about the next wave.

[e-sea-e]

terry, what is your advice if you are caught in a lightning storm? do you stay put and ride it out, or head in? I always thougth you head in, b/c if you are in open water, you are the tallest object and more likely to get struck. What do you think? Does it matter where you are, ie; 20 miles offshore vs. right off the shore?

Obviously, you dont go out in such a storm, but I have been caught offgaurd by sudden t-storms while OTW.

I once saw a bolt hit the water not 50 feet from our boat, and we beat feet right out of there.

[Slamdance]

____________________________________________

Last season myself and 2 VERY seasoned Capts were off P Town when condions got really ugly. Rather than risk the run back to Plymouth we pulled into P Town and made other arraingments, I got my trailer brought to us the others moored for the night. We all had customers on board, it was a HUGE PIA, but it was the safe thing to do.
_____________________________________________


Two days I will never forget.

That same day we had to send two boats back to Barnstable, surfing downsea, and only two boats made it back to Plymouth. Terry and the other two boats wisely chose to seek refuge in P-Town. All 7 trucks and trailers were in Plymouth. Talk about a Cluster-F*ck! It was the smart thing to do that day and I think the ride in the previous day had wisened us all up a bit. I know it did for me. By the time I limped back into port the day before, my steering head was bent, my wheel was broken, two rod holders were smashed and my clients were scared out of their minds. Being in constant radio contact with the other boats in out group was very comforting and came in very handy when one of our group experienced engine trouble 7 miles from the BH buoy. Terry and the other boats rode in front of me for a while in an (somewhat futile) attempt to smash down some of the waves.

Then, there was that great trip in larry's Mako several years back. Another story for another day, but a learnign experience none the less.

[flynny]

Good points, thanks. I'm fairly new to boating, but hopefully this might help some people. I'll use a baseball analogy - in baseball, no matter what position you are playing, you already have it in your head what you are going to do with the baseball if it should get hit your way, before the batter hits the ball. Same thing in boating - you should anticipate different situations before they happen so you are best prepared IF they do happen.

[Chuckster]

Having a bay/flats boat, I'm limited in range so I don't really get into the nasty situations that others here speak of, but it can still be dangerous, especially with only 1' of gunwale height.

A few weeks back I launched out of Sesuit into a N wind (thanks NOAA!), and never even made it to the end of the jetty. When you're in a 19' skiff heading out, and 25' and 30' rigs are coming in soaking wet, only a total idiot would keep going.

Keeping a good knowledge of ports and harbors is still important in a small boat though. Sometimes when it's flat I'll run further than usual, but I'm always aware that it could kick up. Hell, if worse comes to worse I'll run it up on a beach somewhere...

[bradster]

I used to get regular marine forecast out of the National Weather Svc. over my marine radio. I can't find these anymore. Can anyone say what channel they get these on?
Thanks.

[NickB]

What is the standard protocol all of you follow when heading in from bad weather. I had a hatch open on a tough ride back and failed to check the bilge on the run. We got into a sheltered inlet not far from port and decided to throw out some lines. We noticed the stern was low and had three compartartments totally flooded as the bilge could not keep up and burnt out. Thankfully we had two manual pumps on board and managed to clear the water out. It was touch and go for a few minutes as we contemplated beaching the boat. Since then I replaced the hatch and constantly check the bilge. Other than tying down equipment what other concerns or procedures would you follow or consider?

[ruge13]

I thought he was going to get pneumonia after being soaked for well over an hour.

No, but I was hypothermic. Slow thinking, trouble talking, stopped shivering etc. Dry ride my a$$:-%

I am curious what others do in lightening as well. I know we meticulously watch weather and pay attention to changing conditions and are generally cautious but as others have said, there are times when storms just happen. Here's a scenario we ran into and the call we made but I'm curious what others might have done...

Trolling at the Claw. Flat calm glassy day. Picked a great weather day. Given the conditions we decided to stay out a little longer than normal, later in the afternoon late summer with a soft SW wind. To the north West, probably over land, the skies began to darken. Typical summer weather pattern. Wind picks up a tad, but still very light and no seas building. Radio says there is a T storm building around RI. We decide now is a good time to head in given we have an hour + run to anywhere resembling a port. On the way in the skies changed significantly and we could visably see rain, and the ocaisional flash in the distance, same direction we are heading. By the time we were within sight of Nomans we start thinking about turning to Menemsha to wait. After some debating, we opt top run it out and head to Westport (launch point). At this point there are 2 cells, one on both sides a few miles in each direction. With a clear lane down the middle. Odd. Anyway, we ran through the middle lane and never had an issue, but had butterflies the whole time. Even debated putting down the rods and radio Antenae but that would make our heads the highest point so that was quickly overruled. Wind never picked up so the seas were calm, but there was visable lightening and rain. By the time we hit cuttyhink and on past the BB beacon we were back to clear skies.

What would others do? We didn't have the speed to go around the storms given the size. They were large enough and building fast enough that our only option was Menemsha. We could have gone to Cape Pogue and around the south side of MV on the way home out of the way of the storms, had the gas for it, but at the time the skies didn't look threatening enough to warrent the extra milage until we got closer to Nomans when it was too late to outrun the cells. If we waited they would have gone right over us around the claw. So we chose to run and try to beat them inshore before they built. We lost the race, but got lucky with the clear lane between the two cells, but we were certainly within lightening range and it was visable, although cloud to cloud not cloud to ground.

[wasabi]

While fishing CCB last year, we saw glass turn to 1ft seas, then 2, then 3, on and on. It picked up really fast. When we turned to go back North to Boston and cleared P-town that was naturally "blocking" the winds coming from the N/E, it got really interesting. I have no idea why I didn't even consider just turning back to P town to hang out for the day or going to Plymouth. We just kept on going back to Boston and getting beaten up. By the time we got there(late afternoon), the wind died down and the seas were much more managable.

If I ever get into a situation like that again, I'll definitely just find the closest port and chill out with a hot cup of coffee.

[Howie]

Play the angles - the top of a Tstorm cloud will generally lean in the direction it is heading. If you think you can get around it (or in your case between them) go for it. Only thing that would have concerned me was being between two cells. An area between two storms can often be highly charged. High risk for a bolt out of the blue.

Generally, these storms can move at 40-45mph or faster. If it is coming right at you, chances of outrunning it are slim, unless you are dealing with FAC conditions.

I do apprieciate whoever decided to put Cleveland Ledge Lighthouse there. I've been known to sit 100 yds off of it when I've lost the race to port. Way I see it is that any bolt in the area is far more likely (though not 100%) to hit a 100 foot high metal tower, vs little ol' me. :eek:

[riptide]

These recent boat safety posts are invaluable and I have been studying and re-reading them over and over. I don't have a boat that goes long-range like most of you guys but I am concerned about what the fact that I have had a few too many close calls in my boat.

Terry - Incidentally what happened to the guy from the quote above?

They waited an extra hour and had an even more uncomfortable ride to PJ (their port) If I recall correctly something like 7-8 hours.

[riptide]

terry, what is your advice if you are caught in a lightning storm? do you stay put and ride it out, or head in? I always thougth you head in, b/c if you are in open water, you are the tallest object and more likely to get struck. What do you think? Does it matter where you are, ie; 20 miles offshore vs. right off the shore?

Obviously, you dont go out in such a storm, but I have been caught offgaurd by sudden t-storms while OTW.

I once saw a bolt hit the water not 50 feet from our boat, and we beat feet right out of there.

Some of us have the adavantage of radar so I now tend to Stop (the boat) Drop (the antenna and riggers) and RUN! (like hell) I can duck allot of crap with radar. It lets me sneak around storms much better than I could have imagined. I'm no expert on lightning, but geting out of there seems to be the best choice.

[JimW]

This may be of interest to some of you. I'd think twice about running the gauntlet between to thunderheads.
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/pub/ltg/crh_boltblue.php

[backman]

Who would think you could not survive a run from Waquoit to Green Pond. Steve and I headed out in SW 20; fished the channel because the outside was too windy; then headed up inside for a futile attempt to find lee.

We beached behind Washburns for a while; 20 was now SW25-30 and the sound was white.

Its only 1 mile from Eel Pond -> Green Pond - how bad can that be?

Really bad - in retrospect we should have walked. Pick your wave size; bigger than we should have been in a 19' boat which was surprisingly well behaved with water breaking over the bow - if the engine had died; we'd have been in deep snickers 1/2 mile from a lee shore.

The really hard part was making the turn from heading SW to heading N to enter the pond - I recall going a few hundred yards past; Steve telling me when and hanging on as the Mako went down in the trough on the turn before coming up smelling like a rose and heading for the barn.

That trip and a few dozen too many Middle Ground -> Green Pond trips in a small boat got me thiking about small boat seamanship and survival. LIke someone else already said; rough water is a good opportunity to practice seamanship. Banging out of the jetties at Waquoit on an outgoing ide/SW wind is a good chance to see the various angles your boat can handle the standing wave as well as experiment with the various throttle settings needed to meet or jump a wave.

On the standard protocol for heading in - yet another fun ride w/ M Moore on someone else's regulator. That was in my mind worse than the Mako ride :) - we were coming in from below the claw into 6-8' NE 20-25 seas and winds. He was running the Reg. at 6-8 knots and tops of waves were sloshing back into the stern of the boat. Unbeknowsn to us water was entering the inboard engine compartment via the vents and the bilge pump didn' work- oh yeah - no high water alram either :(. When we got to menemsha and looked water was 18" deep in the engine compartment and up even with the starter.

So - what do I do when I know I'm going to take a whipping.

1. Take a leak. Make sure everyone else does also. Designate a puke plan - you ain't going back there to puke over the side in this! There's the bucket just in case.
2. Foul weather gear and mustang float coat on, check the VHF radio and GPS are in the pockets and make sure everyone else has the both weather protection and flotation. Thats a new one courtesy of Mr. Cahill. Put it on *before* you start, not when your in deep snickers. Brief everyone on the EPIRB and life raft protocol. I don't expect to need it, but I don't want to explain it if I do need it!
3. Check everything is tied, strapped down and all loose stuff is stowed. Rods in the tower top get safety straps; loose fishing gear gets stowed. Gaff's and harpoons get tied to the tower leg with ropes - bungee's have broken on me in rough weather before and a falling harpoon is a scary thing!
4. the boat mechanics and engines gets the once over - engine room hatch is opened to look for leaks or water; bilge and bilge pump is checked. I will proactively cycle the bilge pump switches every half hour in heavy weather even though I have dual high water alarms.
5. Electronics get set up; radar gain and sea clutter gets set; depthfinder off; GPS waypoint set; autopilot locked in on the proper heading.
6. Someone gets assigned to watch in front of us and keep an eye out for boat breakage; I'm going electronic and flying by wire.
7. Power up time - take it slowly up to plane and assess both handling and stability; once I have a sense of how the boat will handle I start bumping up 100 RPM's at a time trying to get the boat as flat as possible; more throttle; more tabs to keep thr bow down till i find the most survivable (not comfortable) ride - With 15,000 pounds and 520 HP and a deep V I can often run better at 22 knots than at 18 knots; albeit with some banging. If the boat starts coming out of the water or burying the bow I back off and strt playing with heading, moving 20 degrees off course to see if that makes for a better ride.
8. Within a few minutes I've found a steady state and go into pure instrument/boat monitoring mode. Radar; GPS, compass; engine gauges, glance at the next 2-3 wave sets; Radar, GPS....I keep an eye out for the bilge pump lights coming on and periodically cycle that switch to make sure its operational and no water has come in.
9. Listen/feel the boat; is it riding correctly; trimmed eright? Any funny sounds or feels? When in doubt slow down and check. KNow your boat/know your engine - is that a hiccup? More smoke than normal?

[Fly Deacon]

Who would think you could not survive a run from Waquoit to Green Pond?


This is the exact worse run I have ever experienced - and it happened last Sunday for me.

[Marshrunner]

Terry,

Thanks for posting this topic--and thanks to everyone who has posted to it. I find myself a lot more open to safety and rough water handling suggestions after the Mark and Jacob experience and after the Merrimack inlet sinking incident I saw last weekend (posted in another string on this forum). After reading Terry's initial post, I'll never again think I have to go back to my home port when it gets really bad. And I'll be spending more time make my boat safer and learning its rough water tendencies and limits before it's a crisis.

Good stuff.

[TC23]

I am new to this forum, but not to New England boating. I thought I knew a thing or two, just found out how long the list of things I don't know is. Thanks guys, you gave me a quick education in storm running and T-storms

[Brad G.]

Terry-thanks for bringing this up, important stuff to think about. I lke the baseball reference becasue its true, and I really remeber the coah driving that one home on us in little league. Think ahead and be prepared. Knowledge is king. I have made a point to educate myself the best I can by taking a safe boating class a couple years ago, and then getting my captains license last year. Although good info, it is only classroom stuff, and time on the water is needed to compliment this.

I always try to be on the conservative side if possible. I value my life, and those of my passengers too much to be a cowboy and live on the edge too much. No fish is worth that.

It sounds to me that Terry did all the things he could have given the circumstances...not sure about heading 125 miles off in the 24' boat, but hey...to each his own.

Here are a few of my thoughts:
1. aquire as much safety equipement as you can afford and know how to use it
2. maintain your boat better than you think it needs and never go out knowing about something not workign right
3. let someone else know your floatplan
4. show each passenger where all the safety gear is located and how to use it
5. make sure someone besides yourself is comfortable operating the boat in the event you are unable to do so
6. knowledge and experience, be smart
7. be conservative in your judgements and limit yourself to bad situations
8. think ahead what to do when things turn for the worse
9. never head out without checking weather forecast/ noaa forecast for ocean/ buoy reports
10. use the buddy system if at all possible

Brad

[backman]

Since this thread resurfaced.

Your survival time in 40-50 degree water is 45-60 minutes with flotation. Without it; its 5 minutes max. Your body pulls blood into the core to keep it warm; the limbs lose blood, control and strength, you can't swim and ......

From now until 60 degree water temperature is a really, really dangerous time. The fish are small; the weather is changable, your not familiar with your boat after the long winter and the water is cold.

Caution and safety are the watchword always.but even more so in April and May in N.E.

[DaleH]

I think any boat heading offshore should have one of these installed ...

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/content/Item/01/82/58/i018258sq01.jpg

Click here, (http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp;jsessionid=AVQKY3UYZHTFJTQSNOECCO4OCJVYWI WE?id=0037803018258a&type=product&cmCat=search&returnString=_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1&hasJS=true&_D%3AhasJS=+&%2Fcabelas%2Fcommerce%2FCabelasCatalogNumberFinder .giftCertificateURL=%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2Ftemplates%2F giftcertificate%2Fgiftcertificate.jsp%3Fid%3D00055 86990011a%26podId%3D0005586%26catalogCode%3DIB%26n avAction%3Djump%26indexId%3D&_D%3A%2Fcabelas%2Fcommerce%2FCabelasCatalogNumberF inder.giftCertificateURL=+&QueryText=high+bilge&_DARGS=%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2Fcommon%2Fsearch%2Fsearch-box.jsp.form9&N=4887&Ntk=Products&Ntx=mode+matchall&Nty=1&Ntt=high+bilge&noImage=0&returnPage=search-results1.jsp&_requestid=16524&_requestid=14003) only $55.

[bobfishgerald]

I only have a kayak, but someday hope to have a center console. These lessons are invaluable to me and I greatly appricate threads like these. The distillation of lifetimes of knowledge and delivery via a thread like this is really what makes ree-tiime such a bontiful resource to fishermen and makes me so grateful for it and the great fishermen who belong here.
Bob

[tmillerzzz]

I've always gone by the 50/50/50 rule.

"An "average" adult has a 50% chance of surviving a 50 yard swim in 50 Degree water"

[The GAFFMAN]

MY 2 Cents, Know your Boat!, using proper Power Trim settings by pulling your Bow upwards at the right speeds when heading into bad chop if you have to. With the trim Down, Running too slow you risk dipping the bow into head on waves, trim too high loss of helm control. I have made many journeys back in sudden heavy seas using the right speed & trim settings keeping the Bow up while still in control!

[klaney]

This is the most useful thread that's every been posted on this site. Thanks to everyone for sharing your experiences/ideas.

[LeeG]

Awesome post with great info! Thanks Larry, Terry and everyone else. By and large when it comes to going out in questionable forecasts we tend to be conservative and have bagged out on some nice trips, I'm sure. We also have had some great bass fishing by deciding at nomans that it wasn't the day to headv out. As a plus we had squibnocket all to ourselves. Lemonade out of lemons, etc.

I use my kayak a lot and I don't mind going out for a paddle is rough water in August. In April I get nervous if I'm more than 20 yards off the shore and it's deeper than 5'.

Great info here!

Lee

[Albiemanmike]

1. aquire as much safety equipement as you can afford and know how to use it


If you cannot afford it than you can't afford to be out there! Far too many boats too small going too far offshore IMHO. Yes I realize many smaller boats have and can make it out and back but that is just playing with fire. I learned my lesson last season in my little 20 CC chasing the SBFT around RI. I now have a 6" scar from cervical discectomy done in February. Not sure this was the only reason bt I know it did not help riding 11 mi. 6-8 ft. seas back to Pt. Jude. Guy's please stay closer to home this season, if you don't have the size 30'+ boat don't be tempting fate just to catch a few tuna. I have read over and over replies from old salts about the smaller CC's going to the edge, and they all say it is just a matter of time before we hear about someone going and not returning. Fishing and pushing the envelope on the open ocean just are not thing's anyone should be doing for obvious reasons.........It's Just Fishing !!!