Rough Water Boat Handling

[Scaup]

From the Tillamook tragedy we have gone over lessons on bar conditions, ebb tides, and the importance of wearing life jackets. If you fish in the ocean for any length of time, at one time or another you might find yourself in a less than perfect situation.

No matter how much you watch the forecasts, look at the bar, talk to the Coast Guard, etc it happens. One of my worst bar crossings happened at Winchester Bay when the bar was open to all vessels. We can all get into bad conditions at some time or another. We try to avoid it at all costs, but sometimes it happens. So, I am curious to know if there are any boat handling lessons to be learned based on this quote from the Oregonian.


Buell was sitting next to Davis as the skipper eyed the water and watched as other vessels made the run past the bar.

He waited 45 minutes for the water to settle. He had just watched another boat, the D&D, make the crossing with no apparent trouble, so he didn't hesitate.

Suddenly, a 10-foot wave smacked the Taki-Tooo, clamping its stern down in the rough water, Buell said. Davis backed down on the engine, and the vessel swung sideways, leaving the port side exposed to the next wave.

That wave was 12- to 15-feet high and climbed above the boat, she said.

Buell said she gripped the dash with one hand and the wall of the flying bridge with the other, bracing for the impact, as the wave crashed against the boat.

"It smashed into the side and flipped us over," she said.


I do NOT want to judge the captain or his actions. We were not there. But given a similar situation how would you handle your boat? I realize all boats handle differently.

Truthfully, I have always done the same thing as Captain Davis if I encounter steep large waves I back off the throttle, while maintaing adequate power for forward steerage to avoid slamming down into the trough and burying the bow into the base of the next wave. Allowing the bouancy of the boat to carry me over the next waves in the set.

I have spent a lot of time in the ocean, but I'm in no way an expert. Am I wrong? I'm curious to hear other opinions.

[Sea Jypzee]

It sounds to me like maybe he backed off too much to maintain steerage. Of course none of us were there, so we can only speculate.

[Lepper]

What I did, And we all survived, a guy got hurt but we all ended up in the boat and alive and drove the boat back in. Bar was flat, A wave came out of no where, had no choice but to take it head on. If I would have let off the gas in my boat(19ft alumaweld) It would have flipped us over, bow, over transom. So I stayed on the gas and we literally flew threw the wave.. Whole boat was on the wave and was still about 6 ft above the bow when the bow of the boat started breaking through. It would have been nice if I would have been able to see to get off the throttle when we were all the way through it.. but didn't.. Just be prepared!

[craigc]

From my limited experience[one season] crossing the Nehalem bar in a 21' Arima, with a 130 engine... we would use enough engine thrust to maintain steerage after the comb of the breaking wave removes most of our boat's forward momentum. We once went over an incoming wave too fast and most of boat went airborne, and the bow dug pretty deeply into the trough.. and then the next wave was right behind it, sucking you into it's face[except for part of bow was still underwater]....

First off, while we're still far inside of the bar, we slow down to see what the 'action' is over bar.... are there standing waves ? what is the timing of the 'sets' ? is the set still 3 waves ? what is the time period between sets ? where are the 'sets' breaking along the bar, and how are they breaking ? are the waves between sets breaking ? is there any lull between sets for a safe exit ? how far out are the sets breaking ? are the waves clean in their raising form, or mushy ?

I'd repeat our current method of getting over/through a breaking wave... as long as we have enough forward momentum to get us through the wave.... once we lost just about all our forward momentum, and I could 'feel' the boat taking on a weather helm[Yaw ?], that could put our broadside to the next wave, but additional thrust applied as we went through the wave to maintain steerage... I think this all comes under boat handling skills, and I think captains need to sometimes practice their boat handling in more marginal conditions[and without the fishing gear inside].... it would worth taking a practical course in rough water handling.... with real live, hands-on training/practice.... is there a course like that ?