Captaining Lessons Learned

[nelson867]

Hi Everyone,

We purchased a 2018 Cutwater C28 early last year and I love it! During the summer we took our first trip up to the San Juan islands and had a wonderful time. The San Juan Islands are very beautiful. I can't wait to go back!

The voyage to the San Juan Islands, however, was not very fun. The day we tossed our lines there was a small craft advisory for the straight of Juan de Fuca. We figured we would be ok since our boat is not that small, the advisory was for the straights, not the Puget Sound, and we were taking the inside route.

We did great for a while but when we hit the Oak Harbor bay ... holly C@#%. We hit some large waves and intense wind. I eventually made it across the bay by zig zagging away/into the waves, crashing down, spraying water over the boat, and holding on for dear life. I was a nervous wreck by the time we hit La Conner. We stopped and had lunch so that we all could settle our nerves as well and gather our thoughts. We did push on but decided to just stay in Anacortes and wait out the wind. Best decision I made!! The next morning it was as calm as can be. Easy sailing after that and had a great time.

As I reflected on this, I wondered what I could have done better.

I did talk to a friend that had been captaining for a very long time and asked him what I could have done better. He explained that the winds will build wave larger on the opposite side of the bay. In this case, it would have been better to stick closer to the side of the bay where the wind came from. There, the waves wouldn't have had the time to build as big. Doh! That is a very important lesson.

The other thing he told me was to only push off when then weather is cooperating. He called it, looking for "a good weather window." In this case, we thought we were ok but what we didn't know was that the advisory was upgraded to gail force winds.

There's obviously more lessons here; like continuing to monitor the weather even after you push off.

This has had me thinking... How can I learn more lessons like this without necessarily putting myself and/or other in harms way? It then occurred to me... Ask other boaters about some of their experiences and their lessons learned.

Have you had a boating experience where you learned a very important lesson. If you have, can you please share it?

What happened?
How did you manage it?
What could you have done differently?
What lessons did you learn from it?

Thanks for sharing! Hopefully this can help all become better and safer captains!

Scott

 

[Submariner]

We have our own story similar to yours. We were headed south from Everett to Des Moines on a Friday. Small Craft advisory issued to start later in the day. We thought we could get there before the SCA started. Enroute, the advisory was updated and they moved the start time to the left. We found ourselves in 3-5 foot seas, facing directly into the South wind. Spent 2 hours in a waterfall to travel just 10nm. Then we couldn't even get into the marina! We ended up on the West side of the channel, protected by land where the water was flat. We had a comfortable night on anchor within 2 miles of the marina. To venture into the middle of the channel was a solid 4 foot sea state. All the while this was going on, the USCG was out doing a search and rescue as a 30' sailboat sank within sight of shore near the Des Moines marina. Not sure if anyone was actually on the sailboat though. (folks on shore saw her sink and called 911). She might have been anchored or on a mooring ball.

We pay a lot of attention to weather. Windy.com is a great app, lets me fast forward into the future to see what the wind is predicted to do. I also have an app called "Marine Weather" which I use to send me alerts on my phone for any small craft advisory in the Puget Sound, San Juan Islands, and the Eastern Entrance to the Straits of Juan Defuca. Most of the time the SCA's are issued well in advance. They'll say things like "WHEN: From 5pm this evening until 5am Saturday". I generally will not venture out into a SCA and would opt to wait out the weather. There's always the question of "what can my boat handle?" as opposed to "I boat to have fun. 3-5 foot seas don't line up with having fun".

On the plus side... we realized afterwards that 3-5 foot seas are easily do-able in our boat. We did feel safe. Just didn't have any fun on that roller coaster.

 

[Red Raven]

Hi Scott,

We keep our boat at the Oak Harbor Marina and go through the waters you speak of every time we come in or out. Like most locations it all depends on the weather. Sometimes it is so glassy you can see a small stick a mile away, other times, rarely, it is 4 or 5 foot snarling seas, usually somewhere in between. What we have learned about this particular location is there are two long fetches, one from the west across Penn Cove and one from the south up Saratoga Passage that meet right in front of Oak Harbor. In addition, at the back of Penn Cove, Whidbey Island is very narrow and fairly low elevation offering little protection from the Strait of Juan de Fuca. It can be very nasty! In general, we don’t go out during a Small Craft Advisory. More specifically, we also use the Windy app (also known as WindyTy.com) to determine the expected wind patterns and make a decision based on that.

As far as other personal experiences where we have been caught like you there are several. They are all great lessons learned that we would not likely fully learn without the experience. Count yourself lucky to experience them and come through safely. Use the learned experience well. I will describe just one that was maybe the most white knuckled.

We had just completed a week in Glacier Bay Alaska and were transiting from Hoonah to Funter Bay. This transit took us across the intersection of Icy Strait (to the west), Lynn Canal (to the North), and Chatham Strait (to the south). We were traveling West to East. The wind report was 5 to 10 knots predicted and we had an early morning start. The first half of the trip was glass but when we start crossing Chatham Strait the waves quickly built to 4 or 6 feet. We had to alter course multiple times running both upwind and downwind to get across, often taking blue water over the bow, avoiding beam seas as much as possible, and actively steering with some very mean following seas. It was definitely white knuckles. Once safely to our destination I looked into what happened. While we had checked the current to avoid having to run against it (avoiding extra fuel and time) we had not noticed the timing of the ebb coming down Lynn Canal from the north and corresponding with the moderate 10 knot winds wind coming up Chatham from the south (which has a super long fetch). This is a classic scenario for huge waves even with relatively low winds. Also a forecast is just that, a forecast, in this case the winds picked up to about 15 knots in Chatham that day. Lesson learned, never cross a body of water when significant current opposes the wind. Even moderate wind can generate some pretty nasty seas if opposing the current. Just don’t.

As to what you could have done differently? Besides recognizing the winds from the strait often enter Saratoga Passage at the entrance to Penn Cove was to perhaps duck into Oak Harbor itself for the day. Very protected at the Marina.

Glad you made it safely.

Curt

 

[pwensinger]

Regarding a "weather window". Good advice. Take some weather education. A close friend of ours gives seminars at yacht clubs, through the Great Lakes Cruising Club and has taught at the Annapolis boat show. He feels that, due to advances in the science, forecasts within 3 days are pretty reliable, past that not so much. He likes forecasts that he knows a human meteorologist has looked at. Hence he refers to the National Weather Services products mostly. I'm sure he is correct but I'm guilty of looking at the strictly computer generated websites too. I particularly like the NWS's "single point forecasts" that go out 9 days and can be viewed as graphs but I'm sure no human monitors them.

We boat on Lake Erie, Lake Huron. Lake Michigan. I can get disorientated. A south wind is a good thing on Lake Erie but bad on Lake Huron. Loopers seem to want to go down the east side of Lake Michigan. Lake Michigan can be a mean body of water. The prevailing wind is NW. The waves have a lot of distance to build up on the way over to the east side.

Keep the slimy side down.

 

[Kimberly Dawn]

Scott,

White knuckled lessons learned from on-water experiences make for memorable stories, are life-lessons and most comfortably viewed in the rearview mirror.

You can't always predict Mother Nature here in the PNW, but you can better prepare yourself for "events" with courses, classes and publications.

I can highly recommend Cruisers College in Anacortes, and an array of classes offered by Mark Bunzel (Waggoner Cruising Guide) and company, that will help you make those "Go - No Go" decisions.

Bob
The Doghouse 2

 

[kelpline]

In the last 20 years of my working life, we ran in and out of Knight Inlet on the BC coast. We learned about afternoon westerly winds, created when the land mass of BC heats up: hot air rises, the cool waters at the mouth of Knight Inlet cools the air which rushes inland to replace the rising hot air. We had to depart our grizzly bear hot spot well before the tide changed to ebb. We kept a copy of the tide book handy.
Marine Weather Canada has a great updating satellite picture of the BC and Washington coasts at https://weather.gc.ca/data/satellite/go ... 70_100.jpg

 

[SJI Sailor]

One thing I am very glad about is having taken a marine weather course (Starpath) and, especially, learning to use a good Grib app (I use LuckGrib on an iPad).

A Grib app lets you get many different weather models. HRRR (what the TV weather folks often use), NAM (also what they use), and NDBC (has forecast wave heights) are very useful models IMO. Agree that Windy is great, too, although I find that its available models are incomplete. It also defaults to the European model IIRC, which I find to be less accurate around here, especially for long-range forecasts.

The downside of Grib apps is that they are generally not at all intuitive. For example they don't automatically update forecasts; you have to pull them down every time. That is due to sailboat, offshore, and other legacy reasons. They also often have clunky UI and bury options. But worth learning IMO.

The NOAA weather forecasters' published "discussions" (might be available, if buried, in your weather app; or online) can also be super helpful. Pilots rely on those for aviation, and there is a marine section, too.

 

[BB marine]

Scott, I think most of us have a story of that "time"! Some of us have a few stories of that "time"! I'm at a point in my life where I don't want to tell that story anymore. I use two weather apps, SAILFLOW and Windy. I also use NOAA National weather forecast zooming in on the area I am cruising in. I look at the different forecast posted ,wind, wind direction, high and low pressures and wave directions...... Then I look at the NOAA marine forecast for the area I plan on cruising in, for the day before, day of and day after. I compare each app and NOAA. There are always slightly different forecast but using the combination of all gives me a educated guess of the weather and sea's Doable or Not Doable. If I am boating in my home port area I have a good idea of conditions using the three resources. I have still been wrong a few times but smart enough to turn around and go back into port. Flat, 1' to 2' is a go, 3' to 4' is a no, 5' to 6' is crazy!!! That is my gauge. ( I am referring to wave hight with periods X2 to X3 any longer periods I may consider increasing my go by 1'.)

If I am boating in an area that I have never cruised in I use my chart plotter + weather predictions to make my Go-no Go decision. I will look at what my route will be, the direction of the wind and waves. The distance of fetch between land and my route. Will I be on the leeward side if so can I change my route to cruise closer to land or an island to reduce fetch and have less sea's to deal with. If I find that I'm going to be on the windward side of land it's probably a no go. I find the best information for sea conditions for a given day can be local knowledge. When I check my apps look at NOAA, check my route and on the fence go or no go. I will use local knowledge. The local boater has been out in the water in that location and knows if the wind is out of a predicted direction with predicted wind speed what the conditions will be. I will discuss my intended route and see what they think. I have found local knowledge to be a good prediction of conditions.

Bottom line is we are pleasure boaters and there is no need to take the pleasure out of boating by navigating in disturbed sea's. Most of us have been in them and I believe most want to stay out of them. "Captaining Lessons Learned " I believe every day of boating there is something to be learned!

 

[jagizzi]

Another lesson, learned through others mistakes thankfully, is to navigate using the charts, always, especially in the San Juans and Puget Sound. A corollary to that would be to understand how to use, and the implications of, the tide tables.

We watch at least 3 boats a year get pulled off the rocks in the "clear" looking waters around Yellow Island and Shirt Tail Reef. The Norwester is currently aground with the bottom ripped out at the entrance to Stuart Island. Both of these, and many more, underwater obstacles are on the charts and easily avoided if the skipper is navigating the boat by the charts rather than his eyes.

Another lesson, learn, understand and maintain the boats systems. Our boats are no where near the same as our cars. We can't simply turn it off today, walk away and come back tomorrow, and next week, and next month, and next year and turn it on and take off. Boats don't work that way. We have checklists and processes. We have switches, breakers, battery cutoffs, ACR's and all other sorts of things that like to make us things aren't working properly when they are, or vice versa.

Practice docking, and tying up, in many different locations, often. For the first two years of operating our boat my pre-launch talk, (remember those processes mentioned before, one step is safety talk with guests) included a statement about not talking to the skipper when we are approaching the dock. I was nervous enough all ready without folks talking about whatever and needed to concentrate, because docking sucked, until practice made it not suck anymore. Go out by yourself and practice singlehanded docking. Now THAT is good practice, but whew boy, it is nerve wracking for a while.

There are many, many more lessons and I'm sure that folks will mention them here, or you'll talk about them with other boaters at the docks, or on the hard, and that's likely another lesson itself. You will always be learning about boating safety, techniques, locations, systems, hardware etc, and that's one of the best parts about boating.

 

[jagizzi]

Radar is another lesson. Use it often, even in clear weather so you know what it shows, and more importantly, what it doesn't. It is somewhat useful in fog.

 

[Whidbey Cruiser]

My sub leased slip on Lake Union ended today and I had to transit the locks and bring our C28 up to her home port on the west side of Whidbey Island. So I planned to do this yesterday (Friday the 30th) and watched NOAA marine weather forecasts all week. Looked great earlier in the week but then downgraded Thursday night into SCA’s with 2-4’ wind waves. Not much fun. Friday morning I got up and reviewed my Predict Wind app and it predicted winds to lay down in the afternoon. I looked at webcams from Seattle, Edmonds and Skunk Bay and all looked good. So delayed my leaving The lake until 1:00pm and transited the small lock without any issues. My plan leaving the locks was to test the waters and if it was nasty, my contingency plan was to use guest moorage at Shilshole and then Uber back to my car and wait a day or two. Well, the water was not bad at all and fortunately I had a pretty smooth trip most of the way. The water actually improved the further north I went as Point no Point buffered the southerly wind.

Always have a contingency plan. Try not to be in a hurry, get to your destination safely. Check the wind apps mentioned, weather forecast and tides. Then use your best judgment to make a safe and stress free voyage. And yes, I too have a few stories from years past that I did not use all the resources available and had rough and wild rides.

 

[bob daily]

As they say "Good judgment is what you get from experience, which is what you have immediately after using poor judgement!" You would think I would have better judgment from all the stupid stuff I have dune, but some of us are slow learners. Stay safe Bob

 

[nzfisher]

Always leave extra time in your journey to plan around the weather, use the dead days so you are not at risk and your crew is comfortable- you as captain are responsible for them. Design your trip around your passengers comfort if you want them on Your boat in the future. Predict wind is a really good graphical representation of wind flow that will move through time on the screen. Graphical tide tables easy to use and visualize. Large ball fenders if you have issues docking with your crew. A plan on how you are going to pull your boat into a slip that takes into account wind and current. Ask for help when uncertain. If the assigned slip is a challenge ask for transient spot till wind dies off. Get a copy of Chapman’s for tricky docking situations- yes there are tricks that are helpful with lines. Good luck. I still scuff the dock on occasion- that is jut part of boating.

 

[H28]

1) Always check the weather and conditions before untying the dock lines.
2) Have you read "Chapman Piloting & Seamanship" yet? if not, do so
3) How about Calder's "How to Read a Nautical Chart" book?
4) Like a pilot who should constantly be evaluating where he/she will land if the engine dies, do the same on the water. As in what if my engine dies now? Am I far enough away from a lee shore to deploy the anchor?
5) Bad things happen more slowly if you are going slow, so speed level for the conditions.
6) Rules of the Road! A coast guard auxillary class. In fact, even if you don't plan on getting a "six pac" C/G license, the $500 to take the Mariners Learning System "six pac" on line course is pretty comprehensive: rules of the road, lights/signals, safety, weather, piloting, tides, navigation.
6) Look out the window! Situational awareness is function of all inputs, not fixating on the chart plotter only. Scan: chart plotter, radar, outside.
7) dont' get "target fixated either: the Orca pod is very cool, but not so cool that you run into the fishing boat trolling ahead......
8) checklists are nice to use
9) I do a safety briefing before untying. Not extensive: here is where the PFD's are kept. Someone goes overboard, throw them this life ring first, then let me know, etc.
10) If you are incapacitated, does the "crew" know what to do? I have laminated printed directions on how to make a distress call in a prominent location cover it in the safety briefing
11) In flying it is called "get-home-itis" a sometimes fatal condition that makes you push the envelope on weather, fuel, etc. You are on a boat, relax. If you have to wait out a day or so, non-boat life will still be there waiting for you....

written from someone who has lost and engine and gone on a lee shore (no damage or injury), forgot to put in the drain plugs in my sailboat and almost sunk, run out of fuel and had to be towed in, pushed the envelope on weather and endured 12 hours of terrible sea sickness and an unhappy crew, and went briefly aground because I was looking at an eagle instead of a channel marker.........

 

[Hydraulicjump]

I repeat something I have learned the hard way: the most dangerous thing on a boat is a schedule. The second may be paper charts, but that is for another argument!