Strong beam wind at 7 kts and 40 minutes to safety

[baz]

As we were heading to our home port yesterday at around 40 mins out we encountered very strong winds hitting us at 90º on our starboard side. Waves were 3 to 5 feet with about 15 to 20 feet between them. Our speed was set at 7.5 kts.

To say the least, the ride was VERY uncomfortable. Our well behave 14 month old Wire Hair Fox Terrier Jake who has good sea legs started to freak out and attempted several times to empty his stomach. 1st mate got quite concerned and asked if there was anything I could do to even the ride out.

I considered my options...

1) The nearest safe port was in fact our home port -- some 40 minutes away.

2) Heading directly or even at 45º to the wind would simply take us further out to nowhere, and would mean turning to have wind behind us and a following sea as we turned eventually to our home port. This would quite likely add 30 mins to get to our home port

3) Turn immediately to port and head toward land with a strong lumpy following sea, and when close to land again turn toward our home port close to shore with the strong wind on our starboard side. This would add maybe 20 to 30 mins to get to our home port.

4) Keep our current heading, hang on tight and get home in 40 minutes.

I decided on option 4.

We made it and entering between the two breakwaters of our home port was something else to remember -- with huge 5-7 feet waves/swells/wind pushing us into the harbor. I almost felt I needed to put the engine into reverse as we simply were hurtled into the harbor at an alarming velocity. Once past the breakwater I turned sharply to port at speed to get behind the breakwater and calm water as quick as I could, and then cut speed quickly. On top of this two boats were departing between the breakwaters and I was unable to see them until we were committed to enter.

What would others have chosen to do? Maybe sit it out in the open sea -- but for how long, plus we would still be bounced about out there and who knows if the wind would slacken off or increase in severity.

 

[knotflying]

I guess I would have turned around and gone back to where I came from if that was shorter. Being a pilot my training has always been if it is getting bad, it will get worse, so go back to we're it was better and land.

 

[Osprey]

I wonder what effect an adjustment to speed would have done for the rough ride. Plan 3 would have taken you close to a lee shore which is not a good idea. If safety was the primary concern I would have choosen a more distant destination which offered a safer route. Failing that, option 2 would work. I would want to know what the wind forecast was. If comfort rather than safety was the issue and if a better, alternate, more distant harbour was not an option I would have gone with plan 4. Now that you are safely ashore I hope your first mate and Jake still are willing to go boating!

However a check on the wind forecast prior to setting out might have avoided this situation. Quite likely you did check and the forecast was not helpful.

If the harbour entrance has restricted vision, sounding the boat's horn may have generated a response alerting you to out going boats. Same idea applies to a VHF call.

 

[baz]

Turning back might have been a good choice but we really needed to get home. Plus, there was nothing really to find for the night except for an anchor site. If it had been a lot worse this would be a good option.

Yes, taking to the shore line would be a poor choice, I agree.

Turning more into the wind would have been my second option if the situation turned bad. But I would still have made the turn with the wind behind me to get to our home port.

I could have turned directly into the wind and found a safe harbor but it would have meant close to an hour or more to get there. Again, if situation turn nasty I would have gone for that and waited until morning to get back home. I forgot to say the time of having to make a decision was around 5:30pm.

One option I did not mention was to zig-zag to the home port. First into the wind and then with wind more to our stern. This would have lessened the boat rolling. Pitching is more pleasant than rolling and pitching.

Reducing speed really did nothing to reduce the tremendous rolling and pitching of the boat. I would say it made matters worse and increased the time to get to home port.

I far as I knew the wind velocity was going to increase. In fact, after we made home port we decided to get a meal at the marina's restaurant and while there the wind did get stronger.

Jake found a safe harbor next to my feet while I was at the helm. He found safety having his body next to his buddy. This calmed him down. 1st mate simply asked every 5 minutes... "how much longer?" 🙂 We've had worse weather conditions than this and both 1st Mate and Jake were not really put off boating again. 😎

Thanks for your inputs and thoughts about this.

 

[RProffer]

I found myself in similar circumstances one time in my R21-EC. If I had checked the NOAA weather and sea state/wave height before I left my anchorage, I would have stayed at anchor. The weather had changed entirely from last I checked it two days prior (another lesson learned). So I found my self heading into waves coming over my bow railing. My biggest concern was safety. I needed to go West and the wind and waves were coming from the North (starboard). Rolling was not an option as far as I was concerned for safety reasons. I decided to quarter into the waves north westerly as safely as I could until I was at a point where I felt I could turn to port and take the following seas to my destination. That worked for me. I also discovered my little R21-EC could handle a lot bigger seas than I thought. Tough little tug.

 

[knotflying]

You mentioned in your previous post about having to get home. Going back to my pilot training, they have extensive training about decision making and one topic often discussed is "get homeitis". Many mishaps occur because the pilot needed to get somewhere and made the decision to go when conditions were against him. I have certain minimums that I use to make a go/no go decision, Winds less than 20kts, wave height, direction and frequency. What will my "out" be if it gets too tough?
Our boats can often take more than the crew. Additionally, getting into these situations give you a sense of your abilities and comfort zone in the future. What you thought was bad before isn't as bad as you thought after the latest harrowing experience. The key is to never put yourself in a situation that is dangerous. This requires knowing your abilities and comfort level. Get as much weather information in advance and make your decision to go or not to go. One helpful thing may be to consider well in advance how you will get home if you can't do it by boat. Having an alternate means could save your life or at least avoid a very unpleasant experience.

 

[Pete]

In an earlier post Rick mentioned not checking NOAA immediately before setting out. You would think that getting the latest NOAA forecast and also wind/wave conditions at buoys in the vicinity should be SOP but I've been surprised in conversations over the years, how frequently boaters don't do this. They have a departure date (must get home?) and unless it happens to be storm conditions when they get up that morning, they set out. Couple of years ago, I talked to one owner of a 50 ft boat who had just arrived at my home port after being badly beaten up in an overnight crossing of the Gulf of Mexico. I pointed out that NOAA had forecast pretty high winds and seas. Turned out he didn't know he could get a weather forecast on his VHF! He got his weather information from his local TV channel.
Pete

 

[Levitation]

Next time will be a piece of cake..
First, the Tug can take many times more of a beating than you can so the boat was never in any danger...
Next, a big factor in the anxiety/fear of the rolling ride was never having been there before.. Now you have been there and other than it being rough on the passengers there was not a problem with the boat's ability to handle it......
The only different choice I would have 'probably' made would have been to zig zag to smooth the ride even if it doubled the trip time...

 

[JamesTXSD]

Driving a boat for hire (our situation) means I'm going to occasionally go out in less than fun conditions. It's the captain's call to cancel a trip if weather dictates. Sometimes, it's necessary to find "the best ride" even if it means more time IN those conditions. There are times when the direct route isn't the most comfortable route... depending on conditions (and you were there, we weren't), I would try going more into the waves, then running with the waves, rather than take them on the beam.

The flying comparison is valid. I am non-current, but have over 4,000 hours (commercial/multi/instrument) - no pilot would fly through a thunderstorm, just because it is the most direct route.

Give 'em (and yourself) the best ride when conditions call for it, even if it means a bit more time. As it stands, you got back safely, and learned something about the boat's capability, your tolerance, and the dog's motion-induced stomach maladies.

I recall one time on our boat when the conditions were worse than forecast and continuing to deteriorate... I looked over my shoulder and it looked like a Salvidor Dali painting, with the cat in the air and stuff coming off the shelves! 😱 Molly, our cat at the time, was the "barometer" of uncomfortable conditions: she went to the floor (at the most stable place) when things got lumpy... she would "holler" at me when it was time to change my course to suit the conditions. :mrgreen: Little Izzy, the current furry family member, moves from the dinette seat to the floor. Every boat should have a cat. 😉

Best wishes,
Jim B.

 

[davenpom]

I agree with Levitation. This is our first year with a Ranger - we have a 29. I was used to outboards. Our first time in big waves with The 29 was pretty scary. We to we're in 5 to 7 footers and I made for the nearest cove. We've not had a great summer here in Alaska this year, so if we wanted to go out, its been in less than desirable weather. Two weekends ago me and the wife went out for a few days. Looked at the weather and it was fair all the days we were gonna be out. We don't have any way to get weather reports after we get out about 20 miles. On our way back it was pretty rough. Not at all what the NOAA sight had on it 2 days earlier. For about 3 hours we were in 5/6 footers. The last 20 min before we got in the bay they increased to 8 footers with an occasional 10. I choose to speed up to 11 knots and zig zag. It was not pleasant at all but as Levitation said - the Tug can take more than we can. The Auto Pilot makes it much easier to deal with the waves as well. I still feel like I'm bobbing around like a cork, but it just keeps on correcting.

 

[Pete]

Hm...... on autopilot in 6ft seas building to 8 with the occasional 10? I'd feel much more comfortable steering manually. It helps to adjust direction and sometimes speed as you see a big wave approaching. Auto pilots can only react after the event.
Pete

 

[baz]

Thanks for all the replies. Very useful advice has been given, and I thank y'all.

In retrospect I should have done the zig-zag course back to home port to lessen the rock and rollin.

We had similar conditions crossing the Georgia Strait with Nellie Too (Bob & Nita) two years ago. They led in their R-29 with us following in our R-25. About half way across Bob calls and says let's turn more southerly to lessen the rock & rollin even if it takes us a little more time to cross over. This action worked well and this was on my mind the other day when we were experiencing similar conditions.

Even though we do have Auto Pilot I was manually steering all the way home for the 40 minutes in the rough waters. Using this method I was able to counter some of the larger waves without having the boat roll excessively.

On our next trip we will be crossing a similar stretch of water over to the Bremerton meeting for Sep 6-9th. 😱