V boats - rough water handling

[bgreene]

This phenomenon appears to have been first investigated in 1861:

http://www.boatingmag.com/skills/seamanship/measuring-wave-height

http://www.answers.com/topic/wave-height-2

P.S. I'm not trying to call anyone out on their estimates, just presenting some information as food for thought.

There's a video readily available showing aircraft carrier hitting a reported 90' wave.
It's a rough day, and the ship hits a set of two - take a look.

Anyway, most of us probably do over estimate wave height, but rough is rough. If you're looking up at the wave tops from the boat - it's rough alright.

Any more stories with details ?

 

[SkunkBoat]

I took these in the Med...These were 30' ish

That's a 450ft frigate bobbing up and down. I'm on a 550ft destroyer trying to come along side that oiler to take on fuel....we didn't get any. Kept popping the hose and spraying the deck with JP3.

 

[Destroyer]

I took these in the Med...These were 30' ish

That's a 450ft frigate bobbing up and down. I'm on a 550ft destroyer trying to come along side that oiler to take on fuel....we didn't get any. Kept popping the hose and spraying the deck with JP3.

Man that brings back memories... Worst one we were ever in was in the tail end of a hurricane in the Atlantic.. Wind was down but the seas were still pretty high... Finally had to abandon the refueling...even on the leeward siide the waves were too rough to get close. The tanker kept drifting in, impossible to hold course. From one tin can sailor to another...thanks!!!

 

[Kracker Jack]

This phenomenon appears to have been first investigated in 1861:

http://www.boatingmag.com/skills/seamanship/measuring-wave-height

http://www.answers.com/topic/wave-height-2

P.S. I'm not trying to call anyone out on their estimates, just presenting some information as food for thought.

You ever fed a white marlin up hill in 10 to 12 foot ? I have! lol!!! No $hit!! i sat in on a charter my brother was mating on and they insisted on fishing that day and the captain let them have there way. One of the guys broke his ankle going to the bathroom on the way in and the rest of them stayed mostly sick all day ( they were from Ohio). We went 1 for 2 on the white ones that day and caught one yellow fin. we broke the inlet that morning it was a ****ty 8 foot and steadily got bigger the further we got off shore. we were on a 50 foot custom carolina boat. roughest ive ever been in. Really didnt need a wave chart that day instead we had 65 total years experience combined to judge the wave height.

 

[Kracker Jack]

I took these in the Med...These were 30' ish

That's a 450ft frigate bobbing up and down. I'm on a 550ft destroyer trying to come along side that oiler to take on fuel....we didn't get any. Kept popping the hose and spraying the deck with JP3.

Skunk, awesome pics!!!!

 

[SkunkBoat]

well, back on the subject of waves...

There's 3-5 and there's 3 -5. One can be ugly and dangerous and one can be a beautiful day on the water. The wind and period of the waves tells the story. A long period (8,9, 10 seconds) from a far off storm and a light local wind can be a great day even though the forecast 3-5 or 4-6 looks bad. You absolutely can't rely on the wave height forecast alone. Look at surfer websites to get detailed height/period/direction/wind. And look at the beach cams. ANd some guys can look at the local NOAA bouy data to see the real data and the trend.

And here in NJ there can often be a "Small Craft Warning 4-6ft winds NW 20-25kts.." But that NW or W direction means its flat from the beach to 1/2mile or more. I catch more stripers in November on days like that than in any other month or sea condition.

 

[peiserma]

You ever fed a white marlin up hill in 10 to 12 foot ? I have! lol!!! No $hit!!

Like I said, I wasn't trying to call anyone out on their estimates of wave height; I was just presenting some information that i thought might be pertinent to the discussion. What you do with the info is up to you. I think the majority of people on this site are very experienced and can estimate waves just fine.

FWIW, I got my introduction to boating at the Vermilion Yacht Club (on Lake Erie) and my first day "at sea" was was in a little 10' or 12' Gull (that's a fairly small sailboat) with 6ft waves (at least that was the height according to the instructor. Lake Erie is fairly shallow so the waves kicked up kicker than they expected else they would have delayed the first outing). The boom smacked me in the head on a bad jibe at the crest of a wave and gave me a mild concussion. I was maybe 10 or 12 years old at the time (can't remember exactly. weird!). So I do know a little about about rough seas, and I remember that those waves sure looked bigger than 6ft! I would have sworn they were taller than the boat was long. It was an experience I have never forgotten but still think about fondly for some odd reason.

Didn't mean to ruffle anyone's feathers.Carry on.

 

[bgreene]

We've migrated some from V boats so might as well.......

Worst I ever saw was from my family's 21 T Craft (much like the V ) as a Hurricane was headed offshore up the coast.

Knew it was an incoming tide so figured I'd just zip over towards the inlet and see what it looked like. Bay on Long Island was absolutely flat, no other boaters and headed to the mouth of the inlet.

Sat there in the boat in inky flat calm looking just about 50 feet ahead of me where the wave line started. Unbelieveable with huge seas just beyond that, progressively bigger to monsterous confused breakers beyond. I was very young but not all that stupid as I knew with the incoming if my engine died I'd still be in the flat calm, floating back in the bay. Kind of stupid but much like the camera boats that film surfers on huge waves, close up.

 

[Destroyer]

Like I said, I wasn't trying to call anyone out on their estimates of wave height; I was just presenting some information that i thought might be pertinent to the discussion. What you do with the info is up to you. I think the majority of people on this site are very experienced and can estimate waves just fine.

FWIW, I got my introduction to boating at the Vermilion Yacht Club (on Lake Erie) and my first day "at sea" was was in a little 10' or 12' Gull (that's a fairly small sailboat) with 6ft waves (at least that was the height according to the instructor. Lake Erie is fairly shallow so the waves kicked up kicker than they expected else they would have delayed the first outing). The boom smacked me in the head on a bad jibe at the crest of a wave and gave me a mild concussion. I was maybe 10 or 12 years old at the time (can't remember exactly. weird!). So I do know a little about about rough seas, and I remember that those waves sure looked bigger than 6ft! I would have sworn they were taller than the boat was long. It was an experience I have never forgotten but still think about fondly for some odd reason.

Didn't mean to ruffle anyone's feathers.Carry on.

Naaa...no ones feathers were ruffled...relax. We tend to present differing opinions all the time on this site...but it's done for information reasons, not to retaliate or call someone a boob. It's how we learn. BTW, I found that info most interesting.. I've been Navy and small boats all my adult life (40+ years)and that's the first time I've ever heard that. It makes sense. Thanks

 

[Kracker Jack]

Like I said, I wasn't trying to call anyone out on their estimates of wave height; I was just presenting some information that i thought might be pertinent to the discussion. What you do with the info is up to you. I think the majority of people on this site are very experienced and can estimate waves just fine.

FWIW, I got my introduction to boating at the Vermilion Yacht Club (on Lake Erie) and my first day "at sea" was was in a little 10' or 12' Gull (that's a fairly small sailboat) with 6ft waves (at least that was the height according to the instructor. Lake Erie is fairly shallow so the waves kicked up kicker than they expected else they would have delayed the first outing). The boom smacked me in the head on a bad jibe at the crest of a wave and gave me a mild concussion. I was maybe 10 or 12 years old at the time (can't remember exactly. weird!). So I do know a little about about rough seas, and I remember that those waves sure looked bigger than 6ft! I would have sworn they were taller than the boat was long. It was an experience I have never forgotten but still think about fondly for some odd reason.

Didn't mean to ruffle anyone's feathers.Carry on.

No feathers ruffled here my friend. Actually I completely agree with with you and your post. Yea lake Erie seems like she could get pretty rough!

 

[RidgeRunner]

Excellent insight IMO. Roughest day for me it was out of Kawai on the Kai Bear. 8' and snot-ty. Older 38' Bertram. I was happy to downgrade to half-day. Had one beer at roughly 10:00 a.m. I saw the beer again at 11:00 and 11:30 and I never get seasick.. Wife was a trooper on that trip. Noxious diesel was the final straw for me. Offered to buy the first few rounds on the hill and that was that after 3 hours of up and down sideways nothing biting. Took us 15 minutes to get back to port at trolling speed, never more than a few miles from port all day.
I try not to overestimate wave size.
If you want to see some big stuff just watch Deadliest Catch, in particular the end of this years Kingcrab season.

 

[Road King Cole]

In the CG I was on the bridge of a 200ft ship watching waves go over the bow. By my estimate they must have been 500-600ft waves.

Seriously, I always went by the rule of take a guess of how big they look and divide that in half.

rkc

 

[ssiredfish]

I got you all beat.......

Was supposed to get an overhaul on the boat but we decided to go anyway so off to the Flemish Cap we went.....

A little trying gettin out there. Two of the guys were fighting until one of em got a hook in his hand and went overboard and the other guy he was fightin with saved his life, then they were buddies after that.

Then we almost had a Mako eat one of us before we got into some good fishin. Man we were killin it!!!! Tons of fish comin up before our ice machine went down and we had to turn home but we had a small problem......

A nasty storm was comin right at us!! Two of em actually!!! We decided that unfortunatley the best decision was to just plow right through them. So we did and we almost went down at first when one the birds got stuck on the rigger, PITA!!!! My buddy had to go out there and bust the chain with a torch to right us back up, pretty scary......

After that it was nasty and gettin worse until we came face-to-face with the biggest swell I ever saw in my life, at least 10-stories tall. It beat our boat right into the white-water and many lives we lost. The only reason I made was that I was clingin to the ship's supplies of Funyans, boy we loved our Funyans back then and I owe my life to em.....

Crazy story......someone could probably make a pretty good movie about it if they wanted to.......

 

[bgreene]

I got you all beat.......

Was supposed to get an overhaul on the boat but we decided to go anyway so off to the Flemish Cap we went.....

A little trying gettin out there. Two of the guys were fighting until one of em got a hook in his hand and went overboard and the other guy he was fightin with saved his life, then they were buddies after that.

Then we almost had a Mako eat one of us before we got into some good fishin. Man we were killin it!!!! Tons of fish comin up before our ice machine went down and we had to turn home but we had a small problem......

A nasty storm was comin right at us!! Two of em actually!!! We decided that unfortunatley the best decision was to just plow right through them. So we did and we almost went down at first when one the birds got stuck on the rigger, PITA!!!! My buddy had to go out there and bust the chain with a torch to right us back up, pretty scary......

After that it was nasty and gettin worse until we came face-to-face with the biggest swell I ever saw in my life, at least 10-stories tall. It beat our boat right into the white-water and many lives we lost. The only reason I made was that I was clingin to the ship's supplies of Funyans, boy we loved our Funyans back then and I owe my life to em.....

Crazy story......someone could probably make a pretty good movie about it if they wanted to.......

Let me guess- The Perfect Storm............ which really was exceptional.
It wasn't forecast to be so bad the day before.
That morning, I was driving early from south jersey for meeting at LaGuardia airport, NY.
Found it very interesting that 1st time ever, my windshield wipers were frequently being stopped 1/2 way by the wind......Got to LaGuardia, NY weather station was discussing the gale and Low Pressure System retrograding down the coast. Well, I got to see the bay - waves hitting the airport breakwall, with huge waves of spray blowing across the runway and grounded planes. Wind was blowing 40 with gusts to 70. That's the storm that beat up former President Bush Sr.'s N. England home. People in New England said they never saw waves so big - hitting the coast. Our New Jersey coast saw the same, with massive coastal flooding. Of course, the Andrea Gail went down in that storm, with all souls lost. If you haven't read the book by Sebastien Junger, I recommend it- better than the movie.

 

[bgreene]

That Perfect Storm - it was Hurricane Grace headed north into a low pressure system connected to a cold front. The Hurricane was " jet fuel" to the storm and as the giant low pressure developed, it did retrograde S/ SW from off New England to off Montauk, NY area.

Google the infared and satellite photo of that storm - there's a lot of good info available.

Anway, back to V boats, and rough water handling.

 

[macojoe]

Here is my worst day on the water!! July 25, 2007 day after my B Day

http://wellcraftv20.com/community/showthread.php?t=2847&highlight=10+foot+wave

 

[tartuffe]

^^^Holy sheep man! Good idea with turning out of the roll. It sounds like it was a slower process than I would have imagined if you had time to get boots off.

I've thought about that same scenario. Do you think a couple large scuppers to the bilges below deck would have helped the bailing situation? I've thought about putting (2) 1.5" in set off the deck about a half inch

 

[macojoe]

Has to be above deck!! But the I/O deck in 1975 all went to the motor well, was not sealed off! I have 4 pumps in the sea ox these days and it is also a self baling deck.

 

[bgreene]

Has to be above deck!! But the I/O deck in 1975 all went to the motor well, was not sealed off! I have 4 pumps in the sea ox these days and it is also a self baling deck.

Four pumps in the Sea Ox boat ? Wow - reminds me of the tug boats on 4th of July - spraying all those water cannon !!
Do you use those pumps to fire water at other boaters ?

 

[jamesbalog]

No feathers ruffled here my friend. Actually I completely agree with with you and your post. Yea lake Erie seems like she could get pretty rough!

Lake Erie is a nasty little sucker. She turns from a nice two foot chop to bringing some nasty stuff in a matter of minutes. Can be a bad time if you aren't paying attention. She's only 50-55 feet deep and the deepest points from the western end of the central basin and to the west you're lucky to see 35'

Great fishin though