# What is the "Hairiest" event you have ever experienced on the water???



## Garbo (Oct 2, 2007)

I looked at the photos from the BudLite Kingfish Tournament and when I saw that Waterspout, the first thing that came to my mind was a day out of Key West and the trip back from Ft. Jefferson. We had been at the Fort overnight and woke up to a small squal and didn't really think much of it, but it didn't pass, just kept growing. We (me and 3) were in a 27 Contender and there were several times I questioned our odds of making it back to the Harbour. We did, but I will never forget that boat ride for the rest of my life. We seen well over a dozen waterspouts from the Fort back to KW, and it never let up. Several times I would look for the sight of any structure that would be a sign of the island and see nothing but water. A 27 is a very small boat in that kind of water. 

Tell your worst. I am sure there are many great ones.


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## hebegb (Oct 6, 2007)

ghotdamn...that's easy, my 19' robalo

went out to the freighter and got caught in a BIG north wind comin in



EASY 5 to 6'ers....over one thru the next ...repeat for ~ 6 miles



I was NEVER so happy to see land :bowdown:bowdown:bowdown



thank god for open transom/self bailing


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## sniper (Oct 3, 2007)

Mine was 25 Miles out of Galveston. We left at 300 in the am in a 21' Chris Craft. It was very dark it seemed rough but didnt think too much of it. at about 500 the sun came up and we were about a mile from a shrimp boat. The seas were getting worse and worse. it went from 3'ers to 6-8 footers in an hour. We were buried so deep in the valleys of the waves you could see nothing but a wall of water all around you, no horizon, no shrimp boat, nothing but water. we headed in as best we could. It was very slow going. A wave didnt time with the rest and the boat was nothing but air. We slammed in the valley so hard I thought the boat broke in half. My chair tore out of the deck when I fell on it. We got back but I dont know how. it took till 2 in the afternoon and we left at around 630 so about 7.5 hours of fear and the worst beating I ever took in a boat. When we got to the boat ramp there was a game warrden standing there tracking who's truck went to what boat. He asked how many boats we saw out there, How bad it has been, the route we took home and from where. He said they would be there till all the boats were accounted for. Said there were multiple boats lost. How the hell did we do it in a 21' boat???? I will never know. That Chris Craft Sea Hawk was an AWSOME boat!!!!


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## bluffman2 (Nov 22, 2007)

mine was last weekend...lost power to engine ..only had 1/4 power..coming in we took waves over bow and couldnt get on top of them....made it in the pass and all the kids said that was cool and i shook it off and said yea it was ......but reality was im glad everyone had pfd,s on and we are all alive to do it again!!


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## Xanadu (Oct 1, 2007)

I can't even remember how many times I've been caught in bad stuff. We broke a weld on the tower earlier this year fishing solid chop 6's during cobia season and it was tough to get out of the tower to pee. The JR angler a couple years ago was pretty bad, but not all that bad sleeping downstairs. I think 3 boats actually fished and everyone else turned around. By the time we realized it was really nasty, we were 50 miles offshore. Budlite tourney a few years back was nasty! I got talked into fishing it and it was 6-8 the whole weekend. The damned mercury motors were giving us problems and one would only run wide open or 1800. We had to all sit on the bow to get on plane before it would rev out and had to run 50 mph home in that crap or take 8 hours. 

All those times and more is why I own a Bertram.


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## Travis Gill (Oct 6, 2007)

Been caught in some bad stuff. Last year we hid under a rig in a bad thunderstorm and watched the rig get hit not once but twice. It was the loudest sound I have ever heard. Xanadu, that Bertram will do OK in a head sea but pray to god you don't have to run in the trough


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## floater1 (Oct 31, 2007)

i would have to say this past weekend on saturday left friday night about midnight headed to the edge fished all night and when the sun hit the horizion i could see there was a black clouds over towards mobile i said that it would not come this far i thought it would run the beach boy was i wrong at about 9 oclock it was moving offshore and there wasn't anywhere to go so we stayed put and damn i thought the boat was going to sink the rain was coming down so hard it was filling the boat up faster then the bielge pumps could pump it out and the self bailing hull on a 22 foot mako could run off so we pulled anchor and headed into the probally 8-10 foot seas to get water out of boat at the time it was almost up to the console,got the water out and then we see two water spouts headed towards us i said hold the hell on ful power with the waves we lookes like a damn jumping kangaroo out there (lmao) now but it was really scarry when you know there aren't many people out there the funniest thing i can remember is a friend of mine standing under the t-top watching the lightining pop all around us and as i looked over at him his hair was standing straight up i guess there was a lot of static electricity coming through the t-top he was holding on to. the storm lasted for about an hour i would have to say that is probally the roughest hour of my life. i dont think i wanna do it anytime soon if you know what i mean.


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## Cuz (Oct 1, 2007)

Went with a buddy of mine to pick up his new 27 Whaler from Orange Beach, he didn't know his way back to the Escambia River so I was piloting. Day started with nice weather however bad T storms were forming. Started raining and got worse as we reached Escambia Bay. I told him to keep an eye out for water spouts as the clouds were that type. Sure enough One Big Water spout droped down out of no where about 200 yards from the boat! I could tell you this, the twin 250 yamaha's went past full throatle. I just can't explain what it was like!other than scarrier than shit!!!


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## Sea-r-cy (Oct 3, 2007)

Fishing out of Destin, we got caught in a major storm/rain in my 20' V-20 Wellcraft. Very rough. Visibility was maybe 200'. We put on the life jackets, I wasn't sure we would make it. Each time the bow of the boat went down, water poured over the windshield. 

I made it to the pass, it wasas roughas I have ever seen. Just then, a charter boat came by me. I powered up, and followed at 50' behind him into the pass. Sure was glad he came along.

Sea-r-cy


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## Xanadu (Oct 1, 2007)

> *Freespool (6/24/2008)*Been caught in some bad stuff. Last year we hid under a rig in a bad thunderstorm and watched the rig get hit not once but twice. It was the loudest sound I have ever heard. Xanadu, that Bertram will do OK in a head sea but pray to god you don't have to run in the trough




My old 28 was tender as hell and would make you think it was going to throw you out of the tower or flip. This one isn't the same. They shouldn't even call the 28 a Bertram.


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## Sam Roberts (Oct 22, 2007)

in 1997 we were fishing in daulphin island and we were in a 17' aquasport and we were distress calls from 30+' boats sinking and they were closer in than we were we hid behind a oil freighter which truely saved us from disaster.:angel


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## ElJay (Oct 1, 2007)

Probably my hairiest, depending on weather you talking about large creatures trying to kill you, screwed up weather or idiots who don't know/care what they are doing putting your life at risk.I'll go with the weather as most can relate to that:

Weather forecast good; low wind, fair skiesand we head out 10 miles off shore of Buffalo River mouth, South Africa. The area is called the wild coast for a very good reason. We are in a 21ft ACE craft, twin 115 mercs.Nice rig for the mid 1980's and gas prices then much like they are here now.Of course the weather forecast is wrong and a Sou'wester gets up from 5 to about 25/ 30 knots withina fewminutes.Not even a squall line to give us warning. We up the anchorand start trying to head home.Boat starts wallowing then spinning. Current in opposite direction to wind and about 6 Knots. Massive reefs on the continental dropoffcause that current topush water up from 50 fathoms to surface so it gets to swirl. Water soon gets to 3 then 4 boat lengths crest to trough and top third breaking white. Wind kicks up some more (as does sea) to what we are told afterwards was 50 with 65 gusts. We completely loose steerage way and all control as the motors are simply not in the water long enough to give us traction in any direction. The pee thing is not even working all the time and that overheatingsiren noise is intermittently coming from the motors. Give the wheel to the smallest guy on board and myself and buddy who is also about 250lbs use two fishing belts each (gut busters here?) one around our waist the other around the top ofthe motor's cover so we can keep the engines in the water. We kind of hugged them with arms and legs wrapped around them tight so our weight would help keep them in the water .The way the water was coming over we simply had to tie on or go over.

No such thing as the 'coast guard ' there to call, not too sure what they could of done anyway. There was a volunteer thing called NSRI armed with rubber boats but by this time the sea rescue were busy going after a passing freighter's crew that had itshull broken by the water and engine room flooding. Not an uncommon deal in that area, water so big it lifts thebow and stern of an oiler or freighter so that the spine is 30 plus foot in the air and it cracks under its own weight. Or plates get bashed loose.

It took us5 hours to get behind the breakwater to the harbor.We had bruises from beingbeaten by the crashing water onto the motors. Parts ofthe gunnel rail broke and we lost the anchor line,40 ft of chain,anchor,drum winch for the 300 yds 1 inch ropefrom the bow at some stage,nobody knows when and it must have gone over at angle as it never fouled the props.Anyway that was as close as i want to get to trying to swim to shore due to weather.


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## wetaline (Oct 16, 2007)

My biggest Oh Sh!t moment had nothing to do with the weather.

My dad and I were shiner fishing on lake Harris down in Leesburg in a borrowed canoe. As we were moving through a swampy area to another little canal my dad said "hey, theres a big gator over there". The gator was on a little hump of mud about 30 feet across and facing away from us. We paddled over to see him a little better and realized that he was about 10ft or so. As the canoe squished into the mud of the little island, the gator instantly turned around and faced us. About 1/10th of a second later, here he comes! As you have seen, alligators raise up a good bit when they run and this sucker's head was about level with the top of the canoe and I was in the front seat, holding nothing but a fishing rod. I thought I was gonna get snatched right out of the front of the boat, and that I was history. As it turned out, the gator hit the side of the bow of the canoe and just took off in the water.

I was covered in mud, and turned around and looked at my dadand he said (and I'm not kidding) "Did you see that!?". My response was " Hell yeah I SAW it!". Afterwards we had a good laugh and now it's funny to look back on. At the time it was pretty scarey


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## PompNewbie (Oct 1, 2007)

I know this is probably rather "weak" compared to some of these stories but hey...it was mine so far

Deckhanding for a Capt out of Orange bch we are around 25 miles out on a overnighter when we loose power on the twins...shut the enging down and take a look over the transom to see whats up....next thing I know the capt comes up from below decks and hands me a mask and a flashlight and points over the side of the boat....900' of water, pitch black, and talking about what to do if I see a shark...I swear to this day he said I was in the water a grand total of 2 min on one breath to clear about 30' of 3/8 line from the props.


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## chud (Oct 19, 2007)

1991 Hurricane Bob, somewhere off North Carolina. USS Wainwright CG 28. I don't know the specifics of wave height and wind speed, but that 500 foot long ship was tossed like you would not believe. Sitting on the messdecks when we took a 30+ degree roll. Indescribable. The condiment locker, situated around 4 feet up the bulkhead, flew open at the furthest point of the roll, and all the ketchup and bottles of hot sauce and whathaveya didn't hit the deck till 20 feet away. We literally had to hang on to our seats.

Our berthing was right up in the bow, above the sonar dome. The bow would clear the sea, then slam back down. You went from weightless, I mean like actually floating, to weighing 500 pounds. Over and over and over and over etc, etc...

It was impossible to stay upright without holding on to things, and I tied myself into my rack to sleepbecuase guys were floating out of their racks as the bow went down, and were getting hurt. I was standing throttles watch in the engine room, and was fascinated by the engine RPM guage spinning up as the screws cleared the sea. I and a few others determined to try to go and actually see the spinning screws, which just protruded past the side of the ship. You could see them in clear water. We tried to time the up and down, and darted out from a berthing which had a weather deck access onto the fantail. A short 25 foot or so run woould get us to the lifeline, then jet back, no big deal. I tripped on a line faked out across the deck, and ate nonskid. I looked up to see the terribly mesmerizing sight of a solid wall of water shoot straight up, as the ass end slammed back down into the water. I heldtight to the mooring line and the water washed over me and I got up and went back in. Only 2 of us had actually gone out, the others thinking better of it. We both fell about the same place, but both made it back in. Stupidest thing I ever did, I guess.

Weather decks were secured for 5 days or so, as we rode it out on the ocean side, then turned in behind it I guess to make it back to Norfolk. We hit a whale once too, felt like hitting a big speed bump, which you dont expect out in the Atlantic!

Funny addendum, was watching all of us as we left for liberty that first day back in Norfolk, as we all swayed back and forth while walking. I remember sitting on the shitter in a restroom and trying to make myself stop swaying from wall to wall. It took 3 more days to lose the 'sea legs'.


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## Matt09 (Jun 6, 2008)

one time me and my buddy chris were in the pass in a 13ft whaler and what seemed to be 10 ft waves were killin us for like 30 mins, thank god neither one of us fell in.


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## SHatten (Sep 30, 2007)

July 4th 1983 Pensacola Pass. Being in the USCG you got to see some stuff you would like to forget. This was one of those times. (And we were suppose to be the rescuers.) We werein the 41' UTB heading over to "police" the fireworks from the old Station in Big Lagoon when the whole area was hit by a squall line. Lots of high wind and lighting. Seaswent from flat to 4-5 in the pass. The boat's mastsuffered alighting strike and cooked all the electronics. Sparks everywhere...smoke...smell of burnt wiring...not a pretty sight. (Not to mention the three Coastys on boardwith brown stains inour pants.)Broke out the handheld VHF to notify the Station of our situation and immediately was dispatched to the fireworks area for "numerous" calls of vessels in distress. Spent the rest of the night pulling people out of the water and towing in swamped boats....Talk about fireworks on the 4th...that's one I will never forget.


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## Garbo (Oct 2, 2007)

> *ElJay (6/25/2008)*Probably my hairiest, depending on weather you talking about large creatures trying to kill you, screwed up weather or idiots who don't know/care what they are doing putting your life at risk.I'll go with the weather as most can relate to that:
> 
> Weather forecast good; low wind, fair skiesand we head out 10 miles off shore of Buffalo River mouth, South Africa. The area is called the wild coast for a very good reason. We are in a 21ft ACE craft, twin 115 mercs.Nice rig for the mid 1980's and gas prices then much like they are here now.Of course the weather forecast is wrong and a Sou'wester gets up from 5 to about 25/ 30 knots withina fewminutes.Not even a squall line to give us warning. We up the anchorand start trying to head home.Boat starts wallowing then spinning. Current in opposite direction to wind and about 6 Knots. Massive reefs on the continental dropoffcause that current topush water up from 50 fathoms to surface so it gets to swirl. Water soon gets to 3 then 4 boat lengths crest to trough and top third breaking white. Wind kicks up some more (as does sea) to what we are told afterwards was 50 with 65 gusts. We completely loose steerage way and all control as the motors are simply not in the water long enough to give us traction in any direction. The pee thing is not even working all the time and that overheatingsiren noise is intermittently coming from the motors. Give the wheel to the smallest guy on board and myself and buddy who is also about 250lbs use two fishing belts each (gut busters here?) one around our waist the other around the top ofthe motor's cover so we can keep the engines in the water. We kind of hugged them with arms and legs wrapped around them tight so our weight would help keep them in the water .The way the water was coming over we simply had to tie on or go over.
> 
> ...


*Dang.*


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## sc23 (Jun 17, 2008)

Riding large following seas through Perdido Pass in a thunderstorm. Lightning struck the boat next to us. 



We were passing charter boats, it was fun except for the lightning.


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## Garbo (Oct 2, 2007)

> *chud (6/25/2008)*1991 Hurricane Bob, somewhere off North Carolina. USS Wainwright CG 28. I don't know the specifics of wave height and wind speed, but that 500 foot long ship was tossed like you would not believe. Sitting on the messdecks when we took a 30+ degree roll. Indescribable. The condiment locker, situated around 4 feet up the bulkhead, flew open at the furthest point of the roll, and all the ketchup and bottles of hot sauce and whathaveya didn't hit the deck till 20 feet away. We literally had to hang on to our seats.
> 
> Our berthing was right up in the bow, above the sonar dome. The bow would clear the sea, then slam back down. You went from weightless, I mean like actually floating, to weighing 500 pounds. Over and over and over and over etc, etc...
> 
> ...




*Dang, Great Writing too. *


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## bayougrande (Oct 4, 2007)

22ft sea chaser bay modelwas the boat and about 20miles ssw was the direction. Everything was absolutly beautiful and we were catch'n fish. We were sitting on a bottom spot and another center console pulled up and started fishing, about 30 min or so the squall line we had been watching all afternoon aperently was to close for comfort for this other boat and he was kind enough to tell us that his radar was showing this storm going north and another storm was coming from destin to the west. Well he pulled hook and hammered down. That's were we screwed up , we were so busy catching fish that the storm to the south was now dishing out 4ft's and getting bad fast. So we decided to pull hook. And when we did (you would just have to know this other fella that was on the boat with us) :withstupidthe smartest fella u ever met catches the bow line around the prop , and good at that! So after about 30 min of trying to untangle the worst mess i've ever seen on a outboard (even having a knife) we head towards the Pen Pass . During this entire time we steadly took waves over the bow and busted the console abart from the boat and numerous other things came apart. But what we did fell to notice was the amount of water under the deck and that the builge had not kicked on(we were to busy trying to not fly overboard) So lucky us by the time we made it to the pass that easterly storm had met us right in the pass. And just south of the uss MASS. The motor shut down.:doh(salt water got into the gas tankbelow deck)and pushed us onto the west sholes right there in the pass , both storms met at the same time while we were on the sand bar. and it took a mayday call and self bailing and throwing the hook numerous times into the waves, and thank god a 27 pursuit:bowdown to pull us luckly into mcRea to fix the bilge pump and have sea tow get us to the dock. We were mins from swimmig to shore!needless to say i've never went with that fella again.:hoppingmad


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## Tuna Man (Oct 2, 2007)

My absolute worst trip, bar NONE (and I have been in a typhoon where waves were over 60 feet high, coming over the bow) was one February, a buddy of mine from Mississippi and I went to Venice, LA to hit the lump. Our trip was to last a week, which it did. On one of those days we went out Tiger Pass during the daylight and got caught out on the water as time was approaching darkness. Well I was unfamiliar with the whole area and decided to come in the SW Pass (Mississippi River main pass). As we turned to head basically North into the pass a rogue wave (just one) came out of nowhere and we went airborne, well if that wasn't enough a winter thunderstorm, a mother of thunderstorms moved in. I was lucky enough that two days earlier I had navigated down the Mississippi and had my track saved on my GPSS. As the storm moved in it was raining so hard that I had to cup my hand over my eyes and look through the cracks in my fingers (we could do only about 5 Kits). From the mouth to Venice is TOTAL darkness, NO shore lights. Here I am navigating by GPSS saved track only, thunder and lightning all around us and all of a sudden I hear the loudest horn I've ever heard in my life. I do a quick look over my shoulder and what do I see but a DAMN LARGE cargo ship coming upriver, and directly on my ass. My first thought was how far can I move to the East without running into something like rocks, rock dikesand or pilings that are stuck out from shore, and If this SOB doesn't hit me I can tag him back into port. Since I only tracked down river, my track was on the West side, and I didn't have enough time, speed and distance to move to the west side. By the grace of GOD two things happened...he didn't run over me and I didn't hit anything. Good..now to tag his ass back to port. I kicked the pig and was doing quite well, only to think (I have many hours on the upper Mississippi) what should happen if this cargo ship should kick up something, and we run over it. See, trees have been known to be holding below and all of a sudden release and come airborne, large ones at that. So with that I had to back off. It took us about 3 hours to get from the mouth to Venice, and as we pulled off of the SW Pass and into the small pass to the marina the sky broke open. No kidding aside, if I was in a car driving I would of pulled off the road and waited for the storm to pass it was that bad. Pucker factor..... 8.7 on a scale of 10. Pulled into the marina and my buddy says to me "damn you did good getting us back in" ......I replied "no worries man" and didn't say another word till we tied up.


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## ElJay (Oct 1, 2007)

Tuna Man: I now live in Memphis Tn and have been tempted to follow in the wake a few times; particularly upstream when the wind is blowing. But recently a buddy showed me exactly what you are talking about regarding those long submerged trees. You would think by now with all the floods etc tover so many years they would be out of the bottom mud but follow behind some of those barges and some awesome old trees come up from time to time. Certain to ruin your day.


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## Tuna Man (Oct 2, 2007)

> *ElJay (6/26/2008)*Tuna Man: I now live in Memphis Tn and have been tempted to follow in the wake a few times; particularly upstream when the wind is blowing. But recently a buddy showed me exactly what you are talking about regarding those long submerged trees. You would think by now with all the floods etc tover so many years they would be out of the bottom mud but follow behind some of those barges and some awesome old trees come up from time to time. Certain to ruin your day.


It's hard at times go get people to believe what can actually come up, and I'm not talking about 10 foot pieces either...WHOLE tree trunks.:doh I have transversed the Mississippi River at Greenville heading to the islands to duck hunt in a 12-16' flat bottom boats:banghead:banghead and that water is cold and at times with a ICE flow.


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## SheYakFishr (Oct 1, 2007)

I'm sure Chuck... remembers this... I went fishing with him and a friend of his... out 20 miles and we had a great day... caught quite a bit of fish and then headed back. We stayed out longer than we thought. THAT was the scary part.... the closer we got to the pass... the *blacker* the skies were. We could see lightening all over the place. I thought... Oh NO.. how are we going to get to the boat ramp in that stuff without getting hit. We kept on going and I moved from the front of his boat to the side under the top and next to the console and was starting to crouch down when my knee hit something and cut it. As I was looking at the bloodthat wasstarting to run down my leg... someone yells.. waterspout. I turned my head and that thing seemed to materialized right behind us. I thought... OMGGGG.. we arenever going to make it back to shore. Chuck had the pedal to the medal.. laffs... and was hauling butt... and I finally dug the camera out and took the picture. I posted it on one of our fishing trips. That did scare the hell out of me for that time period. Seeing a waterspout from land... is a LOT different than one that just developed behind you. I PRAYED HARD coming back! No one was ever so happy to see land.... than me. Thanks Chuck for getting us in safe. :bowdown


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## WW2 (Sep 28, 2007)

On a sub tender in the north atlantic. Waves were 60+. We had 2 huge cranes that came off the top of the ship for loading missiles into submarines. The ship was built in a way that it was actually top heavy due to those cranes. The cranes were designed to break away at 45degrees to keep from pulling the ship over and doing our very own imitation of the poseidon adventure. We had a newb driving the boat that decided a turn that would send us sideways down a 60footer was needed and when they did it the captain came over the 1mc blurted "stand by for heavy rolls" and that was it, we rolled, I was on the mess decks at the time, dodged glass missiles all over. We found out later that we hit 39 degrees of the 45 that would have sent the cranes overboard.


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## BananaTom (Feb 16, 2008)

Look at all that hair - must be the hairiest of all.










The Hawaiian Tropical Models on my buddies rental houseboat in Jacksonville.

Boy was that Hairy


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## BananaTom (Feb 16, 2008)

<P align=left>









*No Words needed here !!!*


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## Gump (Oct 4, 2007)

Sitting on DP at the Nakika, in the process of pumping 150k gallon of fuel to the rig. Seas10-12 foot, wind 35 kts, current running 3 kts. Vessel gets struck by lightening, we lose all nav equipment, DP, radars, gyros, GPS, ..everything. It pretty much sucked!


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## Garbo (Oct 2, 2007)

> *SheYakFishr (6/26/2008)*I'm sure Chuck... remembers this... I went fishing with him and a friend of his... out 20 miles and we had a great day... caught quite a bit of fish and then headed back. We stayed out longer than we thought. THAT was the scary part.... the closer we got to the pass... the *blacker* the skies were. We could see lightening all over the place. I thought... Oh NO.. how are we going to get to the boat ramp in that stuff without getting hit. We kept on going and I moved from the front of his boat to the side under the top and next to the console and was starting to crouch down when my knee hit something and cut it. As I was looking at the bloodthat wasstarting to run down my leg... someone yells.. waterspout. I turned my head and that thing seemed to materialized right behind us. I thought... OMGGGG.. we arenever going to make it back to shore. Chuck had the pedal to the medal.. laffs... and was hauling butt... and I finally dug the camera out and took the picture. I posted it on one of our fishing trips. That did scare the hell out of me for that time period. Seeing a waterspout from land... is a LOT different than one that just developed behind you. I PRAYED HARD coming back! No one was ever so happy to see land.... than me. Thanks Chuck for getting us in safe. :bowdown


*Dang.*


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## true-king (Oct 2, 2007)

Not 10 minutes ago! We were coming in through this...










We were trying to dodge storms coming through the bay and were 300 yards from the dock when it started to pour. Lightning struck nearby and it must of traveled through the water. I was holding on to the grabrail under the t-top and we got shocked. Not really badly, but scary! We tied up, halled @$$ down the dock, and are currently waiting it out!


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## Nat (Oct 10, 2007)

anybody remember the blueangels show in 2003?

There was about 10,000 boats caught in one hell of a storm, I think 4 or 5 sunk


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## slanddeerhunter (Jun 11, 2008)

i went night fishing for kings about 5 miles out . we left just after dark fished about two hours

just as we caught our limit the temp droped about 15 or 20 degrees. we headed in quick ,by the

time we got a mile or so the bottom droped out. there was rain so hard we could nt see the compass or the lights on the island .had to stop just to get our bearings some how we had turned 

and was headed back south. then there was the lightning and all we had to hold onto was 

the t-top. we did make back safe finaly .


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## Midnight Rider (Sep 30, 2007)

> *Nat (6/29/2008)*anybody remember the blueangels show in 2003?
> 
> 
> 
> There was about 10,000 boats caught in one hell of a storm, I think 4 or 5 sunk


I was caught in that storm.... Was trying to make it back to Holiday Harbor but couldnt out run the storm. I beached the boat behind Johnsons Beach and got out and laid down in the sand trying to make ourselves as small a target as possible. The lightning was right on top of us. A guy got struck and killed right across from us around Rod a ReelMarina during the storm.


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## Chris Couture (Sep 26, 2007)

It was a few years ago and I was at the helm on Sam's old 35 Cabo "Lunch Money". It was about 2am and we were running out at 10 knots and everything was running smooth... Seas were calm and the weather was perfect. I noticed some lightening off in the distance in our direction and kept playing with the radar but never picked up any weather so I kept heading the course. I could see rigs and boats everywhere so I didn't pay the lightening too much attention. As we got closer, the seas started to build a little but nothing on the radar so I kept going. I am still not sure to this day why the radar never showed the storm when it was picking up boats 15 miles out but we ended up in 50 mile winds and rain so thick I couldn't see the bow of the boat. Maybe a Rain feature was turned on but I never had a chance to check. 



Luckily the radar was working well enough to pick up the rigs that were all around us so I bumped up to about 15 knots to make the ride in the slop a little better. Rain was finding it's way through every place it could and the helm was getting covered with water and then someone opened the cabin door and yelled "Were are taking on water". Sam jumped out of bed and came out to the helm and was soaked. Come to find out, the water was running into the cabin from the door and he was soaked from that... what a scare... the guy who yelled "Taking on water" didn't really mean we were taking on water but that the rain was coming in from everywhere... OK, No biggie, we are not sinking and we all started to settle down. Not 20 seconds later, lightening and thunder at the same time and someone turned off the cabin light at the same time as well. It went from some light to pitch black after the flash made our vision freak out and the cabin light went off. Wait just a second, my eyes are adjusting back to be able to see and the radar isn't on... neither is the GPS... O crap, I'm driving blind, it's pitch black and rigs are everywhere. It's 8 foot and sloppy, I can't see the bow of the boat, everyone is soaked and the sky is lit up like the 4th of July.



My heart is pounding, lightening just hit us or near us and wiped out our navigation. I stay cool, turn off the GPS and Radar and turn them back on. YES! They both come back on and sync up. As quick as it got bad, it calmed down and I finished out the rest of my 2 hour duty at the helm and crawled my ass in the bed but was too wound up to get any sleep.



What an adventure!


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## Garbo (Oct 2, 2007)

> *Chris Couture (6/29/2008)*It was a few years ago and I was at the helm on Sam's old 35 Cabo "Lunch Money". It was about 2am and we were running out at 10 knots and everything was running smooth... Seas were calm and the weather was perfect. I noticed some lightening off in the distance in our direction and kept playing with the radar but never picked up any weather so I kept heading the course. I could see rigs and boats everywhere so I didn't pay the lightening too much attention. As we got closer, the seas started to build a little but nothing on the radar so I kept going. I am still not sure to this day why the radar never showed the storm when it was picking up boats 15 miles out but we ended up in 50 mile winds and rain so thick I couldn't see the bow of the boat. Maybe a Rain feature was turned on but I never had a chance to check.
> 
> Luckily the radar was working well enough to pick up the rigs that were all around us so I bumped up to about 15 knots to make the ride in the slop a little better. Rain was finding it's way through every place it could and the helm was getting covered with water and then someone opened the cabin door and yelled "Were are taking on water". Sam jumped out of bed and came out to the helm and was soaked. Come to find out, the water was running into the cabin from the door and he was soaked from that... what a scare... the guy who yelled "Taking on water" didn't really mean we were taking on water but that the rain was coming in from everywhere... OK, No biggie, we are not sinking and we all started to settle down. Not 20 seconds later, lightening and thunder at the same time and someone turned off the cabin light at the same time as well. It went from some light to pitch black after the flash made our vision freak out and the cabin light went off. Wait just a second, my eyes are adjusting back to be able to see and the radar isn't on... neither is the GPS... O crap, I'm driving blind, it's pitch black and rigs are everywhere. It's 8 foot and sloppy, I can't see the bow of the boat, everyone is soaked and the sky is lit up like the 4th of July.
> 
> ...


*Great Story, but even Better Written. Actually Incredibly well Written. Dang.*


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## Sailor50 (Nov 8, 2007)

Worse I have been in was in Thailand in 1973, pattaya beach. On R&R, young and stupid, rented a boat to take me out to the outer islands. Now these are maybe 25' homemade wooden boats but substantial boats. Think the islands were about 10 miles offshore, and as we headed out, saw this dark (read black) frontal boundary approaching us. Knew a little bit about weather, turned around to the boat capt, a thai guy and pointed at it, he just smiled and nodded his head. ok. I was young, bullet proof, no problem. Then i noticed other boats were turning around, heading back from where we came from. mmmm. ok. looked at my captain, he had this serious look of concern on his face, but know he wanted to earn his 200 baht. well, ok, must be ok. anyways, we got into it, just like in a movie. waves crashing over us. black as black can be. lightning. thunder. looked around - no us coast guard to bother you here, no life jackets. i was with a "friend"- you know what fingernails can do to your arm when they are holding you tight? anyways, we were in it for maybe 3 hours (read 10-15 minutes), old boat creaking, waves crashing over us, the thai captain holding on to his rudder and scared s)*#$#). Anyways, we made it through, made it to the islands, cold and wet, had some good seafood, but never again. have always learned to respect the weather. Moral of story, better to wish you were out in a boatthan be in a boatwishing you werent.


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## Jack Hexter (Oct 2, 2007)

I was offshore at Ft Pierce when this storm came exploding offshore. I ran SE for an hour, trying to outrun it but fuel concerns forced me to turn and go thru it. In my 23' Center Console, I took my outriggers down and laid them on the deck, took all rods down and laid them on the deck, and only had my VHF antenna up. I had everyone on board ( 3 plus myself) don life jackets, turned both bilge pumps on (even though there was no water in the bilge) and put the bow into the wind until I cleared the back side of the storm. On review, the only other thing I could have done was to call Pan Pan Pan and notify the Coast Guard of my position and intentions. i did have people on shore who knew I was out in it and my general location (at least before I started to run from it. The seas went from flat to 10' as we hit the wall of the storm! It gradually subsided as we passed thru it. I now know my boat will take a lot more than I can or want to do again. I'm very proud of the boat (and my seamanship) as I did not take any green water over the gunnels during the entire process. I still think that running for the hour that I did helped, as the electricity in the storm seemed to dissipate as time went on. This storm shut down West Palm International for 3 hours.


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## Garbo (Oct 2, 2007)

> *Jack Hexter (6/30/2008)*I was offshore at Ft Pierce when this storm came exploding offshore. I ran SE for an hour, trying to outrun it but fuel concerns forced me to turn and go thru it. In my 23' Center Console, I took my outriggers down and laid them on the deck, took all rods down and laid them on the deck, and only had my VHF antenna up. I had everyone on board ( 3 plus myself) don life jackets, turned both bilge pumps on (even though there was no water in the bilge) and put the bow into the wind until I cleared the back side of the storm. On review, the only other thing I could have done was to call Pan Pan Pan and notify the Coast Guard of my position and intentions. i did have people on shore who knew I was out in it and my general location (at least before I started to run from it. The seas went from flat to 10' as we hit the wall of the storm! It gradually subsided as we passed thru it. I now know my boat will take a lot more than I can or want to do again. I'm very proud of the boat (and my seamanship) as I did not take any green water over the gunnels during the entire process. I still think that running for the hour that I did helped, as the electricity in the storm seemed to dissipate as time went on. This storm shut down West Palm International for 3 hours.


*Another Great Read. What make of boat? This is good stuff.*


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## Garbo (Oct 2, 2007)

Great Read


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## Sequoiha (Sep 28, 2007)

MIne was back in 1996, went diving with some friends, 17 cape horn, trysler grounds, My buddy and i went down for our first dive, went down the anchor line and secured the anchor ( i thought), apparantly while we were down the bubble watcher decided to come down with us,,( big mistake) when i realized there was noone on the boat i went back to the anchor, guess what no anchor, all i could see was the drag mark,, it seems the bubble watcher came down to let us know the boat was moving. DUH. any way, i followed the drag as long as i could while coming up at the same time to cover some ground, got to the top and no boat. so i had to start swimming, at least the drag marks suggested the boat was heading home.. i swam for approx. 3 hours and found the boat, thank god the anchor was still dragging and slowed it down, it took me another 4 hours to find my two dive partners.. needless to say we all learned a very valuable lesson, Fu***** bubble watcher stay on the boat... and watch for bubbles... I never went diving with these people again.. 
__________________


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## PorknBeans (Nov 21, 2007)

last day of snapper season last fall, 19 ft blazer bay, there was two of us. 4 to 5 footers with an unfavorable interval, and taking water over the bow, holding onto the center console railing for dear life as we made our way out to the fishing hole. maybe it was us going to fast or a random set wave hitting the boat the wrong way, but the trolling motor (which was actually tied down tightly) slammed so hard against the railing that the metal handle with a baseball size gear head on one end popped right off and flung through the air. With less then a fraction of a second my buddies hand flies up in front of my face and soundly catches the hammer like object from smashing my money-maker. With a quick nod of appreciation we continue our adventure onto the blue pasture. Not much longer another wave hits the starboard like a freight train without me expecting it, almost tossing me from the consoles side right into the water. Would have been a really cold ride back. Caught our limit and headed back in to fish another day, Praise the Lord.


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## TURTLE (May 22, 2008)

*Was camping at Ft Mcrea and went out for some Reds by the Pickens point with a buddy of mine. Back then I had a 25' Cris Craft Cuddy. everything was great till I got distracted by a school we saw and I drifted parallel to the beach right where the waves were breaking, dumb ass move. Swell came in and hit us dead on the side and almost flipped us. Scared the bejesus out of us both, can't tell how much went over board but I was headed back to camp after that.:no:*


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## bigrick (Sep 29, 2010)

Was in my 14' tracker and somehow water got in the gas and the motor putz out in the middle of the channel around liza jackson in the sound, middle of winter, cold as crap. To our luck we look back and a barge is about 300 yards away not slowing down at all heading rite at us( I'm sure it's hard to stop one so I can't blame the captian). Ended up stripping to my undies and jumping in grabbing a rope and swimming us out of harms way all the way to the bank about 50 yards away. Problem was the bank was okaloosa island and there was no where to go. By this time it's pitch black, I'm soaking wet, it's getting even colder and ethanol crapped my engine out. Called sea tow, $500 just to come out. Ya rite. Ended up getting a buddy who lived on the sound to come grab us an hour later. That was the last time I used ethanol, at least without pouring a gallon of stabilizer in the tank.


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## ul412al (Oct 2, 2007)

Bud Light tourney a few years ago. 80 miles south in approx. 5-6' seas. 25 Hydra Sport CC, twin 225's. I casually look back while trolling and see a crack in the deck about a foot from the transom. This crack begins to expand and separate until you could see in the bilge. Guess what was in the bilge? You got it, water and lots of it. All 3 bilge pumps blowing water over the side like a theme park. Crud - transom's departing the vessel. One option - hammer down North. Due to the weight of the water, the seas, and the massive flopping of the engines and bracket we burned all our reserve fuel till the last gauge hit empty. Did I mention it started raining? Anyway both engines cut off as we glided into Fort Morgan Marina. I sat on the ramp shaking for about an hour...and I am no offshore novice.


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## saltwater redneck (Aug 8, 2011)

i was coming in the destin pass about 2 weeks after hurricane opal in a 19 ft renken bowrider, flood water coming out -tide coming in not a good combination. we were coming in on the back of a wave and right at the east jetty the wave backed up and i watched as a 8ft hole opened up under the boat in we went after the hit i looked up the bow was 3-4ft under with water coming over the starboard side and about 6 inches of motor out of the water i hammered the throttle it took a few seconds but it came to the surface and on in the pass, knee deep in water it took a 1000 gph bilge pump 30 mins to pump it out... lesson learned dont come into the pass from the east over the sandbar


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## SHO-NUFF (May 30, 2011)

Nat said:


> anybody remember the blueangels show in 2003?
> 
> There was about 10,000 boats caught in one hell of a storm, I think 4 or 5 sunk


 Damn right that was a bad one! 
It lasted for hours,and there was no way to run from it. The lightning was the worse I have ever scene. The mast of a big sailboat was struck about 50 yards from us, a cloud of orange, rust colored smoke came billowing out of the cabin. All on board bailed off into the water and swam to other boats. It never did catch fire.

The blue angels and beach firework shows are 2 times a year that any Idiot that owns a boat will be on the water. There will be one less Idiot participating from now on. I am getting too damn old for dealing with them... Makes me want to shoot someone!


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## jeff912 (Nov 1, 2011)

so we went out at 9 30 on a friday night and the seas where already like 4 foot and we have a 24 foot shapparell boat we went to the oriskany and the antares and the storm picked up and there where 6 foot seas and it took us 3 hours to get back in and we almost got hit 3 times by 3 50 foot trilling boats is was the worst and scarriest thing iv ever doen


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## ABailey (May 25, 2010)

Summer of 2009 my buddy and I, went out to the patronus in his.welcraft 280 for a few days of fishing. Trolled around the rigs all day, then decided to tie up to the rig that afternoon/evening. Fished a couple of hours and started hearing a sloshing sound coming from inside the hull. I start ripping hatches open to find about 6 inches of water. Now my head starts spinning and thinking of how deep the water is out there lol. The pump float had got stuck so hit the switches for the back up pumps and managed to free up the float on the other. Got the water out pretty fast. Found out that the shop that repowered the boat the year before did not plug the old holes from the original motor mount correctly. We cut loose from the rig and set out the sea anchor, and stayed the rest of the night, I slept on the deck that night with one eye open. Early morning I hear the radio key up with "ya'll better wake up". Holy sheot I thought. I don't think anyone has ever gone from the laying down position to standing like I did. Turns out it was just a supply boat screwing with us. I won't ever forget that trip.


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## aroundthehorn (Aug 29, 2010)

Stood a chance of drowning about 5 years ago while kayaking and kayak fishing.

Knocked out an eye with a jig (I can see well, but it's still sensitive to light).

Saw a guy on a jetski in Bayou Texar get hit by a boat.

The eye incident was probably the scariest or "hairiest."


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## drifterfisher (Oct 9, 2009)

I dont have a Blue water incident,but my "Hairiest" event happened with my second boat.My first boat was a 14' jon boat,stolen from me.My second boat was a 10' jon boat that I bought for 30 bucks and put 2 weeks and about 400 in to to fix.Then I bought an engine,one 30hp tiller steer johnson.Now mix 10' of boat and 30hp with a novice boater,on blackwater bay.I have no idea of how fast it went,but go it did well,its just the turning part that boogered me up.Never thought a boat would drift side ways like a dirt track car.It was fun to play with the jet skies,the look on their faces when a jon boat runs with them is priceless,well till they turned.Its a wonder I didnt kill myself or someone else.


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## dustyflair (Nov 11, 2011)

One time we ran out of gas near the horseshoe rigs after leaving from Gulfport. When we didn't appear at the dock at our scheduled time, friends got worried. Anyway, someone called the Coast Guard and told them approx where we were supposed to be and that we had a prego woman on board. Well we get called on the radio and it's the Coast Guard. The boat owner had just gotten a new Fountain this was its first trip. He didn't know what was wrong with it. Somehow the USCG decided they would come get us...rut ro...They didn't make us call sea-tow...The CG finally finds us at like 9 pm after being gone sine 5am earlier that morning. The CG shows up and it's all business. Put this on, do this do that. Like I said it's all business. No small talk. Somehow or someway I starting talking to the guy in charge telling him we were on a media trip and told him my name. My last name's Fountain. He pans his spotlight over to the new Fountain boat and the giant TEAM FOUNTAIN on it glows and says "are you related to Reggie"...knowing I wasn't, I quickly responded, "Gramps doesn't know we're down here field testing this new boat"...That CG guy stating barking out stuff to the grunts and they had that boat hooked up in underway in minutes. Took us all the way to Gulfport. As we were pulling in HOURS later, the Capt was like "Oh boy the CG is gonna ream me when we get to shore". Those fellers pulled into the marina, got us to the dock, said have a good one and that was that...The Capt was like what's going on... I told him Gramps had us covered.


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## Fanner50 (Oct 25, 2011)

My first boat was a river boat. My second boat was a Cape Horn. I was new to boating in the bay and Gulf. We went out through the Pass and I almost immediately started heading West. I did not know about the sandbar to the right as you leave the Pass and I did not know that just a few weeks earlier a pontoon boat had capsized on that sandbar when it was broadsided by a big wave.
Well, I turn to the right to go over the sandbar and I look to port and there is this huge wave that must have been six or seven feet high heading right at me broadside to the Cape Horn. Fortunately, the Cape Horn went up with the wave and gently rode it back down and all was well. It was something that I will never forget, looking up and seeing that huge wave heading right at me. I learned an important lesson that day, don't cross a sandbar in the Gulf and follow the buoys to get out of the Pass. I made a number of rookie mistakes in my early boating days (still do) but the Cape Horn always got me through and got me back to the boat ramp. Every day on the water is a learning experience. You just hope that you don't lose the boat or God forbid a life in the process. :yes:


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## aroundthehorn (Aug 29, 2010)

Fanner50 said:


> My first boat was a river boat. My second boat was a Cape Horn. I was new to boating in the bay and Gulf. We went out through the Pass and I almost immediately started heading West. I did not know about the sandbar to the right as you leave the Pass and I did not know that just a few weeks earlier a pontoon boat had capsized on that sandbar when it was broadsided by a big wave.
> Well, I turn to the right to go over the sandbar and I look to port and there is this huge wave that must have been six or seven feet high heading right at me broadside to the Cape Horn. Fortunately, the Cape Horn went up with the wave and gently rode it back down and all was well. It was something that I will never forget, looking up and seeing that huge wave heading right at me. I learned an important lesson that day, don't cross a sandbar in the Gulf and follow the buoys to get out of the Pass. I made a number of rookie mistakes in my early boating days (still do) but the Cape Horn always got me through and got me back to the boat ramp. Every day on the water is a learning experience. You just hope that you don't lose the boat or God forbid a life in the process. :yes:


That's a really interesting and good post...a lot of folks don't know how scary the Pass is or can be. All it takes is the wind blowing hard one way and the tide moving another. Then there is the boat traffic. And the sandbars.

I have a Cape Horn, too, and it saved me once in a similar situation, but not this one (which I had forgotten about when I posted earlier). 

I was out in the Pass area and the lady friend wanted to park at the beach right there. We were in my flats skiff. Against my better judgement, I beached it. Of course the weather changed immediately; a bit like when you sit by a nice fire and the smoke starts blowing right at you and makes you miserable.

Next thing I knew, there were four feet high waves blasting at us while we were frolicking in the sand. I managed to get us out (with much foul language on my part) and underway. Thank God for bilge pumps and a light boat. I made her sit on the bow, which I never allow, as we were getting underway. I still don't think she knew how dangerous that whole situation was.


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## Miami Matt (Jun 20, 2009)

Well back in the 70's this girl.....oh my bad


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## swhiting (Oct 4, 2007)

Miami Matt said:


> Well back in the 70's this girl.....


...........


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## Garbo (Oct 2, 2007)

aroundthehorn said:


> That's a really interesting and good post...a lot of folks don't know how scary the Pass is or can be. All it takes is the wind blowing hard one way and the tide moving another. Then there is the boat traffic. And the sandbars.
> 
> I have a Cape Horn, too, and it saved me once in a similar situation, but not this one (which I had forgotten about when I posted earlier).
> 
> ...




Been there done that.....


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## Sea-r-cy (Oct 3, 2007)

Four of us were going to overnight at the Midnight Lump in my 22' C-Hawk Sportcabin. We had anchored, eaten supper, and were settled in for the night. Then came the wind. It quickly whipped up to 3-4' seas and building. I made a quick decision to return to Grand Isle, some 40 something miles away.

We donned the life jackets, and I headed in with my eyes glued on the radar and chartplotter. My buddies watched for obstructions and other traffic. We eased along at 12 knots for most of the ride.

For you that are unfamiliar with this area, there are gas/oil rigs every where, some lighted, some not. Then there are the steel buoys and unlit pipes sticking up out of the water. Oh, lets not forget the big work boats and ships.

It took me several hours to find the hole in the wall and return to slack water. I was a bundle of nerves. Don't want to do that again.

The weather service had really missed it this time, it got really rough before it was over.


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