OK let's see...

We've cussed and discussed anchors and coolers and even opined about our drug of choice.

Boating season is still a ways off for many so how about another thread to while away the days until you back-easters can hit the water?

Tell us about your absolute worst day on the water. It might have been scary or made you seasick or just turned out to be a crappy day.

But let's hear about it.

Oh and leave out the blood and guts stuff so nobody gets sick. But let's hear the rest of it. And pictures would be great!

Back in my sailboat days, I got caught in a storm outside in the Atlantic. WOW! My boat was 30 feet and the waves looked bigger. There was rain, sideways of course, and 40 -50 Knt winds. My kids were screaming, my knuckles were white. We had to call the USCG, because my engine crapped out. After all is said and done, at least I was out there and the very next weekend, we were out there again. Not in the Ocean, but we were out there. So, maybe it wasn't that bad?

24+ hours spent hove to in 20'+ seas 500 miles from the nearest dirt , it was part of a 7 day passage.
I dont want to do that again.
Hollywood

Ever taken water over the flight deck of a Nimitz class Carrier? It ain't no party!

Sea kayaking days, a tad north of BC's Cape Caution, landing through surf...the size of which is really hard to judge from seaward.

Our method was for me to go in first, then watch the waves from the beach and hold my paddle overhead parallel to the beach as a sign to my wife that it was safe to come in on a small wave.

I went in first on a beautiful wave about 5' high and rode it an insane distance up the beach. It was such an amazing experience that as soon as the wave disappeared from under me I jumped up, held my paddle high in the air, and gave my best hairy chested bellowing roar.

My wife, seeing my paddle go up, started paddling hard to catch the next wave. It was a beast. She ended up broaching and going upside down in the surf with a fully loaded expedition kayak. My heart stopped. This was before GPS or satellite phones and all we had were handheld line of sight marine radios.

She was soaked, but okay. I kept shaking for quite a while.

Ok

When I was doing my first inside passage trip in 2003

I had a 34' bayliner.

2 whole years of boating under my keel

Listened to the Canadian weather forecast in Prince Rupertert BC calling for 3-5' seas.

Heading out for Ketchikan

Then realizing too late to turn around that the Canadians use metric

Worst and Best in one. When I was about 15, we witnessed from our dock on the lake a horrific accident between two boats. One was spinning, the other flipped and people and equipment tossed everywhere. What was eerie was seeing it happen and then hearing the sound slightly delayed but the moment we saw them about to hit we ran to the boat and took off toward them.

We started collecting people as did two other boats, taking them all to our dock as we were closest plus we were closest to medical care if needed.

We thought we had them all collected and on shore. Others then dealt with pulling the boats to shore. However, a few minutes later there was an outcry for a man named Homer Fike. Everyone was searching. Fortunately that was resolved shortly thereafter when my cousin returned. Turns out Homer was quite cold from the swim so my cousin had taken him back to their home already. Ironic that while everyone there is panicked over Homer, he's back home changed into warm dry clothing and relaxing.

But happy ending as a horrific looking wreck and no one injured. Oh and in the two boats there were 17 passengers total.

I don't know how I forgot this one but also turned out no one hurt, just two boats destroyed. Two of us were skiing one day behind a friend's boat. Suddenly we saw a boat not paying attention and headed straight toward the boat from the side. Easy to see what was developing from 75' behind but not so easy when in the boat. We tried to yell, to no avail, so we just let go of the ski ropes. Seeing us do that got our tow boat occupants attention and so they slowed to come get us just as the two boats collided. They did slow enough to make the collision bow to bow from the side, but at least not mid boat. Both boats pretty well destroyed but no injuries.

We call it our "Perfect Storm" trip.

Was Second captain on the "Seeker" (60' Harkers Island wood dive charter boat) diving the Andrea Doria (100 miles SE of Montauk Long Island, NY). We were 2 days into a 3 day trip when the light and variable forecast changed to Gale warnings and deteriorated to Storm warnings. Seas went from <2' swells to 4 to 6' in a few hours. During the peak of the storm 15 to 20' waves had us quartering into them. We struck a particularly nasty estimated 22' wave that stopped the radar. There is something indescribable about looking up to the top of a 22' wave when you're in a second story pilothouse. Wind fell out, fog rolled in, drove through Montauk inlet between the stone jetties with 20' visability. Something about seeing the jetties on radar while your in a cloud at 8am in the morning.

Ted

Two come to my mind....

First was probably my scariest day on the water was when I was 14 or 15 years old. I was sailing on Lake Huron on my trusty Sailfish with my girlfriend. It was a beautiful sunny day with a nice breeze. We were about 1/2 mile or so from shore when the wind suddenly stopped. I looked up the lake and could see a band of dark clouds heading our direction. Lightening was rolling around inside the clouds and moving along the front of them and also at times coming down to the water.

I lowered the mast and tied that and the boom and sails to the boat then flipped the boat over so there wouldn't be any metal on top. My GF and I got in the water and tied ourselves together and to the boat. (Hmmmm was that my first experience with bondage????) We were at the end of about a 15' line and pushed away from the boat.

The storm hit with the full fury of a Lake Huron storm. The waves were crashing over us (yes we did have our life belts on) and the winds howled and we were getting pelted by the rain and the blown spray off the waves.

The storm only lasted about 15-20 minutes and after it let up we righted the boat and stepped the mast and sailed back to shore.

Needless to say we got our butts chewed for being out in the storm but at the same time got hugged for making it safely back to shore.

The other when I was in high school with a friend and his parents on their ~32' Mathews coming across the north end of Lake Huron from the North Channel back to MI. His dad was a doctor and had to be back to work in a couple of days. We made the crossing by ourselves and with 20/20 hindsight it was a VERY stoopid decision.

We were out in the middle of the lake up on the bridge of the boat and when we were in the troughs we could not see above the wave tops. We tucked in behind a freighter that was headed up the lake but couldn't keep up with him.

I guess I was too stoopid to know how much danger we were in but looking back on that trip now--we were absolutely nuts to venture out there alone.

That girlfriend was an awfully good sport. Most of the girls I took sailing in my younger days would have screamed, cried, or beaten me senseless with a winch handle if I got them in that situation.

Crusty Chief said:

Ever taken water over the flight deck of a Nimitz class Carrier? It ain't no party!

Click to expand...

Been steaming in formation in a DDG with said class carrier. Agree, not the best day underway.

Twidget said:

Been steaming in formation in a DDG with said class carrier. Agree, not the best day underway.

Click to expand...

I was on the JFK on its initial Caribbean cruise and went through a hurricane. I have no idea where the escorts went, we could not see them.

They would spread the group around the carrier, WAY OUT. No one wanted the small boys anywhere close to the bird farm.

Under those conditions, the Hanger Bay is packed tighter than a can of sardines!
And very few places to view the surrounding, unless your on the bridge. Escorts were taking a beating, and looked like the were submarines most of the time.
Realize that the Flight Deck is 90 or so feet off the water line, and the bridge is another 35-40 feet higher and 300 or so feet from the bow.
Don't miss those days at all!

kthoennes said:

That girlfriend was an awfully good sport. Most of the girls I took sailing in my younger days would have screamed, cried, or beaten me senseless with a winch handle if I got them in that situation.

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She was a VERY good sport and looked at it like it was an adventure. She was smart enough to realize how much danger we were really in but also was smart enough to know that we'd taken all the precautions we could.

We joked later about being tied together chest to chest. Of course we'd been in that same position many times before but never out in deep water.

I believe there is a line in the song The Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald that states "When the waves turn the minutes to hours" This is very true statement.

Back in 2009, I sailed my Hunter 41 from St-Vincent (Grenadines) to Cancun with a stop in Haiti. 6 miserable days of constant 11' seas beam reach. Took 3 days to get use to the motion, then another 3 of muscle pain... but we made it all the way to Cancun, then the engine transmission fail with a dismast the next day... (and that is another story....)

GFC said:

She was a VERY good sport and looked at it like it was an adventure. She was smart enough to realize how much danger we were really in but also was smart enough to know that we'd taken all the precautions we could.

We joked later about being tied together chest to chest. Of course we'd been in that same position many times before but never out in deep water.

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We wouldn't trade the roughest thing we ever went through for anything. Unfortunately, we can't discuss it openly, but it was a challenge few face and knowing that together we could and did and we were fully there for each other made everything that has come after easy. I'm sure on the experience you described you learned more about each other but also about the two of you together than you ever would have that same time period on a beach, relaxing.

People often ask would you change the tough times if you could go back. Our answer is emphatically "no" as they're part of what got us to where we are today. I recall an X-Files episode and have seen other shows where someone kept reliving a day starting from a specific moment. It never worked out very well doing so. We just take the days as they are or were and embrace them.

Small local bay on New Year's Eve, anchored in some 30 feet of water at one end of the bay. Dead calm. Forecast front came through at 3am some six hour before it was forecast to arrive. Anchor dragged badly in the 40-something knot wind and 4 foot breaking waves sending us into a railroad trestle that ran across the bay. Only my wife's quick reaction is why BNSF locomotives don't have a little GB sillouette painted below their cab windows. This incident prompted us to change anchors and we have never had a dragging problem since.

Many years ago.....

We spent the better part of a nasty day hunkered down in the inner harbor of Dunkirk, NY on Lake Erie. We were on my brothers 26' foot wood Chris Craft where 8 of us enjoying libations all day waiting for the weather to settle. At 5 PM we felt it was good enough to run up the lake 20 nm to a popular watering hole. We were buddy boating with another cruiser at the time.

1/2 way up the girls needed a potty break, so off plane and into the water (such was the day). Our friends continued on. Almost immediately after getting back on plane we hear a loud boom and look into the cabin to see a wall of water coming through. I head down and start pulling out life preservers. When I run out of cabin due to the water I turn around and ask for my preserver, we were one short. I decided to grab the cooler, empty the contents and push my arms through the handles, it actually was a good float.

The boat sank within minutes, we had a 3' choppy sea state, the sun was setting and my brother had gone into diabetic shock. Not surprisingly, most of the crew was panicked as we were at least 3 miles off the shore and the water was cold (~64). While some friends took care of my brother, my wife and I started swimming towards a small fishing boat near shore. About half way there we noticed them moving towards us. They came up to us and picked us up but stated they could not fit 6 more on their boat, we insisted.

On the way back to pick up the others, the boater stated that they never saw us, what they did see was all the birds circling the food I dumped out of the cooler, they thought they were heading to fish.

By this time, our buddy boat returned, maybe an hour after we split with them. Since the small boat could not hold us we started a transfer in the choppy seas. Not a good idea and one of the gals decided to jump into the water just as the cruiser put the engines in reverse. She disappeared under the stern and popped back up on the side but had her achilles severed by the prop. Now we had to run back to port quickly.

To heap it on, our friends boat blew an engine running at full throttle back to the port, we limped in and had an ambulance waiting on the pier. All were safe outside of the achilles injury.

The boat was never found and I don't think I've ever moved a boat with more than one drink in me ever since!

Great thread, and some pretty frightening stories! I tried hard, but this is the best I can do after a lifetime of boating:

Drifting in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay in mid-summer on our 25' Hunter sailboat, hoping for a breeze. Can't jump in the water to cool off because it is covered by a carpet of sea nettles. Even if we could, the water wouldn't be very refreshing anyways. We're getting sunburnt. The food is gone, the beer (and water) supply in the cooler is dwindling, and the wife is getting cranky. Time to fire up the outboard and putter back home at 4-5 knots. It was one of those days when I decided that sailing wasn't for me. That Hunter was the last sailboat I ever owned...

I've been through a few storms on inland waters -- a little hairy, but kind of fun in retrospect. Nothing close to what you ocean travelers have encountered. Speaking of small destroyer escorts in a hurricane, I'm reading "Halsey's Typhoon" right now. Scary stuff!

Twidget said:

Been steaming in formation in a DDG with said class carrier. Agree, not the best day underway.

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I was probably 50' underneath you, undetected, practicing underhulls.

Every new captain should have to read these stories... Playing on the lakes makes my sea trials insignificant in comparison.

In the early 80's, two friends and I bought and rebuilt onld wooden motoryachts, mostly Trumpy's. We bought a 61957 5' Grebe cockpit MY fro a former Miami Dolphins player, named Nauti-Dolphon the boatlives in Canada. We sold it to a guy in Mystic, CN and financed it ourselves. Aver 2 years, we had to repo the boat. I had started law school in NYC by then and agreed to go to Mystic and recover the boat. It was early December. Figured out we had to leave Mystic about 10 PM to get to the west side of Manhattan by early the next afternoon. Took one friend with me. Oevrnight forecast was winds 2-10 and 1-2 ft seas in Long Island Sound. We hit a pretty violent squall about 2 in the morning and had a couple of hours of 5-7' seas and high winds. Went down to the galley in the morning and there was water on the galley floor! We were taking on a lot of water and I could not figure out where from. Called the CG and they sent a 41' cutter with gas pumps. Never thought I would kiss a guy in a bright orange thermal suit, but I just about grabbed the first Coastguardsman over our side! They had to helicopter another pump out so we had three big gas pumps going before we got ahead of the water. The cutter towed us to a marina near Bridgeport and we got lifted. Turned out that the garboard plank on one side had sprung along about 20' of its length.

Funny thing was-one Coast Guard guy got seasick and spent the entire time huddled over the rail alternately puking and apologizing to us for not being able to help.

Whhops-it was a 1957 65" Grebe!

Dew line station off Newfoundland in the winter and the North sea. Maintain station at 5 knots in a 50 mile circle for ONE MONTH on a Gearing class 2250 ton radar picket destroyer, my first ship out of boot camp. Either wallowing in the troughs, plowing thru head seas or following seas over and over again.
Fast forward to the Agean sea off Crete and a USSR Echo 2 submarine ramming us after not being able to evade the Fast Frigate equipped with AN/SQS-26(BX) sonar and other goodies, I guess they don't use flares.

Northern Spy said:

I was probably 50' underneath you, undetected, practicing underhulls.

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We used to hate it when you guys would pop a green flair when we had no idea you were there.

We were fishing on a friend's 31' Bertram. The big blues were running near the beach at Cape Lookout. Seas were 8'+. It was my turn at the wheel. If you know the Bertram 31 you know the windshield sloped backwards. The wheel is almost horizontal. We came over a steep wave burying the bow. Having nothing but the wheel to hold when the bow buried my head went forward. At that time the bow gained buoyancy, and the windshield came back to meet me. The result was two broken front teeth and a cut through lower lip. I bled like a stuck pig.

I called the owner of the boat up to the bridge. He took a look at the situation, and shouted, "someone get a mop". All heart he was.

My dentist that fixed my teeth would fish with us. He got a good laugh out of it. He could fix my teeth without any deadening because I didn't need any. His pretty dental assistant would cradle my head in her arms. Worth every penny.