Memories - This thread reminds me.... My first "big" boat was an 35' Owens called the Nightcrawler (I didn't name it!) that was actually 36'. It was the 1958 NY boat show entry for Owens. They added 1' to make the salon bigger. It was "gold plated" for its day, meaning the interior of the entire double planked mahogany hull had been varnished and had brass kick plates above the props, plus other niceties. It also had miserable updraft carbureted Hercules engines. It had been originally a sedan, but was converted to a flybridge sport fishing boat.
Once, when coming back from a scuba trip, I was about to enter the pass into St. Andrews Bay near Panama City, FL. I observed that the pass was extremely rough, as the outgoing tide was meeting a strong onshore wind. I sat outside the pass, on the south side for a while and was prepared to wait until the ebb flow or wind abated somewhat. We had pulled a smaller cuddy cabin boat in from miles out in the Gulf of Mexico as they had had engine troubles. There was also a woman and at least one child on board. After awhile, he got his engine going and hollered that he was going go through the pass, but if he had more engine trouble to come and get him. That pass, under certain bad conditions is best to stay on the north side, and under other conditions, it is best to keep to the south side - but never go up the middle in bad conditions - which is exactly what he did. He got about a quarter of the way through and his engine quit again. He and his family were in dire straits 6-8' waves in a very confused sea. So, I proceeded ahead towards his position. At one point our boat was lifted up about 6-8' or more on a column of water, then, with a swoosh, slid off the column of water into the trough. I had been sitting at the upper helm for better vision, but when the boat was lifted up, I bailed off to the lower helm. I can still vividly remember looking at the bow, sides and stern as the boat momentarily sat up on the top of the column of water, and the realization of how easily the boat could pitch-pole or roll and that my weight was making the boat more unstable, being at the upper helm. I threw him a tow rope and pulled him over to the relatively calmer north side of the channel. Under tow, his boat behaved remarkably well for the conditions, as well as the fact that it wasn't a long tow to the north side. As we got clear of the jetties and into calmer waters, he again got his engine going and cast off the tow rope. I never saw him again.
Later, when I had our 46' sailboat, I frequently ran the inlet in adverse conditions. I used to go "sail-fishing" (Putting a fishing line out while sailing in whatever direction the wind gave me a good trolling speed. One year I caught 78 Spanish mackerel plus other fish). Often, when I returned home after 6-8 hours of sail-fishing, the inlet was very rough. I usually favored the north side as it was deep, the south side has a shoal area just inside the jetties. (That boat drew 6.5'. ) I miss the Wayward Wind - a Starratt & Jenks 45. When I brought her to Panama City from the Chesapeake Bay, I endured the aftermath of a previously unreported storm on the Atlantic - reported 20-30' seas when we got within reception range of the USCG - Savannah, GA, (waves seemed much greater!) The strange thing, though, was that there was no wind, just huge waves. I learned then, that the boat could take much more than I really liked.
