Post photos of your boat in big seas here.
- Thread starter Nocanvas
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trawlercap
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I do public speaking, covering fishing and Bering Sea stuff. I usually open it up for questions at the end. Inevitably I get ask "What's the biggest wave you've seen?"
..."Ahh, well I'm not sure, I had my eyes closed."
Getting a decent image from your boat is almost impossible. From the wheelhouse, your so many feet above the water. Shooting down on something flattens it out. Climbing a wave, there is nothing to reference to, maybe your bow rail, but its just water and sky. Coming down a wave, you shooting down angle and the next tall wave is a ways off.
Ideally you camera would be at water line (good luck) And you'd have another boat in the frame for reference....Alas, wave shots never show what they were really like.
..."Ahh, well I'm not sure, I had my eyes closed."
Getting a decent image from your boat is almost impossible. From the wheelhouse, your so many feet above the water. Shooting down on something flattens it out. Climbing a wave, there is nothing to reference to, maybe your bow rail, but its just water and sky. Coming down a wave, you shooting down angle and the next tall wave is a ways off.
Ideally you camera would be at water line (good luck) And you'd have another boat in the frame for reference....Alas, wave shots never show what they were really like.
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Wayfarer
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It’s not the most dramatic video, but this is about as bad as I’ll let it get before I go find someplace to hide. 12-14 footers. Biggest I’ve been out in was 14-16, and I’m not anxious to see that again.
https://youtu.be/xIutNS7hkVU
https://youtu.be/xIutNS7hkVU
I’ve done my share of boating in lousy conditions, but there isn’t any way to get a picture of my boat !!
For your viewing pleasure however, here is my anchor watch plot from an Anchorage that picked up swell from the Straits of Juan de Fuca, all night long :-D
Notice there were 163 turns. Good anchor!!
For your viewing pleasure however, here is my anchor watch plot from an Anchorage that picked up swell from the Straits of Juan de Fuca, all night long :-D
Notice there were 163 turns. Good anchor!!
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Please provide anchor type model and weight. Rode and scope used, be it straight chain or combination. Photo would be great.
Thanks, Art
psneeld
Guru
As been said...most pics and videos never do justice....
Also has been said...some smaller waves are way more scary than the big ones.
Biggest one I was ever endured, no one ever saw...but it broke out a bridge window at night on a 399 foot USCG icebreaker that was 80 feet above the water line....that was in the N. Pacific headed to Dutch Harbor. 60+ footers for 3 days and the ship rolling 45 to 60 degrees much of the time. 2/3 of the crew too sick to man their stations. Tens of thousands of dollars from foc'sl damage but fortunately only one serious injury.
Upper and to the right window replaced with plywood upon arrival in Dutch.
Probably the scariest waves were a 4 foot inlet break while towing vessels with a 26 foot Shamrock....they could have easily swamped and capsized both boats.
Also has been said...some smaller waves are way more scary than the big ones.
Biggest one I was ever endured, no one ever saw...but it broke out a bridge window at night on a 399 foot USCG icebreaker that was 80 feet above the water line....that was in the N. Pacific headed to Dutch Harbor. 60+ footers for 3 days and the ship rolling 45 to 60 degrees much of the time. 2/3 of the crew too sick to man their stations. Tens of thousands of dollars from foc'sl damage but fortunately only one serious injury.
Upper and to the right window replaced with plywood upon arrival in Dutch.
Probably the scariest waves were a 4 foot inlet break while towing vessels with a 26 foot Shamrock....they could have easily swamped and capsized both boats.
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SteveK
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no photo but imagine a 35 foot sailboat becalmed between two waves then slammed with storm force winds at top. rinse and repeat offshore.
hollywood8118
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The interesting thing about wave size is it is often not the size, but the energy and shape of the waves. We once had the misfortune to be stuck in a South Pacific storm that produced winds over 50 kts and seas in the 25' range that felt less threatening than 6-8' seas with25-30 kts of wind and a added tidal current in the Strait of Georgia.
Often in the PNW current rips combined with short period wind waves produce very nasty wave action that seems to assault the boat from every direction at the same time. We once motored north up Baja in zero wind and climbed over 15' rolling swell waves that would not of toppled a long stem wine glass. The difference between the bottom of the trough and the peak of the wave meant you either had a great vantage point or you couldn't see squat.
The storm in the S.Pac was definitely the one that was the most frightening as with those conditions we were not "sailing" and sat hove to as the boat climbed those waves then tripped off the top of the breaking weaves then crashed into the bottom of the troughs. That one event in our lives shaped our views about what we can endure and survive and raised the bar on what truly scares us.
HOLLYWOOD
Often in the PNW current rips combined with short period wind waves produce very nasty wave action that seems to assault the boat from every direction at the same time. We once motored north up Baja in zero wind and climbed over 15' rolling swell waves that would not of toppled a long stem wine glass. The difference between the bottom of the trough and the peak of the wave meant you either had a great vantage point or you couldn't see squat.
The storm in the S.Pac was definitely the one that was the most frightening as with those conditions we were not "sailing" and sat hove to as the boat climbed those waves then tripped off the top of the breaking weaves then crashed into the bottom of the troughs. That one event in our lives shaped our views about what we can endure and survive and raised the bar on what truly scares us.
HOLLYWOOD
South of Heaven
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I took this video in Boston Harbor a few years ago while in a small craft advisory and an outgoing tide. Washing machine effect.
https://youtu.be/GxIByizVkWc
https://youtu.be/GxIByizVkWc
Looks like a front loader to me! lol
trawlercap
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One wicked afternoon, I was getting the stuffing knocked out of me in the Bering Sea, while chatting on the VHF with a container ship. He said "Your little (123') boat rises and dips in these short sea's, it looks very uncomfortable (20-25 footers at the time) My big ship spans so many swells at once I am able to make good progress with little discomfort." (He was British) "However Capt. in the big deep swells of the N.Pacific your little boat rises and drops like a duck, while my big ship rolled and pitches."
