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Old 01-20-2021, 12:13 PM   #16
mvweebles
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City: Saint Petersburg
Vessel Name: Weebles
Vessel Model: 1970 Willard 36 Trawler
Join Date: Mar 2019
Posts: 7,179
Quote:
Originally Posted by bayview View Post
With all the weather forecasting these days how does a costal cruiser get caught in bad weather?
Not sure who this is directed to, but I tend to agree with you. I am pretty comfortable running with a rolling 72-hour forecast. Yes, there are localized weather events (forecast and unforecast) that can be severe, but lack the duration to develop dangerous seas. There is no way I'd head 3-days into open water with sustained 30-kts forecast over the period which would result in 3-meter chop. But going through a patch of 4-hours of 30-kts (builds to 1.0-1.5 meter chop) to get to nirvana on the other side is an acceptable tradeoff even though it's 4-hours of slop. It also depends on what you define as bad weather. Also means you could guess wrong and it's 6-hours of 35+ kt winds.

The idea of a Sea Anchor that piqued my interest is the notion of a failed engine. Along the Pacific Coast, prevailing winds are from the NW so you are almost always staring at a lee shore in the event of an engine failure. Sea Anchor buys time - a precious commodity. They aren't very expensive and they don't take much room.

Peter
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