Will-C":2tcossru said:
Yo Rocky,
What happened to the part about your boat cutting thru seas like a knife through hot butter? Maybe prevailing winds have switched up. My wife always gets sick in the ocean. The only time she does not is when she's scared out of her mind.
D.D.
Actually, she does cut through three foot head seas like a hot knife through butter. I can usually travel between 12 and 15 mph -- even higher -- in short wave periods at that wave height. It's over three feet that is the problem, because when traveling into head seas on Long Island Sound that are 4 feet high, the waves fall out from underneath the boat. This happens to boats far greater in size then Marinauts and C-Dory's. Recently, my wife and I took a 60 mile trip to Port Jefferson in following seas of approximately 3.5 to 4 foot maximum wave height. We averaged approximately 18 mph. The Marinaut is designed to cut through waves efficiently, but it is still a planing boat. The trick is to keep the bow down when in head seas, which is not hard to do. But let's face it: C-Dory's and the Marinaut do not have the weight and length to plow through heavy seas. These are protected waters boats. The trade off for all of us is phenomenal fuel economy and an extremely good use of space. Honestly, when the wave periods are under 3 seconds and the seas hit 4 feet, I don't want to be on the water. While I might try to go home in following seas under those conditions if I have less then 50 miles, I won't even attempt it in a head sea or in confused seas of that wave height. It's not fun for larger boats, either. The key here is the wave period. If you hit 6 foot seas with a wave period of 9 seconds, what's the big deal in that: they are rollers.
For those of you reading this who are not used to our area, Long Island Sound's tidal currents can reach 4 knots or higher. The waters are usually considerably less then 150 feet in depth, we have to contend with tidal currents from rivers, Plum Gut and the Race, and the 90+ mile length of the Sound can lend itself to quite a fetch when the winds are blowing strongly from the East or West.
We have been in confused, 4' plus seas of 2 second wave periods near Old Saybrook where there was nowhere on the compass in which to turn to smooth the ride, and we could not travel any faster then 3.5 to 4 mph. I'm not exaggerating. Then all of a sudden, out of nowhere comes a 6 foot wave that broadsides you. It can be dangerous at times. Interestingly, we were the only boat on the water, and when we got back to our marina, Captain Debbie said, "I was surprised you went out." You know the old saying:
fools travel where angels fear to tread. So like most inexperienced boaters, I have learned and continue to learn from my mistakes, which is why I will not venture out in 4 foot confused or head seas. Like those of you who are pilots, I have dropped the "I have got to get there" mindset, and hunker down to wait for conditions to improve.
Rich
