Renegade Sportfishing - Manasquan Inlet - September 1938-Vintage Film-Who Remebers?

[Captain Mike C]

Anyone remeber this day? I heard about it through my Uncle, old man Harry Brown who broached that day but luckily survived. Boats back then just didn't have the power to get out of it. Enjoy the video, first time I ever saw this one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kZPgHWuuQg&feature=youtu.be

[the1jonc]

Wow. Great footage. It is crazy how things go so bad so fast.

[Jersey Jay's Tackle]

Nice find Mike. That is some wild video footage.

[SaltLife1980]

That is some awesome old video footage.. wow.. great find!

[Capt. Lou]

Thank God for power & planing hulls on today's boats.!
I owned a 23' hi perfprmance CC boat back in the mid seventies
That could actually out perform all those old timers under breaking inlet conditions.
However back in the day they were it, slow displacement hulls taught me plenty about
hands on boat handling in heavy seas & breaking inlets!
Thanks for sharing Mike, reminds me of our old Zobel Sea Fox skiff days!
Get you through most anything but huge white knuckle moments!

[hammer4reel]

very good video !!!

[Art Berkman]

Very cool !

[shrimpman steve]

wow, scary stuff!

[Gerry Zagorski]

Very cool. Thanks for digging this up and posting it here.

It certainly does point out how follwing seas can be very dangerous in a inlet, especially for an underpowered boat, an inexperienced or impatient skipper.

Here are some tips I wrote a while back about running inlets

- If you're not familiar with an inlet make sure you have charts so you are aware of the correct approach. Shoaling usually occurs on the south side of most ocean inlets. Some have rock remnants that are out a good distance from the mouth of the inlet that may be submerged during high tide. Running up on a shoal or into rocks may not cause an immediate sinking but it can certainly lead to one. There is an inlet in Morgan NJ that the entire east rock jetty is submerged from the shore out to the inlet marker. Imagine not knowing and cutting that corner. If you don't have a chart or are notfamiliar with the inlet, it might be best to wait and observe or follow another boat in.

- If you're running an inlet and you encounter unfavorable conditions, the inlet is not the place to turn around. Often times the conditions will be worse inside the inlet then they are in the ocean. It's best to tough it out through the inlet and make your turn to run back in out in the ocean. The waves are usually not as frequent or steep in the ocean there is more open space and fewer boats around that might limit your maneuverability.

- Often time large swells at the inlet entrance are caused by the inlet currents meeting the ocean and boat traffic. This is usually more pronounced when you have a wind against tide situation, especially an outgoing tide and an east winds. If your running a small boat why not take the car down to the inlet before you run it to check the conditions. Either that or get on the radio and try and reach someone who had just run it.

- Following seas are probably the most dangerous and unnerving to small and especially new boaters. They are most frequently encountered when running into rather then out of an inlet. When the back of a wave hits your stern it causes you to loose steering and therefore control of your boat. In small outboard boats with open transom wells they can also cause swamping.

- Another problem in following seas is Pitchpoling. You can liken it to surfing a wave. Easy to do on a surfboard but not to be done on a boat. If you're climbing over a wave once over the top and down the back of it you can build up excessive speed and make your bow dig into the trough of the next wave. The pressure on the back and front of the boat can cause it to roll. This happens most often when you have tight steep waves instead of swells. Best thing to do to avoid Pitchpoling is keep you bow up and as light as possible and avoid getting caught between waves. For this reason when your approaching an inlet in following seas hang outside the inlet and observe the wave patterns. Most often waves will come along in-groups of 3s with the last wave being the largest. You want to follow behind that 3rd wave and keep up enough power so any waves don’t catch you from behind. You need a lot of power for this maneuver and some skill. If you or your boat is not up to the task best to stay on the ocean side until conditions improve in the inlet.

- The weather doesn't have to be terrible or the wind howling for inlet conditions to turn sour. Boat traffic also effects the ability of a small boater to run an inlet for 2 reasons 1) Boats cause wakes which are exaggerated in the small confines of an inlet and 2) Boat traffic dictates how fast or slow you can go as well as where and when you can or can't turn. It's always best to hang back and let larger boats clear the inlet before you run it.

- If you're in questionable conditions you and your crew should be wearing your life jackets. This is even more important in inlets where the conditions are usually the most dangerous.