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Originally Posted by Gerry Zagorski
For sure Dmac. Bigger is not always better.... Smaller boats are a lot more nimble, especially in close quarters like an inlet... Their ability to turn on a dime and power up quickly helps a great deal. Point in case, I've seen some Wave Runners run some pretty nasty inlets when larger boats had a more difficult time.
And you are right.... The worst thing to do is panic.
I was coming into the Belmar inlet once.... We had run down from Sandy Hook and the east wind started honking pretty good. It was bumpy and we took a few over the bow when runing the ocean, but were never in any danger. Every time we'd take some water over the bow the 2 women we had with us were screaming... "OMG were gonna die" sort of stuff....
As I approached the inlet I knew it was going to be a bit nasty because we had an outgoing tide and the waves were standing up. I slowed the boat down well outside the inlet and told the ladies.... "Look.... You want to get in safely right? Well, we are in no immediate danger but I need to really concetrate when we go through the inlet, so could the 2 of you please calm down so I can take us in"...I'm sure my words were a bit more forcefull and colorful then that, but I needed them to get ahold of themsleves and stop screaming so I could concentrate.
I waited for a few minutes and you could see that there was a definate cadence to the seas. The waves would come in sets and then you'd get a lul.. I timed it so we went in behind a set and we hardly even got a splash on the windshield.
Take your time, be observant and don't panic and you can get through just about anything.
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I must give my crew that day credit they gave me the look like they were saying we trust you, but I did reassure them before we made the run in that I was confident in how to approach it. once we broke the bridge my one buddy said to me I am glad you were behind the wheel because I would have been a mess. It was nasty especially for being in a 17 foot center, but the seas were not that bad at all it was just the way the wind and tide were running that made the inlet angry. didn't help that people were not working their throttle just running and gunning and getting tossed all over.
You are right nothing worst than a panic stricken crew. If anything would happen you need them to be able to respond.
I came thru that inlet with engine problems in my 23 footer due to ethanol fuel breaking free deposits blocking my carb fuel filter. now that was scary. what I did was idol outside to let fuel build up in carb and then made a mad dash and just as I broke into no wake had it spudder starving for fuel.
