[Gerry Zagorski]

For those of you not familiar with running inlets, here is some tips from an article I wrote on the subject a while back...

- If you’re running out of an inlet and you encounter unfavorable conditions, the mouth of the inlet is the worse place to turn around. If you are at the mouth it’s best to tough it out through the inlet and then if you decide to head back in, make your turn out in the ocean where the waves are not as bad. The waves are usually not as frequent or steep in the ocean and you have better maneuverability and there are fewer boats around to be concerned with.

- 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 you’re 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 ran it.

- Following seas can be very dangerous and unnerving to small, underpowered 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 you to loose steering and roll. This happens most often when you have tight steep waves instead of spread out swells. Best thing to do to avoid Pitchpoling is keep your bow up and as light as possible and avoid getting caught on the back of a wave going too slow. For this reason when you’re 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 waves don’t overtake 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 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.

- The worst conditions you'll encounter are typically wind against tide since it makes the waves stack up at the inlet entrance were the inlet flows meets the ocean. So for the Manasquan it's an out going tide and east winds or an incoming tide and west winds with the outgoing and east winds the worst of the 2. And remember, you not only have to get out, you have to get back in so plan to try to time your inlet transits to avoid these conditions.

Here's a perfect example of what not to do...

Wind was predicted to be 20 plus out of the west. I did however know if I rounded the hook during early stages of the outgoing tide it wouldn't be too bad and once I rounded the tip if I stayed tight into the beach would be smooth as glass and I'd run back in before the tide changed to incoming. I got the first part right and had a real nice day of fishing in flat calm seas. Fishing was really picking up and the ocean was falt clam, we were enjoying ourselves and I decided to keep on fishing and over stayed our welcome.

When we headed back in it was incoming tide against that hard west and the was a big mistake! When we rounded the hook to the strong exposed west winds against the incoming it was evil. I've been caught out in some shit but this was the mother of all shit. Tight 5 and 6 footers with the wind blowing the tops off the waves. So tight you felt like you were a cork in a washing machine and I dared not try and turn around... Instead I pulled the throttles back just enough to make way into the seas and slugged it out with green walls of water washing up over the bow, windshield and over the hard top.

Took me a white knuckle hour to make it 10 miles back to the slip and when I got there I actually kissed the dock.

This was a lesson I will never forget and won't make that mistake again....