Loving Your SeaCraft When the Poop Hits the Fan!

[kmoose]

NOAA and several other forecasts models dropped the ball on the Florida Gulf side keeping the Coasties very busy last Saturday. With predictions of 2’ seas and 10 Knot winds decreasing in the afternoon many boats set out early to take advantage of the short Red Snapper season.....me included. A front that was predicted to show late Saturday night with 15 knot winds showed up at 9 AM with a screaming vengeance and 30 knot winds kicking the seas up offshore to a very tight 6’+.

I was 35 nautical SW of Cedar Key when it hit. I’ve been in the shit before but this time the speed at which it built was beyond worrisome. At it’s worst the only option to maintain a safe headway was to put the bow right into the head sea as coming broadside to the stacked sea would have risked dipping the gunwale and taking on more water than I could shed before the next wave hit. I can tell you with all certainty that I am glad during my rebuild I glassed the cap to the hull, raised the deck and installed 4” long side scuppers and a locking deck hatch. They were all tested and performed as expected.

This pic is one of several that cleared the windshield and sent every loose item to the stern as well as lifting the outboard completely out of the water as we tipped down the back side. Fortunately we were able to make 5-7 knots into it heading straight back to port with the auto pilot holding like a rock but it was a long “exciting” ride I will not soon forget.

I have always loved my SeaCraft but nothing solidifies it more than getting stuck in the shit and safely handling it when many other boats didn’t that day.

[DonV]

Well done Ken!! Making it home safely is all that matters!! Not too sure about that NOAA crap, went out about 20 miles dolphin fishing Saturday with 2' or less seas predicted, after the second washdown over the port side of the boat with 4 - 6'ers it was time to head north to home! Too old for that!!

[bumpdraft]

Red Snapper mini season over here on east coast usually coincides with rough seas. I'm starting to think there is something up with that.
We went out last Wednesday, 25 miles (Dolphin fishing)out with predicted 2' seas. It was calm and slick as a lake out there. I was up and running on way home when we encountered a three foot wave, which was actually a wake from a large yacht up on plane. I didn't slow down and was going to go straight through it like I usually do with wakes. When I got close, I had second thoughts and turned, as this was no ordinary wake. Big mistake and kinda got slammed going over it. Old fart here too.

[77SceptreOB]

I think having a Sceptre in those conditions would be a benefit. The foredeck and windshields would help deflect most the green water to the sides when the bow gets stuffed into one of those 6-8'er.

[deerfly]

lol, NOAA has been off the mark quite a bit lately. I was out 53 miles in my buddies 26' crevalle (more of a bay boat on steroids) that morning along with four other guests. At around 35 miles I told him I don't care what the forecast says about laying down later, I don't like anything about what I'm seeing in any direction. We need a plan B or abort, continuing on to our 80-ish mile plan A destination was suicide in my opinion.

After some discussion he says its only another 15 miles to some plan B numbers. I didn't like that either, but as we neared that location the winds did drop around 9:30am and it appeared the captain had the first laugh on the forecast lull. We've seen this before out there on other trips too, so I couldn't make a compelling argument. About 45 minutes later though someone turned on the fan and it got real shitty real fast with no signs of getting better. A water spout trying to form about 100yds east of us was sobering indicator of things to come.

Our route back took us directly into the seas so we had to jog northward toward cedar key to angle over the waves instead of punching through them, which would have doomed us almost immediately. South towards hudson area was a hellacious storm brewing, so that direction was out of the question. At the time everyone onboard thought it was 8-10 out there, but I didn't think it was much above 6'. The problem was the short wave interval with the white caps on top and that was brutal, especially on a boat with very little freeboard on the bow. Needless to say it was very dicey for the first couple hours while making very little headway. The hydraulic steering alarm went off a few times as we started in to keep it interesting too, Neptune has no sense of humor...

My buddy ended up getting a little sick after the first hour and had to sit back at the stern with the others while I took over the helm for the next couple hours. We were taking on water constantly and getting smashed in the face with spray every 30 seconds or so. I had my InReach armed and secured to my waist. For a while there I really thought we would end up needing to be rescued. It totally sucked but we made it....

The 105 mile tampa buoy stat's told the story perfectly

[kmoose]

The thing that got us was the 3 second interval. Lots of reports coming in on THT. A Glacier Bay cat got swamped on the grounds and rolled 20 nautical off Suwannee and a 30’ Donzi cracked its hull swamping the motors and was towed in as well.

[gofastsandman]

Originally Posted by kmoose

The thing that got us was the 3 second interval. Lots of reports coming in on THT. A Glacier Bay cat got swamped on the grounds and rolled 20 nautical off Suwannee and a 30’ Donzi cracked its hull swamping the motors and was towed in as well.

3 seconds? 30 Kts?

I have always hated tiny scuppers. Are shoppers afraid of large scuppers?

Capt. Bill Taylor of Black Dog fame asked me to compare magicseweed.com
to NOAA. I've been using MSW for years now and find them to be far more accurate.

Brian and Jesse wanted to fish the day the Tampa football players got in trouble.
I checked the forecasts. Magic seaweed was the only site that predicted the storm
coming through here around 10:30. I said we can go early and fish the reef if we stay
close to the inlet. We ended up not going and I learned a few things after the news.

I got a drift sock and PLB. I became a safer boater after that sad news.

The ocean is a harsh judge.

Cheers,
GFS

[Capt Chuck]

Hey Moose
Hope all is well. Didn't you stretch your hull a few feet?
I remember those west coast close chop head seas. No fun. You feel you'll never get there....
I bet you lit up a good Camacho triple when you hit land.

[kmoose]

Chuck, the plan was to stretch her 3-4 feet but it just didn't work out at the time. We did move the windshield header and dash back almost 2' which gave me more bow in front of the helm which has helped tremendously and made the cabin sleepable for two.

I had to wait until we finished the drag back to the house where a proper pitcher of strong Margaritas and a Oliva Anniversary Reserve Torpedo put me back in my happy place.

[strick]

Over here I'm lucky to have a Macanudo...glad you made it back safe...

strick