Please Brag 'bout your SC!

[Hooper]

Guys-

My wife and I had a really "nasty" ride home from Nantucket the other day. Nasty according to her! I thought "I am glad to be in a SeaCraft!" But she is now ready for a larger boat, like the downeaster that I have always wanted.

Would you mind posting you stories of your rough rides and how your SC came through it? Were you pleased and what was it like? Are you glad that your were in a SC???? I had absolutely no worries about our situation and actually had some laughs at her expense (yes!) but I would be interested in your experiences in rough weather SC boating!

As Always, Hooper [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

~ www.stripersandblues.com

[JohnB]

The 3rd time I had my boat out, a November wind/waves/front came thru earlier than predicted. South winds 15-20 with gust to 25 knots, seas 4-6 on a 6 second period, and I had to go into Sebastian Inlet, FL with a full bore outgoing tide. If anyone is familiar with that inlet, you know what I am talking about. Standing trenches washing from side to side 6 - 10' high. I had the isenglass up, full enclosure, and took 4 waves (I counted them), over the bow up the windshield, and onto the enclosure. Once we got inside the inlet, I looked behind me, and there was a 27 foot Contender CC, with 4 of the scaredest, wettest, fisherman you could ever see. They pulled up along side of me, and asked what kind of 23' boat I was in because he had followed be in, and thought I was a much larger boat. They couldn't believe that we were all dry. They had taken a couple of waves right thru the boat, and were still draining. He said one of the waves capped spray right over my top (we weren't looking backward at the time), and said it looked like we tunneled right thru it. That pretty much put me in the SeaCraft for life club. We got back to the dock, and nothing was broken, although a little water had made it thru the forward cabin hatch (Thanks tracker for a junk hatch). That has been replaced.

[Steve C.]

Hooper that wasn't Sunday you came back was it?

[esoxesox]

What you really want is for someone to say that you need that downeaster for those really rough days and the SC for the not so rough days...onward towards the 4 boat theory!!!

But, to your request, we have had a few unpleasant runs up here on Lake Superior. Not sure if any of you have spent any time on Lake Superior and I haven't spent too much time on the ocean so I don't have first hand experience on the variation of wave characteristics. I do know that Lake Superior, despite having a considerable fetch, produces waves that are under-developed which means they tend to be steeper than traditional ocean waves and they move more quickly than fully developed waves of the same length. Most operators, even the guys running ~40 foot sportfishers, would pass on a run if the lake were running 10 foot seas. Anyway, the first year we had the boat we took a trip to Isle Royale, an island 20 miles off the MN-Canadian border. We run from the northern tip of the island to the MN side, about 60 miles across open water. When we left it was sunny and the deck was like glass. About 15 miles into the run, pea soup fog rolled in and the 40 mph wind kicked up 6-8's. I don't know what their spacing was but we were running 26 mph into them and they kept appearing out of the fog. We ran 45 miles in those waves and I never once thought about our safety, except for the possibility of other boats in the area. Several bigger boats, 25' to 35', left ahead us and in the fog they were invisible to me. Ends up they turned south and headed back to the island. When we docked at the marina we got the same response we get frequently in this boat. People were amazed that we'd venture out in foul weather in such a ?little? boat. I'd still put my 20' rig up against many of the bigger boats running on Superior. She's agile in skinny water and able on the Big Water.

Scot

One other thing, there is a charter business up here that has quite a few sailboats on the water. He can't decide when to go out and when to stay in. When a distress call comes in on one of these boats he goes to get them no matter the weather. The owner has enough $$$ to get any rig he wants as a chase boat. He has a 23' CC. I think that is a pretty good endorsement.

[Hooper]

Steve-

No, it wasn't Sunday, man, that was a lot of wind wasn't it?! We went to Sankaty on Saturday fishing in a bass tournament and it blew up 15-20 southwest, making for a bumpy ride coming across to Bass River.

-Hoop

[Jon G]

I'm glad I'm in a SeaCraft every time I go out Chatham inlet [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] , earlier this year I went fishing in Cape Cod bay on a day that was windy and got worse while fishing. We got plenty of looks as we were the only 20' boat out there in a crowd of 30+ footers. The boat brags for itself I can't get through a day with out some one either at the gas station or boat ramp asking or making a comment about it I even had a soccer mom pumping gas in the mini van say "thats a good looking boat who makes it?" Even my registration numbers show my SeaCraft pride " MS 1974 SF ". [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]