Whats the biggest seas you've been in?

[NOTHING ELSE MATTERS]

I've been in some 6-8 footers my self with boats from 25' to 35' up here in the NE with current against wind will make a big mess.But this is normal for up here.When i was a kid fishing out of a 4.25 meter wood boat it was the challenge.My father and i went out a lot of times on that little boat, with swells bigger than the boat standing up.Few times felt like i will never see the world again.
Like mega said,now i pick my days to go out, if i get cought in a storm or big seas i will manage it, but i'm not going out just looking for trouble.Oh,was about 7 years ago in adriatic sea(the channel between greece and italy) with my uncles sailboat(50 footer or so, he made the crossing from Florida to Greece)and going to italy, when we hit some big waves up to middle of the mast.Now that was fun.

 

[jimmy's marine service]

nasty !!!

a few years ago,before computers,and the bouy reports...i ran my old 31 bertram to the wilmington canyon,we headed out to the 500f line,there was a good bite going on in this area...pulled out a 1am,dead flat calm,ran 80+ miles,set up to troll,had a big eye,'round 200lbs almost imediatley...wind started to pick up as the sun came up,by noon it was an honest 30+kts,dead west,meaning it was a head sea all the way home...the weather forcast was "north west winds 5-10 and seas were forcast to be 2-4'...it was a honest 6-8' with the occasional 10' thrown in... that was in the deep...we ran for home,left the canyon around 1,when we crossed out of the 100 line,the seas were real close together-read that as stacked up and steep,it was solid 8'-10' with alot of bigger seas thrown in...we made the dock at 11pm that nite :shock: :shock:
the old bertram was a friggin' tank,if it was any wetter,you would need a snorkel 8) 8) but that boat was built real well...
when we were pulling out,we seen a few smaller rigs running in the same direction as us-these were walkarounds...
someone else mentioned this...quite a few people way over estimate the size of the seas they're in...you can tell by their claims..."it 6-8' and we were running 22kts in our 20' center console...." now,let's be serious,that will never happen...there's a huge difference in swells and wind driven chop....just about any boat can handle a long period swell,when there's a wind driven chop,it changes the wave period,when it's 3-5' with a 4 second period,you're gonna get your butt kicked...this is a reason there's different styles of boats,west coast and east coast...west coast has primarilary long period swells,the east coast has a different wave pattern...this is why the deep v hulls are real popular on the east coast,we run pretty far offshore,and there's usually a sea running...a modified v hull will beat your head in,when running in a big sea....

 

[ocnslr]

A good rule of thumb for your consideration:

Take the period of the waves in seconds, divide by the wave height in feet. If the quotient is two or more, then it will be manageable. Less than two and things are getting a bit too steep.

For example: 4-footers running 10 seconds apart = 2.5, and is much nicer than 2-footers that are 3 seconds apart (=1.5)....

Brian

 

[rcg270]

Last year while fluke fishing 80 miles out, east of the Tails from MORICHES Inlet, the 16 of us hit 40-50' seas. That was a light day, we only pulled in 150 keepers on my 2001 GW Voyager. Not a problem!!!

 

[NOTHING ELSE MATTERS]

40-50' seas in a voyager ? Wow !!!!!!!!! :shock:

 

[gwwannabe]

Enjoyed reading all these posts. Only have 3 experiences worth contributing. Somewhat impressive but not very scary. First one occurred aboard a troop ship carrying 5000 of us to Viet Nam. Night time - everyone in their berths. Huge waves from abeam rolling the ship severely. Had weapon slung to berth above me. Rolling severe enough to cause weapon to swing enough to put a knot on my head. Same cruise somewhere west of the international date line we had a day where huge rollers were overtaking the boat from directly astern. Top of the waves were just below the deck. Trough between waves brought the props completely out of the water. Still remember the whop whop whop as the blades reentered the water.

Fishing in the Gulf stream off Montauk in a 36' Trojan Flybridge cruiser. Beautiful Bermuda high day out there - flat as a pancake. By early afternoon, surface became choppy. As the afternoon wore on, the chop became bigger. By 4 PM we were on our way in and by now, the chop was huge. I was on the flying bridge piloting. I still remember being in awe at having to look way up to the top of the water when we were in a trough. Several seconds later, we're way up in the air looking down into those troughs. Strangest ride I've ever had. It was like being on an elevator going up and down. No pounding, no breakers, no wind. No one in the salon spilled any of their beverages.

Gary 89 Overnighter

 

[grady23]

I did 5-6' in 35knt winds on the Chesapeake a couple of years ago in my 23 Grady. Back in the mid 70's, I went out on a mid-November day with a friend. We were in his 13' Whaler w/ a 40 Johnson. No radio, No flares, and just after we set lines out on the east side of the channel, the wind kicked up to about 25 from the NE. We had started out from Breezy Point and now how to cross 5 miles of 5-6' waves in a boat with no more then 9 inches of free-board. We ended up "surfing" the face of the waves only being able to turn very slightly toward the western shore and any time. The wind/wave action blew us all the way down to Parkers Creek, 7 miles South of where we needed to be, before we were able to turn and run heads up with the stuff. Even then the only way we could do so was for me to hold the bow line while standing just in front of the middle seat. We tried with both of us in the stern, but the wind got under the bow and almost flipped us 3x.
The only other time was 11-12' seas, as measuered by the CG, while fishing Lump Bottom 2 years ago. 25-30 knots, 12' waves 600 feet of anchor line - 60-70 Yellow fin as fast as you could catch them -PRICELESS