Just when you think you got control of the situation

[bondobill]

Took off Friday to spend a couple nights out in the Islands.
 Had 6 boats going with 18 guys
Left the dock about 11 am Friday not in exactly ideal conditions...winds out of the SE 25 gusting to 34.
Trip over was a lot better then I thought it would be, averaged around 20 mph nothing too exciting
Coming home on Sunday was a different story. Wind had switched to the NW 25 gusting to 33.
We have about 6 miles of open water crossing the straight to get back to the marina...straight angles from the N.W. to the SE,
We ran as far North in the protection of the islands before entering the straight...... hoping for a better angle with the following seas.
First couple miles it was ok...until we hit what we call the Bermuda Triangle, A area known for strong rip tides. Waves where building to 6 to 8 ft with about every 3rd or 4th wave cresting.
We where running about 20 to 22 mph to stay ahead of them. Could  only tilt motor up about a little better than a 1/3 on the trim gauge , waves where so steep on the down hill side that with engine tilted further prop would come out of the water when going over the top. Also had trim tabs up.
Boy chit can happen in a heart beat   ..we crawled up the top of one particular wave, it looked a wee bit bigger than the rest, either I had a bad angle coming over top,maybe the wave was at a little different angle then the rest...but we no sooner broke over the top of it and the damn thing crested... boat rolled over hard to the starboard side...no chit guys I thought we where going over. Probably the whole thing didn't last for more than a second.
Mother nature can sneak up on ya in a hurry.

Bill

[RickK]

That'll get your blood pumpin  

[pete]

Glad all is well,like it says in the brochure...a story in every ride,

[seabob4]

Damn Bill!  Glad you all made it safely, and I bet the 1 second or so will stay with you for eternity...

[flounderpounder225]

Wow bill!  That's some spooky chit... Sneaking up on ya.. Yeah, your right, in those times when things get nasty, that's when you have to be on top of your game 110%. Glad you all made it back in safe and sound, I remember some Rogue waves one time that made the stbd outrigger go half under, when I was out in my Chris craft WA, just about the time your butt puckers thinking the worst is about to happen, it's over... Somebody looking down just giving you a wake up call

[gran398]

Glad you're okay....whew!

I've been broached in an inlet before...scared the chit outta me.

[bondobill]

Thanks guys  :)
Didn't have time today to finish the story earlier.
Just before we got into the Straight we noticed 2 tug boats....and these are big SOBs.... ducking in on the lee side of the last Island on the West side of the Straight.
Normally they anchor about a 1/2 mile off of where we launch on the East side......we have 2 refinery's located about a mile from where we launch...... that was when I figured out we be in for a rough ride.
All the way across I was worrying about how we are going to make the turn into the inlet of the marina.
I'll try to explain it the best I can
The straight we are crossing runs NW to SE, we are heading E to SE, we got a following sea, with winds out of the NW.
The shore line we are heading for runs N to S.
The inlet to the marina has a rock jetty that runs parallel to beach with about a 50ft opening, and shallow, you have to make a 90 degree turn to starboard about 35ft off the beach to get in, with the big ebb tide we had I am guessing we had about 4 to ft of water at the entrance.
We ended up riding the uphill side of a wave up within maybe 25 ft from the beach.....out the windshield all you could see was blue sky....all I could do was look out the side glass to see where the jetty was then back of the throttle to drop of the wave, make a 90 degree turn to starboard and put the peddle to the metal, and shoot through the entrance.    
While needless to say my crew was pretty happy about  shooting the gap and surviving  

All I could say was...I need 3 things...... a beer.......a smoke....... and a clean pair of shorts.  

Bill