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Subject: TWL: RE: In Shallow Water Over One's Head
From: David (david@XXX.XXX)
Date: Sun Apr 01 2001 - 09:20:16 EDT
snip> the lesson is, don't get into water less than 60' feet with any
swell over ten feet in height <snip
When I was younger my dad and I took his 35 foot Chris Craft out fishing. We
had a great forecast but there was a big storm far offshore sending huge
swells at the east coast. We left Cape May in the early morning and had no
trouble with the inlet, it was calm. We were out about 20 miles to a reef
with about 35 feet of water. I did notice the ocean had a funny look to it,
but I could not place it. We fished for almost an hour on the reef riding
up and down the large swells, with a few comments of "some of these are
pretty big".
Then I looked up and saw a wall of water cresting in front of us. There was
no time to run even with a fast boat. We had a few seconds to point the boat
at the wave and give it a little power so as not to get pushed back and
rolled. Instead we got to it just as it was breaking. The boat cut thru the
crest and free fell to the trough. It fell a long way. Dad hurt his back on
impact so I had to take the wheel where I gunned it and took off as the next
wave built on the edge of the reef. I got off the reef in time before the
next breaker.
The boat made out fine, but all the windows popped out. We popped them back
in. My dad's back healed. I guess the boat dropped 20 feet easily. We still
rib dad about his flying boat instead of fishing it.
Now I know why the ocean looked the way it did. Breakers had made the ocean
look more like it does near the beach near the surf, sort of oily with a
little foam scattered around. I should have recognized it, believe me I will
next time.
David Stahl
Hatteras 42 LRC - Skooch
St Croix USVI
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