I'm calling BS on this entire thread.

As Ron White would say

" all the way to the scene of the crash "


MO

Cracks me up! new guy starts posting for ADVICE, decides he doesn't like the advice,
does what he wants anyway. I say go for it. you'll for sure get your 15 min's of fame.
I was trying to be nice before, 11 gallons of gas in that
35 yr old boat is just enough to get it burning good. make the insurance claim & get a real fishing boat.
"BOBBER" fishing at a rig?
You seem to be a pretty good TROLL, so you should clean up out there.
take pics & post up!!
good luck!

One more thing, I only paid $800 for that boat so if the tow guys get to pricey they can just keep it and I'll just swim to shore... :-)

LOL Marx88 ,,,
Now I'm pulling for you to make it...

... be careful what you wish for. you might find yourself pulling his boat back to shore with yours

Depending on sea conditions the Coasties may or may not send a boat out to get you. If they send the helicopter then say goodbye to the boat. If you lose power and have a radio to reach people they may or may not tow you in. In really rough seas I would give you and passengers a ride in. No gear and no tow. Fishing out of Oregon for tuna we left port with a big weather window on great seas, 4' at 15. Around noon things got rough and we started for port. The closer we got to port the worse things got. A two hour ride in turned into 6. We raised the CG at 4 miles out for a bar report. There were 20'+ breakers between the jaws and the CG had the bar closed but had the 47 on the outside to assist us if needed. Turns out there were 8 boats in a holding pattern 2 miles off shore. A strong out going tide in a narrow jetty combined with a big west swell and crazy east wind makes for a bad combination. We had to wait out the tide exchange and by then it was dark. No moon or stars dark. After the exchange the guys with the lowest gas were allowed to cross first. The CG popped flares and we took one scary crazy ride one boat at a time being shadowed by the helicopter. I don't know how bad the gulf can get but I know that the lack of experience combined with the lack of preparedness can kill you in the salt.

Joe

This is my first saltwater post, and this has scared the [censored] out of me...

I worked on a offshore rig out of Grand Isle, 60 miles out, we took an 80 foot crew boat to and from. There were more than a few times it wasn't big enough...

What amazes me isn't that a doofus even thinks about doing it, we all know stupidity knows no limits, but the fact more of them don't die every year than do. You have no idea what a current is until you see it moving out at open sea, we had a hand fall off the rig, and was swept out of sight in about three minutes. Gone....

Hey Pat ,
How you are man ? Long time no hear .
I too worked there off shore . Can't remember the rig #
but the out fit was Parker Drilling , ever hear them ?

Yeah, heard of them, I worked on a Diamond M rig.

i've taken a party charter out of Port A. a storm hit right as we were going out through the jetties. lightning hitting the water around us and rain pounding. only about 4-6 footers, but i thought i was gonna shart myself. took some dramamine before we went out too. and this was on a 30ft+ boat.

if i was in a 20ft boat in those waves, that boat would sink.

haha, yeah i don't wish Marx any harm. i kind of want to see how it pans out. but he really needs to understand the risks involved. those waves and the current are no joke.

In my boat you could not be in 3 or 4 foot waves.

the bottom line is: I wont be able to drive this boat in waters above 4 foot waves.

marx, my boat is is a bit smaller than yours and I can manage about 30 miles on a calm, FLAT day. If the waves are 2'ish, then about 12 miles is it.

HOOKUP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

***UPDATE*** WOW I can just imagine what it would be like to find a boat out in the gulf with nobody in it, that is terrible.

Now that I know that I will be screwing around trying to turn into the waves if a bigger boats wake trys to come in the back of my boat.

Does anybody remember that guy on 2coolfishing a few years ago? He was bragging about going in any conditions in his 80ft steel hull sportfisher.

here's a story from this weekend. ( Ironically, from Grand Isle.)
these are seriously experienced captains in a 31' Cape Horn.

the relevance of this story to the mindset of the OP, is uncanny...........
________________________________________________________________

I really dont want to type this, b/c frankly, I'd rather not think about it, but my experience and recommendations may save one of your lives someday. So here goes.

Artie(Rudeattitude) and I left Grand Isle,LA Friday morning for an easy day trolling for wahoo approx 50 miles offshore. Forecasts were reasonably good-10 knt winds with 50% chance of light rain, then a cold front moving through Friday night--not to worry though, we'd be back 6-8 hours before the front was forecast to come through.

The day was uneventful with just a few Amberjack to show for our efforts we turned north about 2:30 to run home. It was raining lightly, and had been for a few hours. Seas were light (1-3). Roughly 1/2 way home the rain got heavier and heavier, but oddly enough the winds were getting calmer and the seas were slick. As the rain continued to get heavier, with visibility down to less than 1/4 mile, and the radar totally whited out with rain we came across an oil rig to take cover behind and ride out the rain.

As we're idling on the lee side of the rig the winds suddenly increase to 15, then 25, the 35, and within 3 or 4 minutes we're being hammered by winds in excess of 60mph steady, with gusts that were deafening. I'm doing my best to keep the boat behind the rig, as it knocks the wave height almost in half. No more than 5 minutes later, the seas have built to an extremely angry 6-8' BEHIND the rig and I'm really struggling to keep the C Monster tucked in.

In literally the blink of an eye, a huge gust(maybe 70+) picks up the bow of the boat and throws me from behind the rig out into open water----broadside! Before I can move we are crushed with a 10' wall of breaking water on the starboard side rolling the boat virtually 90 degrees. I can see nothing...

At this point, I'm commited to the fact that the boat is rolling over and my only thought are to grab the ditch bag and decide which side of the boat I heading out of. Miraculously, the boat rights itself, and I pull myself and Artie off the floor in time for the next wave---again right over the starboard side. This one didn't roll us, but broke into the boat, which is now calf deep in water, broadside to yet another 10' beaking wave.

I gather my wits, give a huge WTF to Artie and hit the throttles. Somehow, both engines sprung to life and popped us on plan instantly, shedding the majority of the water. For this 30 seconds or so I'm running beam seas in 8-10s with the wind continuing to build, we're in full panick mode. There's another rig(a really big rig) 1/4 mile away in the direction we're turned, but I know I can't sustain 1/4 mile in that beam sea, so I point the bow into the wind and spear the very first wave---again we're calf deep in water. Throttle up and brace myself for the next one, they're coming every few seconds.

I'm yelling at Artie to call the CG with our position, and let them know we are in dire straights. 3, 4 , 5 calls go unanswered. Then we try a radio check---no answer. We fight 60mph winds head on, taking every third wave over the bow. the winds would blow us nearly vertical off the top of each wave, I just know the right wave and wind gust is coming and we're going over.

As a last resort, Artie digs out the hand held VHF in the ditchbag and hails the coast gaurd. After 4 or five tries I hear the best thing I think I've ever heard--CG New Orleans. We relay our position and the nature of our situation, let them know that we are currently making 10 mph, but didn't think we could sustain any increase in the conditions, which for the last 15 minutes have only gotten worse. At no point in this ordeal could I see more than 100' in front of me---total white out. CG says to maintain radio contact, which we were able to do for approx 2 min. then we lost them.

5-10 minutes later, we hear them hailing us on the handheld and again realy our position. They monitor us every 3-4 minutes for the next 1/2 hour---conditions still the same. An all out battle to keep the boat going into the waves, slamming down the backs of 12 footers only to have the next one break over the bow, bilge pumps working overtime. Every wave I'd throttle up and by some miracle the engines were there every time. After a while, with no improvement in our situation, the CG asks if they can realease us as safe, b/c there is a capsized vessel in our area with men in the water. I surely didn't feel safe, but I wasn't in the water and realized they needed the radio channel for the rescue operation. After over an hour, the rain stopped and the winds "died" to a mere 30-35knts and left us with a seemingly more managable 6-8' sea state. At this point we tuck tail, and beat our way back at 15-20 mph for the remaining 15 miles.

We hit the pass--call the CG as they instructed to let them know we made it in. My wife and kids were standing at the dock waiting on us, knowing we came through a terrible storm, but the don't know and will never know how close we were to not returning. We were inches from rolling the boat into 55 degree water and 50 degree air temps. I've never been so tired in my life.

I'm not telling this story for sympathy or being dramatic, but to tell you what we did right and what we did wrong...

Lesson 1. there's no way to prepare for the speed in which bad stuff happens. Despite the fact that the ditch bag and liferaft was on the leaning post, I could not have grabbed it when we rolling. There's no way.

Lesson 2. never go with out an epirb---I mailed mine out last week to get the battery replaced(it expires this month) and haven't received it back yet. I was dead without it. The only time I've left the dock without it in the last 8 years--think about that for a second!

Lesson 3. MUTIPLE VHFs!!

Lesson 4. Boats can't be too big

I'd like to say we should have called the CG earlier, but it literally went from dead calm to nearly upside down in 5 minutes or less.

I should've had my kill switch on--I never leave it off, but for whatever reason I didn't put it on this time.

respect the weather--this was the most innocent looking storm I've come across.

Know that you can't survive if you're in the water in the winter--plan accordingly.
___________________________________________________________________________________

Again, not me. My 22' Hydra-Sports in the pic, although perfectly suited, outfitted & ready for big water, will NEVER be outside 35 miles off.

Hell, I may never go in the ocean again in my boat after reading that....

X2... I don't even want to open this section of the board up!

You know I'd rather try to take my 15' scooter out past the jetties than that tub. I know mine can't sink, it can't swamp *no sides to hold water* and I trust my motor. Even then, in't no way...

'Wont go shallower than a Louisiana Pirogue !
( we pick them up and carry them if we have to)

It was built by a friend of mine, by a welder in San Marcos, I got it from him when he made the mistake of saying he wasn't using it much anymore.

'Wont go shallower than a Louisiana Pirogue !
( we pick them up and carry them if we have to)

Re-think your wave tolerance. Remember when they say "3 foot" wave, that's water level to crest, NOT trough to crest, which would make it 6' high in most peoples minds.

Which will beat your liver loose in a small craft.

Re-think your wave tolerance. Remember when they say "3 foot" wave, that's water level to crest, NOT trough to crest, which would make it 6' high in most peoples minds.

Which will beat your liver loose in a small craft.

Wave height and period usually are pretty good determining factors for wave steepness.

Steep, short period waves are dangerous. You top one and spear the next, then the next, then the next and then you sink.

Also, keep in mind that wave forecasts and reports are only measuring an average of the top 1/3 of the tallest waves.

So if you have a report of 4 footers understand that some will be taller and some shorter. It's not out of the norm for there to be some 6 footers mixed in.

mutter, mumble ... good lord, is this thread STILL going?


When all else fails, remember those magic words: "row, row, row your boat ..."

gently down down the stream..