cracked_ribs
Well-Known Member
Talking the other day with a good friend who's been selling boats since Olympic boat Centre was the big thing...
He actually has a set rule on Sand Heads crossings: 15 knots and below is a go, 16 is lumpy, 17 jumpy, 18 ugly and 19 fugly; 20 or more and he's staying on shore.
As a guy with at least a dozen 25-30 knot crossings in a twenty footer under his belt...his rule makes sense.
I'll do 20s every time but it's slow. I'm also immune to seasickness; my wife is not and while she's always game to go I end up needing to think of reasons for her to look at the horizon. Which is hard because she probably needs glasses and I can read books from across the street. But still, it's always "I need to focus on these waves - can you try to see if that barge up ahead is moving?" Or "I can't take my eyes off the sea; can you look back and get a good sense of which mountains are where? I want to use them for navigation so I need a really accurate heading. Try to take a gun sight between one forward and one back, then do another set do we can use it if the compass breaks."
So, anyway, it's work when the seas are rough, one way or another.
He actually has a set rule on Sand Heads crossings: 15 knots and below is a go, 16 is lumpy, 17 jumpy, 18 ugly and 19 fugly; 20 or more and he's staying on shore.
As a guy with at least a dozen 25-30 knot crossings in a twenty footer under his belt...his rule makes sense.
I'll do 20s every time but it's slow. I'm also immune to seasickness; my wife is not and while she's always game to go I end up needing to think of reasons for her to look at the horizon. Which is hard because she probably needs glasses and I can read books from across the street. But still, it's always "I need to focus on these waves - can you try to see if that barge up ahead is moving?" Or "I can't take my eyes off the sea; can you look back and get a good sense of which mountains are where? I want to use them for navigation so I need a really accurate heading. Try to take a gun sight between one forward and one back, then do another set do we can use it if the compass breaks."
So, anyway, it's work when the seas are rough, one way or another.