Another tough entrance

[EarleyBird]

Here’s one for you fellas. Hard outgoing tide, blowing 25+ from the Southeast. Last October 18, I was 20 minutes ahead of a good friend with his 31. Called him and said hug the north jetty. Didn’t know at the time another buddy videoed his entrance. Wasn’t fun when I came in Ahead of him either, little pucker factor. Called another CC that was making his approach from a more southerly course when I was safe, he turned around and hugged the north side. Manasquan Inlet can get nasty. Earleybird

https://youtu.be/krLsOLbE13M

[neil]

To quote the early bird it’s like water off of a ducks back :

[Carl]

That does not look like fun...

Thanks for sharing.

[bob lico]

i have been in that situation so many times i have no thoughts about it you just keep your wits and go with your experience.

[Ironworker]

Me too Bob but the older (perhaps more experienced) I get the more I try to avoid bad weather. Heck maybe my back is smarter than my brain. The back always gets the last vote on whether to go fishing these days.

[bob lico]

ironworker i agree 1000% with your logic. i have permanent lower back problems from " free spirt driving in the ocean". unfortunately you cannot teach these young boaters these days they have to "touch the stove and get burned" rather than listen to one whom have been burned multiple times. i am referring to the 31 Bertram outboard enthusiast." man i do 50mph in four foot waves" what part do they not understand about a boat" sailing?"????? when it comes down they will get hurt i am positive.

[Carl]

Keeping your wits is a huge factor...

Relying on your experience is a tough nut.

It would be great if life was like a video game...each level a step harder and faster than the last, were you get to tuck what was learned under your belt and progress to the next level. Make a wrong move, no problem you have three lives, gather your thoughts, assess the situation, press the reset button to continue where you left off.

Unfortunately it's not like that, we get tossed into the deep end of the pool becoming sink or swim with no extra lives, no reset button to start over.



One thing I have learned from experience is weather forecasting can be right and often wrong.



The other is I don't get to run inlets often enough to gather enough experience to be comfortable with them.

[Rawleigh]

That is when having enough torque, HP and prop to stay on the backside of that wave is important. It is a bad feeling when that wave rolls out from under you and you feel like you are standing still with a comber coming in behind you!!!

[bob lico]

exactly Rawleigh you need massive low end torque to instantly get right behind the crest But know when to back off and stay behind and a hell of a lot easier with single lever controls with your eyes on the water and your hands on the single levers controls with big rudders you can make her do just about anything however if you exceed 12' your life may depend on staying behind that crest. just stay cool and ride it in.notice how he "SQUIRREL" the boat from right to left to stay behind the wave. that's a professional driver.

[neil]

Bob that guy driving that boat is a dear freind of our and it is not his first rodeo,he rebuilt that boat from the ground up

[Rawleigh]

One thing I will have to disagree with you on is the controls. I like having both throttles in one hand with the other hand on the helm. It is just what I grew up with.

[Carl]

Single lever single purpose does the same thing Rawleigh (both throttles in one hand)...provided it is setup as a single control box.

Maneuvering with dual purpose levers makes it so much nicer...forward reverse, need to goose it some just move handle further, hands never need to leave the controls, no chance of grabbing the wrong lever.


I'm not sure how the setup works with the helm pod and controls on the sides. Unless synced it looks cumbersome to throttle up or down while turning the wheel when running. Docking and such the wheels dead anyway.

[PeterPalmieri]

I don’t have the experience that most here do but when I was 25 I bought a brand new 22’ Robalo. We ran it hard 30 miles offshore shark fishing. 4 hour rides back getting beat to hell, the entire top side of the boat was spider cracked and one of the TTOP legs broke and took the console with it. I had many times I was standing ankle deep in water after taking a wave over the bow. My buddy had a 23 regulator his boat held up much better and ran better but it wasn’t anymore fun getting beat to hell.

With the Bert I pick my days and I’m confident I can run my inlet which is south facing with a prevailing south wind in the summer, she handles the following sea like a champ. But my days of pushing the limits has long passed.

Planing off at 13.5kts i believe is the boats biggest attribute. When you get stuck in that 5-6 confused sea slow and steady wins the race.

[neil]

Rawleigh im with you on the controls

[bob lico]

neil actually it is exactly opposite you don't want both throttles in one hand ! the wave is moving 45 degrees to the bow so you want to "slide" the boat sideward by in this case back off port throttle and increase the starboard throttle . if i have conventional dual throttles then would make the boat climb the wave exactly what i don't want.you have perfectly synchronize single lever that increase the rpm as it goes forward ,the key here is you must have the big rudders and the boat can be tested by in calm water by putting one lever in forward and one in reverse and boat does 360 degree in place without moving a foot forward or reverse. then you do the exact opposite and move 360 degrees the opposite way.after you past this test the boat is ready to go thru a inlet far worse than this posted.rule number one don't touch the wheel check your rudder indicator and keep those rudders dead straight maneuver with throttles.

[Carl]

So I guess I've been doing it right by sitting on the back of the waves going in. The squirreling you refer to Bob...is that to keep moving, keep control, get where the waves are not breaking, make headway.

Luckily the worst I've had going into an inlet was a heavy ocean swell on a slack tide and slight breeze. Adjusted my speed to stay on the lower portion of the back and rode in...very uneventful, just the way I like it. That was going into Fire Island Inlet. I dread making the run there and seeing tight breakers.


So is there a trick for going over tight standing waves...ones you can't follow in or out and steep as hell. Those we get at Rockaway with wind against tide...add a nice swell and its fun times.

[ktm_2000]

to follow on Car's question what is the best way to deal with tight stacked 6'+ waves? I do a lot of boating near the west end of the cape cod canal. Beyond the canal proper there is a @1 mile long stony dike which then opens up to buzzards bay. Most afternoons the wind picks up to the mid 20s because buzzards bay is a big wind funnel and if the canal is running west you can find large waves the last 1/4 mile from the end of the dike and 200yds past it. The canal current is normally @5kts and the channel is @50' deep, the center of the channel can get downright ugly but for the most part you can go along the outside of the channel and still be in 10' of water to avoid most of the waves. Unfortunately you cant avoid the waves at the very end and have to slog through it for @200 yds.

Coming in with the waves I've done fairly working the throttles to stay on the backside of the waves, but going out is another story. I've had some nasty times in that area where in my lobster boat I've tried going slow and timing the waves only to pierce a wave and stuff the bow resulting in green water over the top of the hard top filling the cockpit, I've done the similar in my Bertram but the flair and buoyancy in the bow lifts the boat more and you end up rising up further and then crashing down in the trough only to get green water from the next wave. A lot of the times I will hug one side and take 1-2 waves on the nose until I am out past the dike and then turn hard to one side and ride it in a beam sea setup until I am out of the current then turn back to get on course.

project wise I am a glutton for punishment but am more cautious of putting family and friends in those scenarios and will normally avoid it if I can and by turning around and waiting a bit for the tide to change a bit as it is usually only real bad for a short amount of time but sometimes you've got to go through it.

what's the best method?

[1962 31]

i have the same video from the south jetty ill try and post up
looks way worse

[EarleyBird]

Your correct, south side shows it better. Like I said earlier, I was ahead of him. That is way I called. Was not fun and I’ve been running that Inlet on my own boats since 1978. That was one of the top three. Worst one was when I stuffed the bow and the other broke over the transom. Thank goodness it’s a Cummins powered Bertram. Don’t believe the gasser would of gotten me going. EarleyBird

[Tony Meola]

Unfortunately for most of us, running an inlet gets hairy from time to time. I find having all the controls in one set, makes it easier for me to respond quickly to the situation.

Before we repowered and put on the bigger rudders, I got caught coming into Barnegat with a fast outgoing tide. I was sneaking around the North Jetty coming in, and when I turned the wheel to come around the jetty the current kept the boat from turning. Had to pull the starboard engine back and quickly and push up the port engine to make the boat turn. Was able to do that all with one hand with the other on the wheel. If I needed to drop the one engine in reverse to help it a little I would have been able to do it in one motion without having to reach for the clutch with the other hand.

At some point everyone faces a tough inlet no matter where you boat.

That is a great shot of Manasquan on a bad day. Some big swells develop in Manasquan.

[Rawleigh]

I am just glad I don't have to run inlets like that! I will just watch the videos!

[bob lico]

lets remind ourselves you people live in "smarter states than NY" because the tree huggers took over we don't have rocks on both sides like you do so the Atlantic ocean comes roaring in with nothing to stop it.scary is the fact that there're 10 two 12" waves in the inlet and the dept goes from 12" deep to 3" deep in 20" so hugging one side could put you aground in the Fire Island Inlet with 12' waves bearing down on you. boat will self destruct in 10 minutes and a hell of a place to throw a life raft out. the waves push the sand along long island from east to west and pile up in fire island inlet with huge sand bar to the west completely open to mother nature.getting back to navigating a terrible inlet like fire island if you get in that situation with 5 footers close together ( very, very rare to have 10 to 12' close together ) so five footer that are close you have to have the last 6' of the 31 PLANTED with chines completely under water and big rudders than you can go over the crest at 45 degrees let the boat slide than on next wave go opposite direction at 45 degrees. gentlemen i have no idea how to do this with 4 cylinder diesels and chines out of the water. you may have big balls but you will stuff it so be prepared.BTW when your on the bridge and the crest of the next wave is over the top of your bridge your in a heap of trouble and you wish you had a pair of 4126 caterpillars in those engine boxes believe white knuckles no fun and with triple engine center console you would be better off putting a f-cking gun to your head. DANGEROUS outboard boat will go sidewards because the waves will push the bow around like a cork. been there seen that!!!!

[DanielM]

The inlets you guys in the NE have to run are intense. I forget how spoiled I am. I went to Google earth and measured my local jetties and they stick out past the beach 2/3 a mile and are a little over 1100 ft between the jetties. And they spill out into the GOM. The benefit of working in a large industrial area I guess. They can get sporty, but nothing like what you guys have to deal with.

I got to run one of your inlets with Ed Curry back in 2010 when I came up with Cranston for the Greenport Rendezvous. I don’t remember which inlet that was, and it was sporty, but not like the video.

I laughed out loud at the commentary on the video at 0:24. “Woo he’s f’en nuts.”

Y’all be safe up there.