bertram31.com

Story of a local boat in Port Aransas Glad everyone is safe.
It wasn't us just a great story.
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Our boat was the one that made the Corpus TV news. Here's our story.

We fish on a 33foot Bertram out of PortA a couple of times a week weather permitting . . . . a few posters have started threads below about what happened on Tuesday offshore and all I can add is that no matter what anyone tells you, it was probably worse that you'll ever believe.

We left the dock at 6:30 heading for Southern as we'd had a hot school-size wahoo bite for the last week hitting weed lines 30-45 miles out. Once we got to the buoy we found a 24ish center console tied up to the buoy and after a few trolls around without landing anything other than small bonita, we picked up and headed further offshore. 5 miles or so past Southern we found a decent rip and dropped back some big trolling baits as we continued out offshore . . . a few minutes later we picked up the storm heading our way.

My first thought was I hope the center console punched thru the squall line ok, and that was about all I had time to think as the damned thing was moving so fast it go on top of us 15 minutes later.

2 foot seas changed to 6 foot in minutes and we had water spouts ahead and to both sides. On board we had two licensed 6pack captains and myself - combined we've seen a lot of storms in the gulf and were't expecting anything different. We were wrong.

A few minutes in and seas were up to about 10 foot with 70+ mph winds. We put both captains on the bridge while I stayed on deck to watch things below. After about 20 minutes of pounding into the storm it lightened up briefly, but then it got worse and we were taking waves up over the bridge and I had to duck down below the overhang so as not to get washed overboard. We had water all over the deck but it seemed to be pumping out fine until I realized the water was actually not coming over the bow but thru the cabin. Not good.

I turned around and basically saw something that looked like someone had stuck 2 fire hoses into our v-berth and turned them onto full spray. I yelled at our second captain to come down and ended up having to grab his leg as of course he couldn't hear a freaking thing I was saying. Once he got down we both went up to see why we were taking on so much water and saw that there were docking lights installed in the bow of our hull . . . they had been punched out by the waves and we were basically going to go down bow first. We both grabbed pillows and life jackets to stuff into the holes but we were pounding so hard that we'd get knnocked off, take a face full of water, and then have to crawl back up to the holes. Since we really weren't able to help things I went thru the cabin and back up to the bridge to let the captain know we needed to call in a mayday to the coast guard. The work boat Southern Dancer picked us up and relayed our distress call to the CG and then immediately headed our way. They were an hour out and the CG chopper was flying a search and rescue pattern from a reported flare not too far from us so we informed them of our situation, gave our position and tried to save the boat. Meanwhile, the CG jet Falcon flew to us and circled to keep an eye on us.

We had one guy up in the berth doing his best to keep whatever pressure he could using pillows and such in the holes but it was just too rough to keep from being knocked away. The bilge pumps couldn't keep up with that much water so we started porpoising into the waves. I grabbed all of our EPIRB/rescue/flotation devices and headed on deck one more time. At this point I"d guess we were in 80mph straight line winds with water spouts everywhere and 12-16 foot seas. And oh yeah to top it off we were getting electric shocked by the water because we couldn't get to the switch box to turn off the electronics/lights/generator because the water was moving so fast thru the cabin.

Then it let up. Some. We were able to make a 180 and start to back into the storm and that's what saved everything. We pulled an intake hose off and stuck it into the engine compartment to suck that water out. THe seas kept coming down and we were able to keep backing in a circle until the CG helo got to us. They dropped a swimmer to us, dropped a pump, and stayed with us until we got the bow out of the water. About that point the Southern Dancer boat that relayed our initial call got there so the CG helo pulled off of us and went back for refueling. Awhile later we got both engines fired so we were able to run nose high at @ 13 knots in to PortA accompanied by Southern Dancer for the first 10 miles, and then the CG cutter Amberjack followed us all the way in to home.

Once home we went thru the standard boarding and one of the CG guys mentioned that we might have tried throwing one of our tarps over the bow and let the wave pressure fix it to see if that would have plugged the two holes. In another situation that might have worked, but in those seas any of us that even tried to walk out onto the bow would have been thrown overboard instantly. By the time it calmed enough to even attempt such a thought, we were already backing down.

Anyway, MANY, MANY thanks to our awesome coast guard and the Southern Dancer.

Whew, glad ya'll made it. I also have the Morse docking lights in the bows of AJ and the originals had crumbled due to di-electric corrosion between the aluminum frames and stainless fasteners. I thought about just removing them and glassing over the holes, but I run the lower Mississippi River and the lights are near essential for seeing logs at night.

I found a used pair (they don't make them in metal anymore) from a freshwater boat on the Great Lakes in almost new conditon, cleaned them up good, and installed them using a lot of Tef-Gel and new, oversized o-rings in the eyeballs. Bedded them with 4200. The Tef-Gel between the stainless fasteners and the aluminum is essential. Otherwise the aluminum housing will crumble to dust and a good wave will bust them in. I was shocked when I took my old ones out, they literally fell apart....and its a hole in the hull.

This incident teaches all of us to go check our docking lights from the inside of the rope locker...my old ones looked fine from the outside, but I could take a pocket knife and chip off huge sections of the aluminum housing from the inside.

Thanks for posting your incident, and let's not let this happen to us.

UV

UV

Uncle Vic, its wasn't us. I read this story on a local fishing forum 2coolfishing.com Thanks Randy

I thought it was you too. Whew, a good story who ever endured it. I too got caught in winds so hard I had to go with them for hours in a 21 Whaler in 1995. Not fun when rain is like bb's , you cannot be heard over the screaming wind even when yelling, and then it gets dark.
The front hatch on a 31b being securely dogged down is an item to check when getting ready for a storm, too.

What a hair raising story. It reminds me of when my wife, but then fiance in 1998 came to Alaska in late JulY for her second trip. I told her we were going out into the Gulf of Alaska for a two day cruise in a 25 foot FB cruiser and fish for silver salmon. Weather sounded good for the next 3 days. We got to Seward late eving and had a fine meal at one of the best seafood restraunts in the country there and pushed on down to the small boat harbor and headed out. It was close to 11 or 12 at night, but there was still a twilight in the land of the midnight sun. Resurection bay is 7 miles long before you actually get to the gulf and by the time we got there i could see a dark line of clouds on the horizon about half way to our destination which was Agnes cove directly across from the bay but over 12 miles of open gulf. At about 7 miles out from the bay, the winds picked up to about 50 knots and the seas suddenly and unexpectadly went from 1 to 2 to an easy 10 to 12 from the NW. We were heading to the NE so in between bow into the on coming sea and then riding the surf to the NE we finally got to a point where I could see the Mountiains that surrounded the cove we were headed to. Rain was coming side ways and it was nearly imopssible to see out the wind screen, so I took a hand held one million candle spot and went up on the bridge helm to see clear enough to stay off the rocks. Once we got into the cove, I tied up to a bouy that a local sail club put out there that were tied to car bodies. The wind beat the crap out of us, but died down to about 30 kots and some time before daybreak a CG chopper was hovering above looking for another boat that was missing. After talking to them on the VHF, I discovered that the missing boat was moored about 200 yards from us and couldn't recieve any transmissions. I called their position in to the rental outfit and we roughed it for three days until I couldn't see any white caps out in the Gulf. We shot back into Resurection bay in late evening of the third day and threw out the hook in a small cove called "Humpy Cove". It was smooth as ice cream then, but about 4 in the morning I felt a big bump and jumped out of the bunk and out on the deck just in time to see a big killer whale heading back out into the bay. I went inside and got Pat and showed her what the bump was about and she had eyes as big as wash tubs. It was an interesting trip for both of us. She even got to hook and land a couple of silvers. Not bad for a New York girl.

Dick

This just verifies my feelings that holes in the hull covered by electrical lights are something I would never have on a boat I owned. Scares the hell out of me exactly for the reasons Uncle Vic mentioned. If I want light, it's going to be external, hand held, halogens on an arch or tower, but not through anything that might let water into my hull. I've been through too many storms that have buried my bow and slapped the hell out of my hull to think that some screws and 5200 were enough between me and the sea. Walter

I think a better moral to this story other than having lites in the bow would be to check the weather before venturing out.

Sounds like they hit converging fronts which should have been apparent with a trip to noaa.

I have to say I am a lot more afraid of blowing out my front windows than blowing in my docking lights. Having hit a log at cruising speed last fall I am with UV. I need them.

UV, they are made in a heavy plastic now, so we don't need to replace metal. I played with that routine and it just was like a monkey F%$#ng a coconut trying to get it right, so I went with new plastic.

Point is, wow. what a story. I am glad that I will have the Sirius satellite weather service which may enable me to know what I need to try to outrun, and I always check weather in advance. But that does not always guarantee things... We stuffed the bow once. It looked like an aquarium up there. I felt lucky the glass held.

but that is my biggest fear... not my docking lights...

Dug

I have the plastic ones covered with plastic lenses. Barnegetts (sp?). I think the now make them smaller with 55 watt halogens. You can get the smaller ones in stainless. Unfortunately they don't make stainless adapter plates to allow the smaller ones to be used after the larger ones have been installed. If they did I would change them, as I have wondered about how strong they are in a storm.

Also think what would have happened to them if they had been on a Blubliner, etc.!!

Strange that I should read these posts this morning, last evening at our boat club we had a speaker who had sailed around the world with his wife in a 22' sail boat that he built. Talk about stories. Talk about nightmares. Whew! After seeing the world he ended here in our county on our creek. Says it is one of the prettiest places he had visited. But we knew that, eh, Rawleigh?

Innovative Lighting Inc. makes a SS bow light with halogen lights. Can't remember where they came from but if anyone is interested I'll go back in the archives and check.

I don't suppose they are for the Morse size holes are they Mikey? I wish they had had the small ones years ago when the original morses were put in, but i don't think they even knew what "Halogen" was back then!!

around the world in a 22' sailboat! Bet he had some stories. I would not even think about trying that. But I do not know how to sail either.

I was in the SHIT too, and we did check NOAA. Here is our report.

Time of the Year to Watch the Weather

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Well, its the time to be very aware of pop-up weather. Forecast for yesterday was 1 ft seas with 4 sec on Bouyweather and 2 to 3 ft seas with 5 sec on NOAA with a SLIGHT chance of rain. So, I hooked up with a fellow 2cooler , Fishtruck, to venture out on the pond. We were met with 2 to 3 ft swells and decided to head to Salavador for hoos, dorado, and other preditors. Stopped at Tall Rock to wet a line but the water was very off color and there was a small squall line that did not look very threatening (no electricity)so on we went. Water did not clear up until 40 miles and we found a rip with weed at 50 miles. Ended playing with some chickens before setting our troll all the while the little squall looked to be breaking up on the radar. Well in about 30 minutes the break up popcorns were surrounding us but that is ok because there is enough room to make it through if needed. I think by now everyone knows where this is going. Yes, the popcorns organized together and we were in a horseshoe storm. Decision time - Run or stay and do battle (the storm is now electrified). On the radar it looked like the storm was about 9 miles at its weakest point and that we would need to run about 30 miles to get around it either towards Galveston or Matagorda. So, we attempted to run but the cross waves were beating us pretty good and the storm wasn't letting us out. Now we both make a mutual decision to battle the beast. We turned back and started our journey. It appeared to be a 12 mile run through by radar but what we were not aware of is the storm was much larger and had formed on land around Corpus. It was almost stationary from Matagorda to 50 miles ESE of Galveston. I can only say that it was an experience I don't want to have again. The 26 ft vessel carried us through safely at 40 knots but the distance was all the way to the 7 mile rigs before relief (36 miles). When we got back to Bridge Bait we found out the magnitude of the storm; others had run around and were now on a journey home from Galveston and Matagorda. Rob and I sat and drank several beers while the others returned safely with the same look on their faces as we had upon stepping on solid ground. This made a strong case for XM weather which is my next upgrade. I believe all made it in safely so thank God for that! I hope all will be safe during this early summer pattern and I am sure they will if they are vigilant regarding the weather. I did meet a wonderful friend, Rob, who I look forward to fishing with in the future under clear skies (well as clear as they can be).


Rob C

I kept thinking "I wish I was in my boat!!!"

Rob,
I think for the most part, forecasts are a generalization and subject to be 50% wrong.

I meant to look at the various sat photos including water vapor, frontal movements and combine that with the typical weather patterns for the time of year.

I think I need to get a little better at reading weather. We are heading to the Bahamas on Sunday to fish the Treasure Cay Billfish and because of last Tues. I keep looking at that cloud cover swirlling over the Bahamas? Hope it is nothing.
Rob C

Rob,

The red area over Bimini will have passed on by Sunday, but the cold front, now moving, across a line from NE TX through W NY, will be swinging down and aproching the Bahamas on Monday and Tuesday.

The front line will be passing through and below the Little Bank on Wednesday. Once it passes, the Bahamas will be under a clear high pressure ridge and the weather should nice. (See: NOAA Fontal Predictions)

My prediction: Sunday: OK, Monday: So-So, Tuesday: Forget about fishing, Wednesday OK-Good, rest of the week: Beautiful...

No Tropical Disturbances expected for the period.

Since you'll have a lay day on Wednesday, your final two days should be very nice. Fishy? Well, that's black magic of a different cauldron...

You'll be fishing a New Moon period, (New on Thursday), so day time fishing could be pretty good. I always had pretty good luck off of the Hope Town Light and just south.

Br,

Patrick

Thanks Capt.
And I thought you only were a master of fine jewelery and boats! Do you think I can talk them into switching the lay day to Tues? I NEEEEED to fish. Hope all is well.
Rob C

Rob,

I'm Master of only a few things, mostly baiting... (But even that is becoming a lost skill.)

All is well... Good luck on your tournament!

Br,

Patrick

Bruce wrote:Rob,
I think for the most part, forecasts are a generalization and subject to be 50% wrong.

I meant to look at the various sat photos including water vapor, frontal movements and combine that with the typical weather patterns for the time of year.

Being a self professed weather nerd....I'm still trying to figure out how to do general forcasting.

Here is a site I've found that has good intro info: http://www.theweatherprediction.com/

half the time i cant even tell what it wa like yesterday

An interesting tale.

One cannot help but muse "What would I do in that situation?" Of course it is a lot easier in the comfort of your living room to play games of "What if?" and there isn't the immediate threat of having to swim away from your sinking vessle in nothing but a life jacket.....but then again that makes it the best time to consider such things.

First there is a difference between stopping a leak (keeping everything totally water tight) and Not Sinking, where in all you are trying to do is slow the water flow enough to let the pumps keep up, or buy enough time for the squal to pass.

The tarp over the bow seems unlikely for the reasons the writer mentioned as well as the motion of the boat would make it unlikely the tarp would stay in place....And the problem with holding the stuffing (life jackest etc.) against the holes from the inside was the violent motion of the boat.

Why not pass a toggle (a stick) through the holes from the inside with a lashing that could be used to pull the stuffing up close and tight to the inside of the holes? Any piece of stick would do. A broken off mop handle, a long handle brush, even a broken off piece of a fishing rod in dire circumstances. A little not-so-fancy rope work and you've got it! (maybe).

Yea, I know Monday morning quaterbacking.....I hope no one ever has to use the idea, but if the circumstances arise, it will not be the time then to figure it out.

Peter