Hang on, you're in for a ride!

One of the laboratory representatives purchased a 34 foot cabin cruiser and he took five of us eye docs fishing. We left Balboa harbor and went south to San Clemente. The ocean was almost flat. We were within 50 feet of a whale or two; there were dozens of them in sight. It seemed like there were a hundred sharks swimming or just lolly-gagging around, half under water and half above. (I do not mean half as a measurement. Guess I should have said, a lot above and a lot below the waterline.)

Fishing was done, soft drinks were drunk, food was eaten and then we headed back to Balboa. Apparently I was the only one who had ever had any boat experience. When we went out of the Balboa Bay the storm warnings were up. I didn't look; being an idiot I figured that the guy that owned the boat would do that. Now you have guessed the rest of the story. The sea got rough (Not like the video, but we did take water in through the opening in the top of the cab.).

The owner managed to broach us enough that we took water in over the gunnels a few times. Anyway I ended up at the helm with all of the experience I obtained when I was age 6 or 7. I nosed in to the waves when the big ones came and headed back in towards the shore for the three smaller ones in between. That still left us quite a ways out from the mouth of the harbor when we got up there.

Going for the mouth of the harbor gave us a straight, strong following sea. With full throttle I could spin the wheel all of the way to one side with just a flick of my hand. With full port or starboard rudder only the slightest correction was made in direction. With full throttle we were just barely out pacing the current. Obviously we made it. I'm not sure that my arms have ever ached that much since. I know that my heart rate is up quite a bit just writing this.

Jeepers, you should never say anything that gets an old geezer telling "old man" stories. With that I shall leave you.

Enjoy,
JimB
 
Gall lee Gilligan the tiny craft was tossed or something like that. I will now tell a sea story.
1972 ,USS Roosevelt, Bay of Biscay north of Spain, we were having flight ops with the British. The ocean kept getting rougher and rougher and we kept wondering how long flight ops would last because it is hard to land with the fantail going up and down over ten feet. Well they stopped after a plain captain, an E-3 newbe, got washed off the wing of an F-4 Phantom while on the elevator going from the flight deck to the hanger deck. The hanger deck is 80 feet above the waterline normally. The flight deck is 100 plus feet. Our helicopter picked up his body.
After this the ocean got rough. About 3AM they called out damage control for flooding on the "O2" level. The O2 level is right below the flight deck. My morning routine was to go to an observation deck right below the flight deck to view the sea. This morning when I opened the hatch a wave closed it for me. I proceeded to go up to the island and exited aft to see what it was like on the flight deck. With caution I peeked out. Humm I thought not too bad. I looked toward the bow and could see the flight deck twist as the bow dove into a huge swell. This happened with every swell.
For three days this went on until we passed the Rock of Gibraltar. I never got sick but I sure wished that ship would stop rocking. We set up a pendulum in the shop and recorded rolls close to 30 degrees. Rumor was 28 degrees and the ship could roll. However, I don't know if that was true.
FYI, the Phantom was from the squadron VF-84. VF-84 had the skull and cross bones painted on the tail. The Navy used one of those planes in a recruiting TV ad where it was launched of the flight deck. On a calm night I saw on of these F4's hit the round down (back of the ship at the flight deck). One huge fire ball. Apparently, the skull and cross bones were on there for a reason.
End of story,

http://www.salimbeti.com/aviation/images/images/vf84f4.jpg

I was on board when photo was taken.

http://lost-at-sea-memorials.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/FDR-19723.jpg
 
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Had a couple of "trying" experiences myself with waves taller than us when standing in my small 20'outboard. We couldn't see over the wave when in the trough until approaching the crest. Returning to port, had to constantly adjust speed to match the wave speed as the following sea would want to push the boat into the wave ahead of us, burying the bow if the speed was wrong. Not a good situation with an open bow type of boat! These adventures occurred at the mouth of the Merrimack River in Plum Island, MA & known as a potentiall dangerous area that would come up quickly with an easterly wind againse a westerly river outflow. So, when the winds changed, the waves would really stack up with short periods. Really must have things battened down as the waves would push the boat around quickly. So much power behind the water. This is when a skipper has to have confidence in himself & be patience throughout the ride. Exciting, exhilarating, but still very scary!
 
Yeah boys, there was one time I was on a Wave Runner at Lake Havasu and a storm came up suddenly. We were about 3 miles from the party barge, and I was battling 1.5 to 2' tall waves for nearly 15 minutes getting back there.

Dang near spilled my beer.

You "ocean people" and your problems. Sheesh! :rofl: I'll bet Brent doesn't have to worry about this stuff either.
 
I was in one real bad storm at sea back in 1976-77 the waves were huge landing on the deck & tearing things up. The boat took a heck of a beating ripping off pieces 40' to 50' long. The boat would heal to one side or the other, one side we'd see sky & the other we'd see water. The other boats around us were completely disappearing under water. Of course the boat I was on was 1080 ft long 256' wide & 80,000 ton Uss Independence & we were taking water over the bow & it ripped an A7 Corsair loose from 10 chain storm tie down & flipped it up on its side. It also ripped 40" of cat walk off one side & 50' off the other side & did damage to numerous other things also. The fuel tankers & destroyers were completely disappearing mast rigging & everything. The other boats diverted but we had to stay on course because we were still recovering aircraft.
 

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