Braving a swell...

[hydroforce3]

hi guys it's me again,

I'm just wondering as I've never been out in anything but flat calm and fortunately its always stayed that way until I return to the dry stuff...what I'm wondering is if I was to go out in a swell OR a swell picked up when I was out on the water is there a proper technique to riding waves back in and is there a technique for heading out head on,

Eg; Do I keep the bow pointed dead into the waves or do I need to attack them at an angle to prevent capsize?

Same again on a following sea?

I have a SIB so has a soft hull and keel if it makes any difference

my apologies for all the dumb questions

cheers guys

Dan

[Mikefule]

Read the forecast, keep an eye on the conditions, don't be taken by surprise.

Build up your experience in stages. Don't do what I did many years ago and take a small boat out in huge waves with three friends on board (height of waves equal to the length of the boat) because inflatables are unsinkable. I nearly came to grief.

Big rolling swell is not a problem. Approach it sensibly and don't fly off the tops. Keep the bow heavy and don't let the wind flip you. For comfort, when going in the same direction as the sell, go at the same speed.

Two things make it nasty: breaking waves, and interference.

The white water of a breaking wave will push the boat. If you are sideways on, you can be in serious difficulty. If a breaking wave overtakes you, you can broach (turn sideways) and lose control.. If you are heading into it, a breaking wave can flood the boat, or deflect you from your course, or flip you.

Interference is where waves reflect off a harbour wall, cliff, etc, and march back against or across the incoming waves. Where two troughs meet, you get a double trough, and where two crests meet, you get a double height wave. If the two waves cross at 90 degrees, you can get something very like a geyser: a sudden upwards explosion of water and froth. There you are, carefully looking at the incoming waves and one of these explosions comes at you from the other direction.

The most dangerous times in waves are launching, crossing shallows (bars at river mouths, etc.) where rolling waves stand up tall and become breakers, and landing/recovering. This last one, recovering, is when you've been out all day, you're cold and tired, you may not have re-stowed all of your equipment safely after use, and suddenly you need to get the boat ashore in breaking waves. It can be very unpleasant.

But, inflatables are robust, seaworthy and almost unsinkable, and if you are careful and sensible, you should avoid avoid al of this and have a lot of fun just playing in waves of the right size, building up your experience gradually.

[Max...]

I'd recommend Dag Pikes 'Inflatables' superb section on handling small rubber boats in swell and following sea etc.

It's the most fun to be had in a SIB (playing in the waves/surf) - build up slow and gain confidence. Learning to read the waves and exist with them is superb fun.

It's all about reading/observing the breaking waves, weight distribution and quick throttle and tiller control - just don't get swamped and let the engine die in the bigger stuff - you'll be sideways and potentially over within a very short time...

You don't need to worry about trimming the engine in/out as you would in a RIB for a head/following sea - just move your weight - as much forward as possible going out against a head sea and more weight back in a following sea to keep the bow up when cresting over the breaking surf.

[Pikey Dave]

Originally Posted by hydroforce3

hi guys it's me again,

I'm just wondering as I've never been out in anything but flat calm and fortunately its always stayed that way until I return to the dry stuff...what I'm wondering is if I was to go out in a swell OR a swell picked up when I was out on the water is there a proper technique to riding waves back in and is there a technique for heading out head on,

Eg; Do I keep the bow pointed dead into the waves or do I need to attack them at an angle to prevent capsize?

Same again on a following sea?

I have a SIB so has a soft hull and keel if it makes any difference

my apologies for all the dumb questions

cheers guys

Dan

No disrespect, but given your obvious lack of experience, I'd be looking at either paying an instructor for a few hours tuition, or booking myself on a PB2 course. You can ask as many questions as you like ( and please feel free to do so) but there is absolutely no substitute for experience.

[jeffstevens763@g]

As said drag pikes book a good starting point plus expearence and what you dare handle. Following seas can easily broach your boat you need to be faster than the wave or slower,if faster keep in the trough to avoid stuffing into the wave in front. Positive tiller and throttle control a must and the boat set up, engine and prop for a Chrisp reponce. I always take big head seas at an angle with my body on the wave side to aid balance or I slow right down to displacement speed for a smoother ride home. But if you look at the weather forecast and monitor whilst out looking at cloud patterns you should be ok. If in dought go home there's always another day.

[Dan Gurney]

While echoing what others have said re training and taking it steady while gaining experience...

While considering the weather, also consider the tide. One thing that I have been caught out by on a couple of occasions when transitioning from a predominantly inland boater (lakes etc) to the sea is the effects of wind over tide. Same stretch of water, same wind conditions, but change the direction of tidal flow and it can make a big difference, specially when combined with other factors like a shallow bar.

Don't be put off by all this though! Take advice, know your limitations, be sensible and there's no better way to spend your time!