Weymouth Cruise - Near Death Experience!!

[Richard B]

Just wait 'till you experience something like it. You may think that a jaunt down the Solent to Yarmouth on a rough day gives you and the boat a bit of a punishing, but nothing the Solent can throw at you will prepare you for the experience of this sort.

St Albans Head is a very serious obstacle. On a calm day at slack water you wonder what all the fuss is about. But if you arrive there wit a tidal race running, it's different proposition altogether. Without wind, on a spring tide there can be standing waves 4-5m high in quick succession. These are thrown up as there is a very pronounced ridge of rock on the sea bed. Add a storm and it's somewhere to stay clear of. I've been out there on a couple of different RIBs in all sorts of conditions, but nothing like Bruce describes here. And if the water's coming from above, nothing will be safe in it's path as it descends - it's very heavy stuff, and as well as the tonnes of impact, will force it's way into places you never dreamt it would. Once you leave Swanage and round Peveril Point, there's no shelter form a south-westerly until you catch the lee of the Portland peninsula, that all ads up to a lot of punishment.

My first encounter with StAlbans also resulted in a destroyed GPS... after my head hit it.

£250 damage? Cheap when you consider there were no injuries. The potential cost of an incident like this goes far beyond that.

[Nasher]

What makes you think I don't know what the conditions are like out there?

[The Garfish]

Originally Posted by Richard B

resulted in a destroyed GPS... after my head hit it.

i orlwaiys wonderd wy yew ad OTOG tattood onn yor foredd

gud jobb de GSP didunt av a TARP buton

gaRf

[codprawn]

Originally Posted by The Garfish

i orlwaiys wonderd wy yew ad OTOG tattood onn yor foredd

gud jobb de GSP didunt av a TARP buton

gaRf

Made my day FRAG!!!

[brucehawsker]

Not sure you can blame Lowrance for the failure of a GPS aerial mounted on an A Frame when the boat landed ass down on the A frame. Nearly ripped the mounting bracket of the horeshoes off.....

[Ian M]

Yes, and be thankful your engine wasn't drowned. Boat I was in launched vertically from the top of a wave, down arse first, and dunked the engine. She would not fire, and as we were looking up at the waves, I am ashamed to admit that we had to call on the RNLI. Still I wasn't driving, and it wasn't my boat Made for an interesting afternoon Er, no, I am not naming names

[genoa]

Originally Posted by Richard B

Just wait 'till you experience something like it. You may think that a jaunt down the Solent to Yarmouth on a rough day gives you and the boat a bit of a punishing, but nothing the Solent can throw at you will prepare you for the experience of this sort.

A Jaunt down the solent on a rough day ... hhhmmmm....
Seeing as we are doing the war stories, I have seen waves pushed up off Lepe in a SW F7 that are nearly vertical 4-5m high and if the tide is running westward the top 1 - 1.5m is breaking off the top. The big difference is we think of it as a Jaunt because you are surrounded by land, but don't lets be complacent - the solent can throw you just the same as a set of overfalls if you don't go prepared. Wind against tide, anywhere you get a ledge or rapid shoaling can be lethal.

[PeterM]

Have to agree with Genoa- you will get a 2m wave off Hurst in 'good' weather & thats about 100m from land ! Shingle bank is another great 'fun' place to be if you get it wrong. Ran up a3-4 wave on a jetski - saw dry land the other side , but lcukily the water came back when we got there - sheer stupidity on my part !

[Downhilldai]

Originally Posted by Blackroady

..Ran up a3-4 wave on a jetski - saw dry land the other side , but lcukily the water came back when we got there ..

Originally Posted by codprawn

.. we came off a wave into the trough and we could see sand - luckily the water came back just in time........

Are you two boating buddies?

[tinker]

Great to see everyone else f***s up now and again, gives you a true representation of how dangerous boating can be. We can all learn to respect the sea from other peoples honesty.

[Richard B]

Originally Posted by genoa

I have seen waves pushed up off Lepe in a SW F7 that are nearly vertical 4-5m high and if the tide is running westward the top 1 - 1.5m is breaking off the top

Sure, it gets snotty in the Solent, but at no point is there twenty miles of unrelenting troughs and waves. You can physically endure the short bursts of rough water it throws at you, and so can your boat. And it's avoidable. To be caught out off Lepe in a SW F7 is a schoolboy error - you should be on the other side of the Solent using that great big thing called the Isle of Wight to shelter you from the south-westerly. Once you get across to Gurnard you can run down past Newtown Creek in almost flat water whilst anyone who's stayed in the middle is taking a battering, and anyone who's on the north side is being really dangerous clinging to a lee shore. No such luxury if you're making a passage to Weymouth - the only option is to go offshore hoping to find calmer water, and that takes commitment!

[PeterM]

Richard I do agree that you 'shouldn't get caught out by a school boy error , but we are human ( apart form Garf), and it does only take one wave to really screw up your day - if thats the only one you hit wrong in the day it wont matter if you are out for a 2 mile trip or a 20 mile one. You will drown/ be injured / break the boat just as easily - you may get help quicker etc , but you will still be having a bad day .

Sometimes even the best boats fail / helms etc get it wrong - if you think you will never make a mistake then its just a matter of tiem till you are proved wrong - usually in a big way . For me thats part fo the fun of boating - I assume every wave will suddenly kick up , the boat is always about to break & I am never more than 3 mins away from drowning . Hopefully If I think a bit like that I will always 'win' the battle with the sea. Even more enjoyable for me if its at 50knts than 5 ! ( sorry ended up in a bit of random thougt there - dont take me to seriously - but hopefully people can see where I am coming from ? )

[Cookee]

I think this is a case of racing improving the breed - as a racer we have encountered some fairly horrible conditions and kept on going - allegedly 55 knots in Egypt and a force 6 - 7 wind over tide off the Needles not to mention some fairly snotty conditions up in the Scottish Isles. We regularly use our leisure boats as safety boats for the races, so they have to cope with the same conditions, and the course is picked for you!

We have learnt from the above and hopefully make a stronger better rigged boat because of it!

[Avocet]

Originally Posted by Richard B

No such luxury if you're making a passage to Weymouth - the only option is to go offshore hoping to find calmer water, and that takes commitment!

There are actually two further options : take the inner passage off St Aldhelms (about twenty meters from the cliffs) as at Portland, Anvil or Peverel; or turn back (provided you haven't already got into the overfalls, when turning round may be less safe than pushing on!).

[willk]

Originally Posted by Blackroady

but we are human ( apart form Garf),

Now now, be nice- he's almost human, it's because he Manx

[Richard B]

Originally Posted by Avocet

There are actually two further options : take the inner passage off St Aldhelms (about twenty meters from the cliffs) as at Portland, Anvil or Peverel; or turn back (provided you haven't already got into the overfalls, when turning round may be less safe than pushing on!).

Yep, but the first option's a no-go if it's really rough! I've used option 2 as my preferred solution many times.