Stephen Cherry
07-03-2013, 8:13 AM
I live near the Chesapeake Bay, which, of course, is not the North Atlantic, but it can get a little rough for a small boat, as can many large lakes and even rivers when the wind lines up in the right direction.
This year there have been several incidents where small boats have been out in 10-30 knots of wind, taken some water, and capsized. There were fatalities, and there were survivors. One common thread, if the water is not calm, WEAR THE LIFE JACKET. When I go boating alone, without someone else that can run the boat, or in any kind of waves, I just wear it all the time. The life jacket, in these circumstances, seems to be the difference between life and death. What people forget is that even warm water can suck the heat out of your body, and you can get tired very quickly and loose the ability to tread water. Most of us are just not in the right condition to be in the water in a panic situation for a long time. With the life jacket on, you just need to hang out.
The wearing of the life jacket is just a fact, this part is more my opinion. There are basically two types of boats, self rescuing, and non self rescuing. A self rescuing boat basically is capable taking on water without swamping; such as Rigid inflatable boats, Boston whalers or similar with foam filled hulls, or a boat with a floor elevated above the water line and scuppers. Without something like this, I would just stay on shore if there is any kind of wind driven waves. There is a whole class of normal boats that rely on a bilge pump to pump out water that gets into the boat. The pumps and the batteries that run them are never big enough. In my opinion, the absolute worst type of boat to be in in rough weather is a high sided boat without scuppers. If you get one big wave in the boat, it has the high sides to hold in even more water, and over it goes. High sides look good at the boat show, but in the real world, they are never high enough to keep the water out.
Just some suggestions, in case there are any aspiring boaters out there.
Oh yea, I forgot,
Leave the alcohol at home.
This year there have been several incidents where small boats have been out in 10-30 knots of wind, taken some water, and capsized. There were fatalities, and there were survivors. One common thread, if the water is not calm, WEAR THE LIFE JACKET. When I go boating alone, without someone else that can run the boat, or in any kind of waves, I just wear it all the time. The life jacket, in these circumstances, seems to be the difference between life and death. What people forget is that even warm water can suck the heat out of your body, and you can get tired very quickly and loose the ability to tread water. Most of us are just not in the right condition to be in the water in a panic situation for a long time. With the life jacket on, you just need to hang out.
The wearing of the life jacket is just a fact, this part is more my opinion. There are basically two types of boats, self rescuing, and non self rescuing. A self rescuing boat basically is capable taking on water without swamping; such as Rigid inflatable boats, Boston whalers or similar with foam filled hulls, or a boat with a floor elevated above the water line and scuppers. Without something like this, I would just stay on shore if there is any kind of wind driven waves. There is a whole class of normal boats that rely on a bilge pump to pump out water that gets into the boat. The pumps and the batteries that run them are never big enough. In my opinion, the absolute worst type of boat to be in in rough weather is a high sided boat without scuppers. If you get one big wave in the boat, it has the high sides to hold in even more water, and over it goes. High sides look good at the boat show, but in the real world, they are never high enough to keep the water out.
Just some suggestions, in case there are any aspiring boaters out there.
Oh yea, I forgot,
Leave the alcohol at home.