More rough weather- heading out in breaking swells

Starting Friday night, and continuing into yesterday morning, the rain fell and the wind blew hard, kicking up some high nasty conditions out at sea. So naturally, I could not resist just going right out into the middle of it! I headed out Nantasket Roads and tried to get out as far as I could before the pounding surf sent me back in. Here is a video I took while navigating breaking swells of up to 8 feet just East of Allerton Point Saturday morning:

A check of wunderground.com showed that the 44013 buoy was reading 6 ft dominant wave height with a 5 to 6 second interval- so pretty big, tight chop. Since I had just written a bit about boating in the fall and the higher probability of encountering rough conditions, I thought I would put my advice to the test a little bit. I headed out Nantasket Roads and attempted to take the rough weather head on.

Once we got a bit beyond Boston Light, the swells started to break, which can be real trouble if they are big enough. I was looking back and saw a couple guys in a 26 foot Regulator appear and dissappear in the big swells- they finally called it quits and headed back. My 28 foot Whaler was handling it well, so we ventured out a little further. After a wave of about 8 feet crested and started to break in front of me, I had second thoughts. (I didn’t get to film this one as I had to keep two hands on the wheel). The way up was fine, but on the backside, the boat dipped hard…..almost buried the bow platform. I decided to turn around, but you can’t just turn a boat in breaking swells like these: get caught by one broadside and you could get flipped! So I waited for until I was on top of a well, and cut hard to the starboard, making sure the next one hit my stern at no more than 45 degrees.

I headed back in and ended up fishing around the marker at Sunken Ledge just to the Southwest of Peddocks Island. I had no luck fishing, but it was a lot more pleasant than being out in those breakers outside the Harbor.

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