Breakers!

[thataway]

To me the C Dory is easier--and in some ways safer in the conditions which Forrest described. My comparison is full displacement, long keel boats, where there is slow control, and little of it--so you have to be looking way ahead (or behind).

The beauty of the C Dory is the rapid responsive time, both in steering and in throttle. Take a page from the offshore racing boats--and one hand always on the throttle (a throttle man) and steering--sometimes in this case, a Brodie knob helps with the rapid spins of the wheel if necessary. Like Roger, I like to stay on the back of a swell, only only go over the top, if one overtakes me (in the open ocean) or if there is a very difficult maneuver where you have to go down the face of the wave. (Great on a surfboard--and I have done in in both ultralight and semi displacement boats using the same skill sets as one does in board surfing. There it is reflex--same with boats--but each boat is a little different.

[westward]

Yikes! I find it hard to conceive of a sea condition with 4-6' standing waves spaced closely enough together that 2-3 at a time could be bridged by a 22' C-Dory. Not hard to conceive of the condition, but hard to imagine riding it out without having your nerves and the contents of your boat shattered. It seems like your prop would spend a lot of time out of the water and you'd be tossed around as if in a wash machine. Glad you survived such an unreal ordeal. Mike.

[Kushtaka]