What's your weather 'max'?

[djy887]

Knowing full well that our TC24 can handle much tougher conditions than we can, I've always wondered what our 'max' is for comfortable cruising. We had dinner reservations across the Sound last night...and a nice sunny, warm evening. NWS had winds out of the N at 15kts and wind waves 2ft. Looked tame on paper. We were bounced around pretty good though at our normal cruising speed (~19 mph)...any slower and we'd be rolling up and down each wave...at least at cruise we rode on top. I didn't dig the slamming around for the hour long jaunt. Ride home was better...not as much wave action, but the outgoing current felt like it was literally grabbing and turning the hull...so it was pretty heavy-handed at the helm. If I encountered these conditions on a trip...sure, you just deal with it. But when looking for a mellow couple of hours out on the water, I think I'd like it less than 10-12 kts and wave max of 1'. Am I just being a wuss unworthy of being a C-Brat?

[Foggy]

Weather predictions vary in character and severity even in a local area. This is
know as 'local variation'.

I first witnessed this as a kid noticing our area forecast was "Rain". I went outside
and is was raining but when I crossed the street to my friend's house it was not.
This phenomenon is common; present ashore and at sea. Additionally, things
change.

What you can handle in your vessel of choice is another matter depending on a
multitude of factors. Your knowledge, training and experience are probably forefront.
Other factors like unexpected situations, fatigue, nutrition, health, and state
of mental acuity come into play especially on longer passages.

Some people have accomplished incredible long distance voyages on relatively
small boats with minimalist provisions. All told, this is not for everyone and is
different than when cruising a small boat in a bay for an afternoon on an apparent
nice day.

Bottom line: most don't know as much as they think, mistakes are made,
weather can change quickly, things happen and people (every year) die on or in the water.

Aye.
Grandpa (an old Navy man) used to say: "The sea simply waits for the innocent;
but it actually stalks the foolish, the unprepared and the arrogant."

[Salmon Fisher]

I have talked to more than one Tomcat owner, both 24 and 255 models, who say that for a smoother ride, speed up and the catamaran effect gets the boat up on top of the chop for a better and smoother ride.

[thataway]

So much depends on what currents, the tide, and bottom depth and contour, plus fetch (distance over the water where wind travels to build the waves. Also if there any storm conditions a long distance away, which gives an underlying swell.

We live at the upper end of Perdido Bay, about 12 miles from the ICW. If a "norther" is blowing--it may be up to 35+ knots of breeze, and we ramped our 255 up to 35 mph boat speed and increased that tunnel affect. In those conditions, with a shallow, mostly mud bay, no other currents, the waves would decrease in size as we got closer to the head of the bay. Near the ICW we estimated the seas at 3' and steep.

There were other places that 3 ' waves were very uncomfortable and I aborted that leg until the wind died down.

Our Tom Cat with 150 Suzuki could get in the high 45mph to 50 mph depending on load. This has to do with the gear ration and more aggressive props of the Suzuki.

I have run our first 25 Down wind and waves in Johnstone strait in winds of >35 mph, and did fine. Eat. the seas were 10' high. No one was going into the seas.
With a little throttle work we were able to pretty much stay just below the top of a wave train. The ride was comfortable, down wind. With the C Dory 25, 2' waves when going into them at a short interval was a chore.

[T.R. Bauer]

I have had a few boats over the years....never a tomcat, but I have found with all of them, there is such a thing as going too slow. And...having the correct trim for the conditions is very important. With all that said, sometimes you're just going to get beat up. I like the seas 2 feet and variable winds less then 10 knots forecast myself.

[gulfcoast john]

djy,

Winds under 10-12k and seas under 1 foot certainly makes for a pleasurable cruise in your pleasure boat (without being a ‘wuss’). When conditions make piloting a ‘chore’ (as Bob succinctly puts it) it’s not as much fun. We’re retired and can always do something else while waiting for conditions to improve.

After ten years on this boat, we mutually decided that our No Go criteria for open waters would be:

Any type Small Craft Advisory (which usually begin at 22 MPH wind sustained)

True NOAA seas over two feet (every 100th wave may be four feet, and you don’t want to hit that at 47 MPH, even in a Tom Cat)

Wind over 15 MPH sustained (will produce lots of steep whitecaps)

Gusts over 22-24 MPH

These are very conservative criteria for this boat. In worse conditions, if one of us had to check something out back and a wave slam causes a fall and hip fracture at age 68, it would likely be a life-altering event in bad conditions which we would both regret for the rest of our lives.

The good news is that our No Go criteria are found less than 10% of the time, and often you have much advance warning. In our May 35 day cruise around all 1,300 water miles of FL, we had four days to wait out (at a five-star resort marina in Marathon) and crossed the Gulf in a 120 mile day plus a 140 mile day (OK, that’s 11% NO Go days).



Many Gold Looper couples encouraged us to develop our own ironclad no exceptions No Go Criteria in order to enhance crew communication and minimize misunderstandings and confusion. It’s a good idea.

Safe (and pleasurable) Travels!

John

[B~C]

Boating, fishing, camping and any other kind of recreational activity is supposed to be fun and enjoyable and everybody is intitled to their own levels of comfort. I find that the older I get the less tolerance I have for bouncing around. Years back the kid and I used to hang out in Illwaco and run out the Columbia river bar to fish any time the bar was open. As the years went by we found ourselves headed to the donut shop more often rather than take a beating.
In addition to considering wind, tides & weather, a key factor in addition to wave height is the period. I always figured it best to head to the donut shop if the seas where square...3' sea @3 seconds...5' @ 5 seconds. Here's a formula- if wave height=period=steep wave ass beating. On the flip side, a person can have a great time cruising in those 6',7' rollers as long as they don't start stacking up due to tides or wind. Another key factor to consider regarding sea conditions is the amount of noise and curse words coming from the spousal unit
A great app for info on wind and waves is www.windy.com

running those cats faster on the chop and small stuff makes for a smooth ride, trying to run it fast in steep, tall waves makes for a submarine ride.

[cmetzenberg]

over 15 knots i try and avoid. That being said I've been out on my tomcat in confused 10' seas. The boat can handle a lot more than I can.