The Lake Stevens thread got me pondering the negative impacts of large amount of water entering the boat.
On our return trip back from Sucia two weeks ago we came upon a Crowley tug, southbound, on the west side of Lummi Island. Anyone up here who's seen these tugs knows what I'm referring to. The tugs are large commercial tugs that displace a LOT of water.
This one was at least a 1/2 mile ahead and to starboard when I saw him. The wake he put out was AMAZING. I was doing a good 10 knots when I came upon it. I estimated 4' at least (from the rear) and breaking, like a wave, on top. I immediately slowed and followed it and decided to run parallel to it for a while. There were actually 3 individual wakes. After running parallel behind it for a while I decided to cross it, straight on the bow. By paralleling it we were actually moving in a heading AWAY from our intended destination, Bellingham Bay.
What an exciting adventure. Once the bow broke through the first wake I realized my size estimate was probably on the low side.
The bottom of the boat fell away, burying the entire bow in wake #2 in the process. A green swarm of water overtook us, nearly up to the windshield. The anchor disappeared from view in the onslaught. Thank god both the hatch and the center window were closed tightly. :shock: The boat then began to list to port AND slide sidways, turning to starboard. For a split second I thought we'd take some water over our side. I punched the throttle, turned hard to port and punched through the second and third wakes. My wife's face was a combination of fear and shock followed by her laughing loudly. All kinds of equipment/supplies went flying on board and water ran into the port sliding front window off the roof.
So what did I do wrong? :|
On our return trip back from Sucia two weeks ago we came upon a Crowley tug, southbound, on the west side of Lummi Island. Anyone up here who's seen these tugs knows what I'm referring to. The tugs are large commercial tugs that displace a LOT of water.
This one was at least a 1/2 mile ahead and to starboard when I saw him. The wake he put out was AMAZING. I was doing a good 10 knots when I came upon it. I estimated 4' at least (from the rear) and breaking, like a wave, on top. I immediately slowed and followed it and decided to run parallel to it for a while. There were actually 3 individual wakes. After running parallel behind it for a while I decided to cross it, straight on the bow. By paralleling it we were actually moving in a heading AWAY from our intended destination, Bellingham Bay.
What an exciting adventure. Once the bow broke through the first wake I realized my size estimate was probably on the low side.

So what did I do wrong? :|