GOM offshore advice

C

C Sniper

New member
I searched "offshore" and read everything. As expected most posts were west coast related. I read somewhere the other day that a poster suggested period should be double the swell (dont think it was here tho). Anyway I am just getting going on some offshore fishing missions out into GOM, 3 so far. Taking it easy and picking my days. 1st was supposed to be 1ft but I would call it solid 2, took us 2.5 hrs to get 17 miles offshore. Second was Lake Padre!! 1.5 hrs out. 3rd was 1 ish and still about 1.5 hrs. Keep in mind that we have 20-30 mins from dock to end of jetties. I am guessing 3 ft 6-8 seconds may be "my" limit, perhaps a bit less. Any advice on tight period offshore runs??? Seems so far trim up a bit when running downhill and trim down when running uphill and across the hill. But total nube there...

EDIT***
I have permatrims (twin 40s), trying to figure out how much tabs might help and if so manual vs auto tabs.
 
You're in my home waters. The Gulf can get rough in a short period of time, wind dependent... and since you live here, you know it is almost always windy. We had a 25 and found it best to trim the nose down going into the waves, trim full up running with the waves. Trim tabs made a real difference on our boat. You have probably already figured out that the stretch from the Brazos-Santiago buoys to about half way into the jetties is generally the roughest part. East wind can really stack things up as you're heading back in. The ratio you described (period twice the wave height) is a good starting point. Your boat will be fine in bigger swells if the period is even longer.

I'm not a fishing guy, but from the distance you're describing, I assume you are going out by the rigs or to a wreck. Keep an eye to the south for weather. When you look to the horizon as you head out of the jetties, if you see "marching elephants" on the horizon (looks like scallops instead of a straight line), you are in for a rough ride out there in a small boat.

One other thing we found in 20 years of boating here: you will get stopped and boarded by the Coast Guard a couple times a year - they seem to have more interest in a cabin type boat than the more typical fishing boats here.

Enjoy your C-Dory!
 
JamesTXSD":at1i9514 said:
You're in my home waters. The Gulf can get rough in a short period of time, wind dependent... and since you live here, you know it is almost always windy. We had a 25 and found it best to trim the nose down going into the waves, trim full up running with the waves. Trim tabs made a real difference on our boat. You have probably already figured out that the stretch from the Brazos-Santiago buoys to about half way into the jetties is generally the roughest part. East wind can really stack things up as you're heading back in. The ratio you described (period twice the wave height) is a good starting point. Your boat will be fine in bigger swells if the period is even longer.

I'm not a fishing guy, but from the distance you're describing, I assume you are going out by the rigs or to a wreck. Keep an eye to the south for weather. When you look to the horizon as you head out of the jetties, if you see "marching elephants" on the horizon (looks like scallops instead of a straight line), you are in for a rough ride out there in a small boat.

One other thing we found in 20 years of boating here: you will get stopped and boarded by the Coast Guard a couple times a year - they seem to have more interest in a cabin type boat than the more typical fishing boats here.

Enjoy your C-Dory!
Click to expand...

kiteboarder here so I know our winds well... but perhaps offshore there is much to learn wind-wise.

Good info for sure, going to refresh my cloud reading.
 
We are back home after being out and about for the last 2 1/2 months. We had lunch on the island and while driving there, we saw C-Sniper sitting on its trailer. Good to see a C-Dory in the area again.

How are you getting along with the boat?

Jim B.
 
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