jmartintcb

Today started out great. We let the rain pass this morning and decided that we would take our children out to catcha few fish. The rest of the day, my wife and I watched the storms come over pensacola, it was incredibly beautiful and hot 8 miles off shore. All of the sudden I felt a cold burst of wind....I saw the dark, western clouds and told my wife to secure everything while I pulled the anchor, I decided to head due north for the beach, as we got closer the wind started howling and the clouds became ominous. The rain began and the wind picked up more and more and more. I sent my wife and children into the cuddy, the wind was blowing sohard that the hatch blew open, my son finally secured the hatch and then all hell broke loose. I have absolutely never been that scared in my life. 6ft seas were breaking over the boat, I was trying to keep the bow of the boat into the waves, but the rain and wind were so bad that I could not see anything, I remember looking at the compass to see north, the beach was not in sight, nothing except the most absolute furious rain, wind andseas I have ever been in. I tried using my radio to all the coast gaurd to let them know my last known position, so if we went down, they woud at least no where to look...I know this sounds dramatic, but I am telling you there are not enough words to describe it what we went through. I never got a response from the coast gaurd. I don't know why???:reallycrying Anyway, the storm finally eased and we made it to the site of the beach and followed the beach back to the pass. Everyone is safe and ready to go back; however, my wife says she will not go out fishing unless we get a new radio and an "epirb" (sp?) On a positive note, I now get weather radar and a new radio...Since this is the offshore report: we caught 4 snapper and 1 trigger, and one hell of a ride:letsdrink:letsdrink:letsdrink:letsdrink:letsd rink:letsdrink. I also want to tell my 8 year old daughter and 11 year old son how fantastically proud I am of the way they conducted themselves in such a bad situation, and to my wife, I have never heard you talk like that to me LOL. I can laugh now, it wasn't funny then!

wld1985

ahaha... all in all it sounds like a good trip but a scary time...

redfishin'JR

Glad ya'll made it back safe and sound!

tidefanjam

glad you made it in,when that cold wind hits you out there you know its comin...

ditchdoctor81

Glad you and your family made it in safe. Things could have really went different.

Deeplines

Been there done that.

Glad you made it back. \

I spent 17 of the 20 years of my navy life on a shipsand let me tell you.........

The me tell you, the most scared I have ever been was on the GOM in my boat. Don't even want to think about it.

The 45' seas going around the cape in a 600'ship was not SHIT compared to the 6' seas on my 25' boat. :angel

Linda

Sounds like a scary trip, glad everything turned out ok :angel

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spiderjohn

What size boat were you in? Glad it worked out for you. West Marine has the GPS integrated EPIRBs on sale for $899. From my sailing days I always remember that "the boat can take more than the man".

oldflathead

Congrats James,

You did everything correctly and saved your family. I do agree with your wife, you should have an EPIRB and a functional VHR radio. The next time you feel that cold air on the back of your neck while in the Gulf, you will know what's coming. Also, good words for your wife and kids, they did what you told them and did not panic. They will be back for more fishin' fun.

Tom, 60+ years of fishing, boating and sailing

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weatherman

Yeah, if you feel the cold wind its too late. The cold air is actually outflow from the thunderstorm collapsing, so you are feeling the air from about 30-50 thousand feet up as it is dropping fast. Usually the outflow only lasts for 15-25 minutes and then conditions go back to the way they were before it started. Sometimes you can see the outflow boundry on the radar and you can also see them coming at you a good distance out as well with the old eyeball.