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What's the roughest seas you have been in?

7K views 41 replies 36 participants last post by  DukeS 
#1 ·
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Just wondering what the roughest you guys have ever been out in and what were you on?

Personally, I have been out in a hurricane in 22' seas with the occasional bigger. I work offshore on ships so we head to sea when storms come so we don't break free from the dock and hit things. That time I was on a 300' boat drawing about 13' draft, it was terrible though. No sleep, anchors banging against the hull, everything that was on the walls cabinets or shelves that wasn't secured was all over the floor everywhere. Hard to walk up or down the stairs or get to the bathroom.

Now, in my personal boat, 4-5 and it was terrible. Beat and bang, going slow all the way back to the dock.

Anyway, just curious......
 
#3 ·
True wind driven seas, about 8, maybe occasional 10'. In a 46 Bertram. One of the crew boats along side the rig we were fishing was occasionally blowing his props out of the water. We came on in. After the second time rolling the couch in the salon, we made about a 20 degree change of heading. Another time we put the stern corner under water, and lost the cooler off the fly bridge.
 
#7 ·
for my 1 wedding anniversary my wife and I took a curse. It was they year we had so many hurricanes we started over names with alpha. WELL... we went in between alpha and Wilma. 25'+ seas. we had some crazy times on the ship. it tipped so much the water was coming out of the pool and the chairs around it wound up in the pool. I grew up on a local dive and fishing charter boat never been sea sick. I did that week.
 
#8 ·
Fishing out of a 50 foot Viking in Venezuela,the first day of a three day trip was 8-9 the second day was 10-12 and we barely made it outside of the pass before coming back. Was not able to fish the third.
I remember being in the tower and watching other boats come up the swell and disappear in the trough. It was a long way to travel for such crappy conditions.
 
#10 ·
I was 130 miles south of Cameron Louisiana on a jack up drilling rig in 2003 "Rowan Texas" when hurricane bill came in. I was in the wheel house waiting on my ride in when the helicopter tried to land and was blown off the helipad sideways. The chopper didn't crash but he did radio to the wheel house that we were on our own. Their were twelve of us left out their, working with a skeleton crew at the Tool pushers request we jacked the rig up to a 90' air gap. We spent the storm in the motor room "which was at the bottom of the rig" until we started hearing the waves hit the bottom of the rig. We then started up to the galley on our way out of the tool locker we watched seawater splash about 10' high through a 4" drain valve that was left open. We all prayed.....


Also got hit by lightning while transferring fuel from a bladder bag to the main tank in a '37 Topaz in 2004 during the Memorial Day tournament. We were just south of Ram Powell lost everything but a compass and a loran that was in the tower. It melted the radar, chart plotter, and every light bulb in the boat, but we made it in.....
 
#12 ·
I worked on a longlining boat back in the 80's when I was a teenager for a summer job. It was a 38' single diesel with a crew of three. For 3 days straight we fished in 10'-12' seas. I have never been so seasick in my life but still had to work. That was my last trip.
 
#15 ·
30 to 40 feet my first four years on a Navy experimental destroyer EDE 791 on many trips to bermuda off Cape Hatteraus North Carolina. Stayed sea sick for my entire 20 years. Loved it...
 
#16 ·
Left Little Creek Virginia heading for the Med in the early 90's on the U.S.S. Grasp (ARS-51) while a small hurricane skirted east of Bermuda. The Grasp was small by Navy standards at only 255' x 50' with a 15' draft. The storm was supposed to be cleared out by the time we crossed paths but the weather guessers were wrong and we ended up in 25' - 30' seas.
Somewhere east of Bermuda in the middle of the night a big swell either caught us wrong or was just that damn big, but it damn near tore the work boat out of the port davits which were a good 30 foot above sea level. Bent the hell out of the davits and did a good bit of damage. The good from the bad was we ended up in Bermuda for a couple weeks while repairs were being made which I thoroughly enjoyed.
 
#18 ·
Fishing a head boat out of Pt. Judith Rhode Island, out 45 miles off the ledge and we were swamped in 12 ft. seas. Was fishing a full day boat with my oldest and my youngest brothers. The youngest got sick shortly after we left the dock and stayed that way the entire trip. My other brother and I had the time of our lives catching cod and haddock one after another till we were advised by the captain he was suspending the trip and returning to port due to so many customers being seasick. Made for a long return trip till we cleared the breakers and into the channel. And go figure......., the youngest bro who never wet a line and stayed below deck the entire day went and joined the navy two weeks later and served on a small destroyer, and never got sick again!
 
#21 ·
Easy for me. In 2001 on the USS Nimitz. We were going around the Cape Horn on our way from Norfolk to San Diego near the middle of October. The seas were so big we had waves crashing over the bow of the carrier. We lost over half of our capsules that surround the flight deck and hold the life rafts and even an entire rocket launcher off the forward port side near the flight deck. The whole ship would shudder when the bow would dig in a wave. It was crazy walking around the ship and feeling that big thing rocking the way it was. There were so many people confined to their beds due to sea sickness and this went on for about a week. Rough time I tell you. The ones of us lucky enough to not be sea sick had to stand extra watches to cover the ones who were.
 
#28 ·
Wirelessly posted

15 ' plus every hurricane that hit PCB in the 90's on a surfboard in the pass took the plunge of the city pier a few times rather than paddling thru it.
30' plus USS Juneau super typhoon in 99 or 2000
2006 USS Lake Champlain was walking down the bulkheads in 30' seas off of Baja...
Never got seasick was too busy handing out meclizine! Good times...
 
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