6’ - 8’ seas @ 12-14 seconds in a 44’ DA?

Thanks again, Fellas. Decided to come back Sunday. Not supposed to be windy, but not worth the chance. Would probably be doable, but cutting the boat in half (aka Divorce) would not be fun…

Untying in an hour. Beats the h*ll out of getting ready for work!
 
Thanks again, Fellas. Decided to come back Sunday. Not supposed to be windy, but not worth the chance. Would probably be doable, but cutting the boat in half (aka Divorce) would not be fun…

Untying in an hour. Beats the h*ll out of getting ready for work!
Hey Ed, where are you seeing such a big swell? I checked the Windy app for Tuesday and it shows a West swell 4' at 11 seconds and a South swell 2' at 15 seconds. The USCG forecast isn't out yet for Tuesday. Monday shows a South swell at 3-5 but no interval information yet.
I did see on the LA weather forecast today the chance of rain early next week from some monsoonal systems.
If the interval is more than double the swell height, you should be ok. So if it is 4' at 11 seconds, it will be lumpy, but doable. I looked at the wind on the app for Tuesday morning and its only 7 knots from the Northwest.
I made the trip from San Diego to San Pedro last summer directly into a 4 to 6' swell and directly into a 15-20 knot wind. It took 3.5 hours going to San Diego. It took 10 hours coming back and the Admiral was pissed.
 
No way I'm leaving the dock if they're calling for 6-8'. I've been in that and bigger but it's wasn't intentional. In the worst case it was supposed to be a nice sunny 2-3', my autopilot kept kicking out. I think the fluxgate couldn't handle the motion but I really don't know. I was taking the waves on the port bow...pitch, roll, and some yaw sometimes when I went over the top of each wave. Trying to stay on course was hard work with out the autopilot.

I had all I could do to stay in the seat, legs splayed out, pushing back into the seat, my ass was pretty stable, the rest of me was side to side on each wave. I had no passengers luckily. I think they would have had to lay flat on the floor or something.
 
Apologies to the OP for a Minor Hijack.

What app are you guys using to see the size swells and intervals?
 
Bouyweather…

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6'-8'? 14 sec? Plan on 8'-12' 6-8 sec. No such thing as 6'-8'. Waves dont follow forecasts and they're all different. Ive been out in 4-6 on a 23 SeaHunt fishing and several were well over 6' and came from varying directions so that 14 seconds apart thing is BS.
 
On my current boat - I would stay in the slip. Yes I have been in bad water before, learned over and over that the boat will handle a lot more than the crew wants to deal with. This would be a butt glued to the seat, no moving around at all trip. Only stand if you have 1-2 hands on something to hang on to.

6-8 seas means some amount of waves will be over 8ft.

Would be very rough, with continual bow stuffing.

The boat could handle it - if its in good condition - will be a very rough ride for the crew.

You didn't mention wave/swell direction versus direction of travel - will make a difference.

No way I would take that on the beam in that boat, that would be a stay in the slip day.

At lower wave/swell heights doubling to compare to interval may be ok, direction of travel big factor. For example 1-3 with 6 sec interval. The numbers in your forecast the interval is below 2x's for the higher wave height. That is a no-go.

As those heights get larger, my tendency is the interval needs to go to 3x's or 4x's - at some point I would be ok with a long interval and following seas. Beam? Nah. Head on, maybe depending on boat and wave/swell direction.
Great advice - I've been there too - never again!
 
6'-8'? 14 sec? Plan on 8'-12' 6-8 sec. No such thing as 6'-8'. Waves dont follow forecasts and they're all different. Ive been out in 4-6 on a 23 SeaHunt fishing and several were well over 6' and came from varying directions so that 14 seconds apart thing is BS.
I used to question the forecast too when I first started running on Lake Superior. Once I learned what the weather terminology actually meant then not so much. When they say 6'... it's the average of the tallest 1/3 of the waves so there could be some bigger stuff.
 
Hi All,

Ended up coming back Sunday AM. Seas were flat calm. We pulled into Mission Bay and spent the last couple days anchored there. Definitely not the same as Catalina, but a nice break nonetheless…

Talked to a bunch of people who came back Monday. Seas weren’t bad at all. Slow rollers, maybe 3-4’.

We came back to San Diego Bay Tuesday AM which requires going a couple of miles offshore and 10 miles or so South. Same seas…. Slow rollers maybe 3’…

Will definitely not rely on Bouy Weather as much going forward. Most of the other sites (like Shortty mentioned) showed a milder forecast. Oh well…. Live and learn.

Thanks for all of your input.

Now back to work to make enough money for the next trip!
 

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