I've done stupid things like this, but with a Hobie 16 on way smaller waves. Quite another thing to do it with a cruiser!

click for video

I jumped a 14' roller on a H-16 going about 6' out of the water, BUT I would not be that brave with that *(*)( boat. To expense to repair if rolled over!!!! More money that brains I guess.

Doug

Looks like he was trying to get into port and had no other options except to wait it out. He did a great job.

Honestly, how many of you would have waited hours/days to get in?

That dude's got some brass ones...

Breaking surf in a cruiser? I would sail away to another harbor or try to find some protected anchorage nearby, if any. Worse of the worse, I'd sail off-shore to wait it out.

You're all forgetting the obvious answer: Its not his boat.....

hahah

or, he (or she) has so much $$$ that he (0r she) doesn't care if he (or she) brakes it!

I've sailed at that particular place in the past and those sandbars make some freaky waves, watching the fishermen go in and out during a storm was very entertaining though.

I grew up on "powerboats/private fishingboats" operating through New Jersey Ocean Inlets and have been in/out of all of them at one time or other. The conditions in the video while not common .... do occur often enough. And sometimes nature just turns against you and you find yourself off-shore ... late in the day w/ fading light ... and the fuel guages are telling you that your fuel is limited. Hopefully you are familiar w/ the inlet ... so you develope your plan ... you explain it to everyone on board ... everyone puts on their life jackets and find a good hand-hold .... you get lined up w/ the inlet .... you study the wave sets, hopefully being able to follow a large set in .... and then comes the moment of NO RETURN .... you grab the throttle(s) .... say a prayer .... and put the hammer(s) down ... giving it all the boat has got ....

Harry

I read a quote a few weeks ago that really makes sense here... "When you begin life you are given two buckets, one marked luck which is full, and one marked experience which is empty. The point is to fill the experience bucket before the luck bucket runs out."

I've been in a situation like that before when you just gotta cross your heart, look to the Big Man upstairs, and punch it. However, never in a 40' cruising cat...

It may not appear at first glance to be true (and it may not be) but that big cruising cat does have some advantages ... it's hull are widely spaced while being long and narrow, therefore the boat has alot of directional stability ..... it has very small transoms exposed to the following waves .... and it has a motor. Don't get me wrong, you still need to approach an inlet w/ those conditions very carefully and only get one shot at it ....

VS a sport fishing boat 30-40'lg w/ a wide 15'transom exposed to the following seas but w/ 300-500hp of glorious V8 muscle at your disposal ....

It will/could be "dicey" on either type of boat .....

Most New Jersey inlets are tough when weather conditions pick up ... but Sea Isle Inlet is the toughest (IMHO) as it is a little hole in the beach w/ really short jetties and off-shore sandbars. When the weather gets bad there are breaking waves from 1/4-1/2m off-shore completely closing out the inlet .... the breaking waves travel the whole length of the inlet .... including passing through the highway drawbridge!!!! Yes, there is a low drawbridge that you have to pass through!!!!! A nice little inlet in good weather .... downright dangerous/deadly in nasty weather.

The nearest other attemptable inlets in rough weather are approximently 15m either north or south on the coast .... I navigated it once in only semi-rough conditions ... and don't want to do it ever again!!!

Harry

OK, just making observations as I don't know what I would do unless I were actually in that position...

Would you think the skipper observed the wave action, size, frequency etc for a bit before attempting the entrance? Looking at the size of the boat vs the height of the waves one would surmize that the waves are not large enough to roll a cat that wide. If it was a mono it would be another story. If the boat/skipper were experienced enough with each other the capabilities would be somewhat known. Maybe while sailing offshore he surfed waves as large or larger and knows how his boat handles and has done it enough to be confident of his handling in that situation. So given that information couldn't the skipper have though "another day on the water, lets go home!"

Just thoughts, my Stiletto won't be doing that entrance!

Clayton

The owner/skipper said he waited for hours observing the conditions before taking advantage of a smaller set of waves. He decided to gun the $400k cat in rather than travel 30k's north and have to sail back down inside the Gold Coast Broadwater. The cat was sailed to the GC to be put up for sale and got heaps of publicity from the free news coverage.

There is a detailed account of this bar crossing in the Sept/Oct edition of Australian Multihull World. Unfortunately I can't find an electronic version to post here. So here is a quick summary.
The owner/skipper has done eight years cruising on this boat up and down the Australian East Coats including many bar crossings and voyages across Bass Strait. He has significant previous experience and a Coxswains ticket and had recently done a two day formal course on bar crossing. His two crew members are also very experienced in offshore conditions - one with fifty years.
Leading up to this crossing they had come from Sydney to the Gold Coast in a couple of days including two overnighters. There was a low building in the Tasman Sea providing an incentive for them to seek calmer water. On ariving at the Gold Coast seaway in late afternoon they looked at conditions and contacted the local Marine rescue organisation. It didn't look good and a decision was reached to travel 60nm further north to round Moreton Island and come back down the indise to reach their destination. However soon after, Marine Rescue advised conditions were moderating. So then a process of assessment started and continued throughout the night where they would observe the waves on the bar at close range every few hours and go back out to sea. Tide was an issue and it was decided not to attempt a crossing during dark even though the moon was reasonable. At 9.00am the next morning a large monslug motor cruiser attempted the crossing and made it. radio contact and observation showed they had made it but only just. The cat, after carefully observing wave sets for a long time made the crossing shown in the video. An evealuation afterwards concluded that experience and preparation as well as the suitability of the cat contributed to the success. Would they do it again in the same circumstances - yes.

Cheers
John Dowling