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- I'm a Fish!
Glad to hear everyone survived the ordeal and hope there are no serious injuries.
Following seas (waves from behind) are one of the most dangerous conditions to pilot a boat in. If the waves are travelling faster than the boat, they can easily catch the stern and cause the boat to broach (turn sideways to the waves). That makes it an easy job for the next wave to roll the boat over. If, as previously mentioned, the first wave came over the stern, that would place a large amount of water on deck making the boat even more unstable. Under these conditions a 10' wave could capsize a 40 or even 50' boat.
If you ever find yourself in these conditions....
1. Don't do the inlet unless you have to. Find a safer inlet or wait it out at anchor.
2. Make sure you have enough power to outrun the waves. Not that you want to, but you need reserve power for the unexpected.
3. Time your entry so that you are riding in on the backside of the wave and your bow is pointed up. Sliding down the wave you cannot control your speed and are at the mercy of the waves. (Waves show no mercy, ever!)
4. Stay with the wave, no faster, no slower, until you're all the way through.
Good solid advice. Over the years I have seen two boats get rolled in conditions like this.
Once in the St. Lucie inlet. (Up there they call the wave action like this in the inlet "standing men".) An open fish was headed out the inlet. Conditions were bad in the inlet, but not too bad once you got out of the effect. The guy running the boat decided he didn't want to go out, and tried to turn around in the middle of the inlet. THIS IS NEVER A GOOD IDEA. He got rolled, and we pulled them out of the water.
The second boat was in the Boynton inlet. Young kids who didn't know what they were doing. They ended up in the water clinging to a wake board. They were getting battered up against the sea wall. A 45' sport fish made the most spectacular rescue I have ever seen. The captain backed right up to the seawall at a high speed. At the last second he threw it in forward and held the boat in position while a crew member pulled the kids in.