I you’ve never experienced a storm at sea, this YouTube video will give you an idea of what it’s like. Once you’re in a storm like this, you just pray that everything keeps working and the people who built your ship knew what they were doing (and over built it for extra life insurance).
There’s no place to run and no way to hide from a storm — you just ride it out. I’ve been there, done that. I don’t want to do it again any time soon.
I fished for snapper in a 32 footer built on a Greek sponge boat hull design . We messed around in 1961 and had to ride out most of Hurricane Esther at sea. We got 90 knots of wind and 36 foot seas. It’s not something you forget.
Caught between two typhoons in the PAC on Independence we took whitewater over the bow - had to pull my forward lookouts in even though they were tied down they were getting pummeled all to hell.
Wind picked up to 80 kts from 20 so fast they didn’t have time to fold the blades on the rescue helo - so when the wind hit 120 it folded the front blade for us straight back over the top.
One of the Japanese destroyers with us lost their mast - whole antenna structure thing whoosh gone. One of our boys sonar dome was destroyed and another escort lost a radar. This would’ve been ‘93 I think maybe early ‘94.
She’s beautiful but when the dander is up watch out boys she’s not to be taken lightly
Well there’s plenty to think about and do whilst “riding it out,” but the problem is it takes five hundred times longer and seems to average 1.5 personal injuries per task!
No room for tall tales when you’re looking at the actual footage. A fellow - a relatively new sailor - the other day was telling me how he was in “sustained sixty knot winds” for almost two days. I’ve been in some heavy stuff but that kind of weather is the stuff of the roaring 40s and BIG, rare storms.
Just for kicks I checked his dates and location. He was off by, oh, more than half.
I’ve heard more tall tales about weather and waves than I have about fish!