Yeah...But if your heading 30 mi or so or evern 15 miles off shore, wouldn’t you check the weather?
See my post 87. That was a cut and paste off of the NOAA website. If he listened to his VHF for weather, that is to the word of what he heard. 3 to 5 is marginal in that boat, but doable, and doable safely in some 21 footers, even if you have to come back in somewhere other than where your truck and trailer are. My guess, and I heard he had been out a week earlier, he had a nice catch of grouper/snapper (that is about all there is this time of year in that neck of the woods), and wanted a repeat. IF the weather played out as forecast, it probably got to 3 to 6 out of the south...anyway I'm thinking, they all went to the same side of the boat all at once, like a nice fish or something, Or,some sorry a$$ helmsmanship in marginal conditions for that craft. The really "big" weather didn't come until after the good lord was looking at the bottom job.