A matter of safety
October 29th 2006 18:46
I have just read on another site I attend, about one of our members fishing on lake Macquarie this last weekend. He was chasing a particular kind of fish and as he tried one spot then another and again another, he gradualy moved further and further away from the boat ramp and the safety it offered.
Hardly a challenge to an experienced fisherman and boater who has a a good reliable engine and a strong hull.
Well the fishing Gods were not smiling on him though he did land a couple of great fish. Not the ones he was hunting but then that doesn't go to plan all the time. He had a good feed of fish.
Suddenly it was time to go home and he was almost ten nautical miles from his departure point. He had plenty of fuel but the wind had picked up It was blowing around forty knots which is almost eighty kilometres an hour. The wind itself was not a problem but it is the wind that causes waves.
As the wind blows across the water, the friction causes the water to move and in no time there are wind ripples. The further the wind blows across the water (called wind fetch) the higher the waves start to rise. The further the waves have to run (called wave fetch) the more chance they have to develop in size. The stronger the wind the more chance of high waves.
Wave speed is equivalent to wind speed but for some reason, (lucky for us) the speed of the waves is limited to twenty knots. The lake is about fourteen nautical miles long at its longest measurable point. That allows for a lot of fetch.
Our intrepid fisho has now a long hard slog to get home. A 4.5 metre boat without cover and the waves having the tops blown off them. White water everywhere and waves at about a metre in height. Life jacket on! Stow everything loose in the boat so it is stable. Adjust the speed of the boat to the safety factor required. try not to soil yourself. At this point he is soaked to the skin, not a drop of rain just spray from the waves. The waves are close together, not far apart as is the case out at sea. Close, hard, tall chop. He hides behind an island briefly but he is cold and wet through so elects to motor on.
No catastrophy, no disaster as he got home to be able to write his fishing report and show some photos of his catch. But he was one scared little puppy for a brief time. What saved him was experience, seamanship and the knowledge that his boat was tough, his engine well serviced and motoring at a speed relative to the safety of the boat. Wearing his life jacket or PFD would also have given him some small measure of comfort.
To look at the lake as I do now from my window, it is a millpond. Smooth as glass. It does not take long to change all that and a small distraction like catching few fish to disturb your thoughts enough that you miss the signs of a weather change.
Hardly a challenge to an experienced fisherman and boater who has a a good reliable engine and a strong hull.
Well the fishing Gods were not smiling on him though he did land a couple of great fish. Not the ones he was hunting but then that doesn't go to plan all the time. He had a good feed of fish.
Suddenly it was time to go home and he was almost ten nautical miles from his departure point. He had plenty of fuel but the wind had picked up It was blowing around forty knots which is almost eighty kilometres an hour. The wind itself was not a problem but it is the wind that causes waves.
As the wind blows across the water, the friction causes the water to move and in no time there are wind ripples. The further the wind blows across the water (called wind fetch) the higher the waves start to rise. The further the waves have to run (called wave fetch) the more chance they have to develop in size. The stronger the wind the more chance of high waves.
Wave speed is equivalent to wind speed but for some reason, (lucky for us) the speed of the waves is limited to twenty knots. The lake is about fourteen nautical miles long at its longest measurable point. That allows for a lot of fetch.
Our intrepid fisho has now a long hard slog to get home. A 4.5 metre boat without cover and the waves having the tops blown off them. White water everywhere and waves at about a metre in height. Life jacket on! Stow everything loose in the boat so it is stable. Adjust the speed of the boat to the safety factor required. try not to soil yourself. At this point he is soaked to the skin, not a drop of rain just spray from the waves. The waves are close together, not far apart as is the case out at sea. Close, hard, tall chop. He hides behind an island briefly but he is cold and wet through so elects to motor on.
No catastrophy, no disaster as he got home to be able to write his fishing report and show some photos of his catch. But he was one scared little puppy for a brief time. What saved him was experience, seamanship and the knowledge that his boat was tough, his engine well serviced and motoring at a speed relative to the safety of the boat. Wearing his life jacket or PFD would also have given him some small measure of comfort.
To look at the lake as I do now from my window, it is a millpond. Smooth as glass. It does not take long to change all that and a small distraction like catching few fish to disturb your thoughts enough that you miss the signs of a weather change.
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