When it goes wrong!

[Lite Tackle]

Be safe out there.

 

[HTHM]

So armchair pilots, what did he do wrong?

 

[wrxhoon]

It looks like he was trimmed all the way down and probably trim tabs all the way down and when the wave pushed him she dived in.
Going with the waves you should be trimmed up and tabs up as well.

 

[DennisG01]

Ideally, ride the back of the first wave all the way in (the one that ended up pushing his stern). He backed off power and may have had the trim down as Hoon mentioned. If you're gonna skip from wave to wave, got keep things trimmed up - and keep the power on to keep the bow up. I think backing off power was the mistake that did him in, though.

 

[Fishtales]

That thing was driven into the wave and it was over quick. It's all timing, ride the crest. Still that thing went down awfully fast and sank like a rock. Hope he got his deposit back on all those cans. I'd say he's moving on to car collecting.

 

[SkunkBoat]

His mistake was not waiting a couple hours for the tide to slow down.
I don't care how long you've been running boats..that boat was too small to be running those standing waves.
It wasn't just a couple at the mouth of the inlet that you could get by quick

A life jacket would have been a good idea too

 

[Fishtales]

agree but man that was scary how fast she went down.

 

[ScottyCee]

What you guys are saying about the trim makes sense. I was wondering if that thing had already taken on a lot of water.

 

[mleads310]

That nose looked very low from the start, then to make matters worse he rode the front of the wave. That's nuts

 

[wrxhoon]

What you guys are saying about the trim makes sense. I was wondering if that thing had already taken on a lot of water.

You could be on to something there.

 

[Polapea]

No tabs and ride the back of the wave. I’m amazed at the number of people that will surf waves going into an inlet. That’s the easiest way to do exactly what this guy did.

 

[Capt Tom]

My previous boat had low freeboard and little flare in the bow. Sometimes l would take one over the bow when I came off a plane in choppy waters. I do the same thing with my Grady and no problem.

 

[Harpoon]

I'd almost bet he had water in his hull that he wasn't aware of. Those conditions were a little sporty but typical for many inlets and shouldn't have posed that much of a challenge. I tend to ease off on the way down and angle slightly into the oncoming to avoid stuffing the bow.....

 

[Fishtales]

Just watched again... What went wrong?
Too many coldies, a wet hull and some ill timed waves. Thank goodness there were people around to help him out. Hopefully a GW would level float or at least turtle and give you something to hang on to.

 

[INSURANCEMAN]

To me the boat looked like it was sinking already. I mean as soon as he backed off the boat went down and not up really...she had to have water in her.

 

[DennisG01]

'Course this is all a bit conjecture, but I don't think there was water in the boat. The wave spacing was very short - when he came over the first wave and backed off, the wave immediately lifted his stern which, according to Netwon's 3rd law , consequently lowered the bow and the wave in front of him was so close that his bowgot snagged and started to bury.

If that boat was 5' longer, we may not have been discussing this as the boat would have spanned the two waves instead of getting caught.

 

[SkunkBoat]

Yep..THAT boat should not have been trying that...especially without a lifejacket.
Open center console with low bow and no freeboard...If he was outbound in that boat he would have sunk too. He would be stuffing that bow into the face of the next wave.

I agree that he never seems to have his bow up. You would want to see him riding the back/top of the incoming swell with his bow high.
Those waves weren't really moving inward much and the current is really cranking.
He should have stayed up top on that last one even though it was going slow. Once he came off the top he was done.

Again, in an hour or two it would have been perfectly safe.

 

[HTHM]

This has been a very instructional thread, thank you all.

 

[ScottyCee]

Look at the very beginning. At best that guy has his motors all the way down and is burying the nose, and I wouldn't be surprised if trim tabs were making it worse. That thing just isn't riding right.

 

[Toothpick 10]

Looks to me that he was taking on water and had a full bilge prior to the sinking. That boat was riding way too low to the water with hardly any free board. That would also explain why it sunk so quickly and did not turtle.