Oops! Now where did that come from?

Reading the water is one of the cornerstones of good seamanship. In this video the operator may be running a strong, powerful performance boat, but he’s awfully lucky to have made it over a long, cresting swell about to morph into a breaking wave.

Click play to watch.

A few seconds later, and the ending might have been much different. As it was, the last-second launch off the steepening face of the wave was probably not without its bumps and bruises, both to occupants and boat.

A self-righting Coast Guard Motor Lifeboat is designed to take a ton of water crashing onto its foredeck and pilothouse. Pleasure boats have no business being in the surf line. Period.

Keep your eyes open. Give a wide berth to any piece of water where you might encounter breaking waves or overfalls. And, obviously, take particular care transiting inlets when a sea is running.