VIDEO: They were lucky the wave usually wins
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.
