Bar crossing goes wrong

[bowl]

Most people start small n build up to harder bar crossings.
Other people get to cocky to soon n eat it...
Think if you grew up swimming or surfing fishing in surf beaches that will give you good knowledge for reading wave patterns. .

[bowl]

Friendly tip to all:


Buy a jetski and turn scary bar crossings into a safe and fun experience for all!

Just as dangerous as being in a boat if you have no experience in crossing a bar

bowl, that is the key word that repeats itself in most posts through this thread , , , , experience

Cheers, Bug

Experience! How do you get it?

Mostly by doing stuff, like going over bars and talking to people who have more experience, watching, but by the end of the day, it comes down to actually doing it.

Another forum, referred to Port Phillip bay as the gay bay, yet PPB has claimed numerous lives over the years. I've been on the bay when there are waves of at least 2 metres in height and I didn't sink my boat, It was challenging to get back to the boat ramp, requiring a zig zag course.

Take for example Port Phillip heads, to gain experience about crossing the heads, I went on a charter, then did a rip tour with https://www.orcv.org.au/training/rip-to ... llip-heads.

I have been in and out of the heads a few times now, but still don't feel 100% comfortable with it.

Just this year at Portland, a cool change came through earlier than forecast, life jackets on and we headed back to Portland from Cape Bridgewater, the swell and waves were a following sea, and as we came around Lawerence Rock, it meant crossing that sea at an angle, not exactly comfortable.

A lot of this was keeping the speed just right, and having the boat trimmed correctly.

Keeping the speed just right, meant not too fast that we overtook waves and not too slow that they would catch the boat.

Prob do the rip tour myself....never knew it existed to know ... :thumbsup:

[frozenpod]

Just general water experience of dealing with waves helps a lot too.

The more hrs you have the more you will learn and the better prepared for bars etc.

Watching other people stuff ups is also a great way to learn as well as bar specific courses.

[Bugatti]

Some people may laugh but the Patterson River entrance into Port Phillip bay is classified as a bar. In certain conditions, decent size waves can be present at the entrance.

For example, if there has been a bit of rain and large volumes of water are flowing out of the Patterson River with an outgoing tide and a westerly wind. The entrance can be shallow from sand build up and that makes it worse.

On two occasions I have buried the bow of my boat into waves whilst exiting that entrance. Getting absolutely drenched on one occasion as the clears were pushed in.

Entering the Patterson River on these occasions, also have a challenge, as the outgoing water/tide meets waves travelling west to east, this creates pressure waves and entering the river a boat can broach.

I totally agree Wolly.

Some places that may not seem hazardous are in certain conditions, very hazardous. Hence local knowledge is extremely valuable.

Here in Adelaide, the busiest Ramp is North Haven. When boating and cruising North or returning from North, you have to round the end of the Outer Harbour Breakwater.

After a high tide, the water flows out of the deep Outer Harbour Channel (Port River) at some knots. Also the tide flow comes from the North, from the top of St Vincent Gulf. Add in a Southerly wind which is the predominant wind in SA, especially with the summer afternoon sea-breezes.

It all churns up at the end of the Breakwater and with local knowledge, you would take a wide birth from there. Most inexperienced don't. I haven't heard of any capsizing there BUT the boat gets knocked about and injuries to crew are common.

Regards, Bug

[Wolly Bugger]

For the uninitiated; Broaching occurs when either a wave catches the boat and lifts the stern or you go over the crest and the bow points to the trough.

What happens is that the stern wants to travel faster than the bow, basically creating a corkscrew effect, that tries to push the boat sideways. Sideways or beam on, is not a position to be in with waves as it becomes easier to tip the boat over or get swamped.

I generally have the bow trimmed up and if my boat starts to broach, I back off the power to regain control. Each boat will have a different solution. but in my case with my boat, if I applied more power, it makes the situation worse.

[re-tyred]

If you are going to apply more power then you need to do it before the wave gets to your stern. If your stern is up and bow down power power will push the bow under and you turn into a submarine. When we are surveying the shallow entrances like Anderson's and Port Albert we get into this situation a lot. We have to survey at a max of 12knt and stay within one MTR of a line drawn on our monitors. This leads to a lot of looking over the shoulder to watch for breakers catching up. On the jetskis we turn off the recording accelerate quickly before the breaker catches up the flick around back thru the sea and restart. On the larger semi displacement vessel we can't exceed 9 knts at any time, including surfing a wave. Technique for it is the same as on other displacement vessels. If the wave is big enough to be a threat, ad soon as the stern lifts, we go hard astern and slow the vessel. Often get a lot of water on over the stern but far better than broaching.

[frozenpod]

For the uninitiated; Broaching occurs when either a wave catches the boat and lifts the stern or you go over the crest and the bow points to the trough.

What happens is that the stern wants to travel faster than the bow, basically creating a corkscrew effect, that tries to push the boat sideways. Sideways or beam on, is not a position to be in with waves as it becomes easier to tip the boat over or get swamped.

I generally have the bow trimmed up and if my boat starts to broach, I back off the power to regain control. Each boat will have a different solution. but in my case with my boat, if I applied more power, it makes the situation worse.

Another way to look at it is the bow digging in. Boats with fine entry are more likely to dig in and broach.

Hull design, weight distribution, trim, motor height, all play a part in how sensitive boats are to broaching.

[Wolly Bugger]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGtQ5OVo8_0

This video shows a boat trying to become a submarine.

[Wolly Bugger]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCQ6Nxj3cHM

Boats broaching, there is a youtube video of a hard top coming in and it broaches and runs along the face of the wave missing the entrance.

[frozenpod]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGtQ5OVo8_0

This video shows a boat trying to become a submarine.

Another good one. I am pretty sure this was deliberately done for some sort of demo.