Still Dangerous out there at the wrong times.

[oddfish]

Today was not too bad, I got out on the incoming tide out of Hampton and did my lobsters without fear of turtling the boat the swell that was 4' mostly but the period is about 9-11 seconds and you can see the bigger ones coming....thats when you stop horking up the gear for a few seconds. Coming in was a different story (and I knew it would be) I did not continue to fish for bait as I usually do because I figured the out-going tide would get bad (even in Hampton). I came in 1.5 hours past the tide and it was getting bad even then. What people are not getting is the volume of water coming out of the rivers. The water going out meets the incoming swell and creates huge standing waves. The Merimac is probably in flood stage ,that is many thousands of cubic feet per second it will be a mess for days. Hampton is a much smaller water shed and it is not good right now. Pick you times for entry and exit. The swell is expected to get slightly bigger for another day.
When I came in this after noon I had the boat at 4000 RPMs under the bridge just to keep control, my ground speed was 4.6 kn......Usually I come under the bridge at about 1200-1500 RPMs. Please be careful.

Randy

[fish4life]

Hi Odd

I worked on the Captains Fishing Parties boats in the mid 80's I can remember the mouth on an out going tide with easterly winds. Scary stuff, I remember watching people in smaller boats that over estimated their equipment and abilities. It is not worth the risk!

[Mike M.]

Anytime you have any easterly wind and an outgoing tide it's going to be ugly. Add a big coastal storm that just moved out and it's double trouble. Not too mention the big tides from the moon phase and all the rain. The mouth of the merrimack was still rough as of 7pm today.