What is the worst weather you have been in?

[B.C.]

While we were out fishing today in flat conditions I got to thinking about some of the days and nights we have spent offshore. One day going out of Oregon Inlet the boat in front of us went thru the second wave of a three wave set. It tore the hatch covers off the bow of a 50 footer and put a foot of water in the boat. The owner, a judge from Greensboro was not to happy when he awakened by the water coming down on him. The worst night we had was in the deep of the Wilmington on a night that was forecast to be 10-15kts with 2-4’ seas. I started that way but the wind increased all night and along with it the seas. When the sun came up there was us and another boat drifting in 8-10’ seas. We have fished many rough days out of hatteras but a 20 mile run is much better than a 70 mile run.

[jemche]

not worst weather but worst seas were in 06 white marlin open. incredible boat wake up to 30 miles out. i was in a 26' glacier bay and we passed 3/4 of big boats going out out. we saw some boats get covered up in water from boat wakes. they must have thought we were crazy in that little boat. of course that same day we ran 92 miles and did not see a fish and coming back had to go in w/ no steering(had to steer w/ throttles).it was lots of fun!

worst weather: fishing out of oregon inlet on a rockfishing trip around new years. we were in big carolina boat.(do not remeber much about boat, i was very young.)all of the sudden the captain starts slowing down. then he starts going fulll throttle.i guess he timed it right. it was one HUGE wave. still can not believe we did not flip. a radio fell on my head and many other things feel down... IT WAS A HUGE WAVE!

[ReelCatch]

When I was 14 years old and it was my first trip to the Hudson canyon. My dad bought a 31' North Coast. We trolled from 9am to 4pm with not a single touch. We stayed about an hour too long and got hammered by a steady cadence of six-foot southwest seas on the 75 mile trip back to Jones inlet with ugly 6-8s in the inlet but the boat ran great.

On June 15 2002, we fished Freeport Hudson Angler shark tournament. We were one of a very small handful of boats that made it out past 35 miles. We were in twelve foot seas with the occasional 15 footer and we turned back to inlet. A 25' boat was missed. The four fishermen was dead. People that fished the tournament were a little pissed and said it should of been put off until Sunday. Freeport Hudson Angler should have NEVER gave this tournament a GO!

[norter79]

excluding a 5 minute ride out the inlet in 30-35 knots of northeast wind when we first got the boat, thursday(12/6) was the worst for any extended period of time.

ran the boat from rudee to oregon inlet outside(and then on to morehead on the pamlico sound). trip of 67nm and the duck pier observations are as follows...

14-16m/s of average continuous wind speed... that's 27-31 knots.. there were gusts to 36.

between 7am-11am, the average wave height of nearby stations were 6.8-8ft at 5.3-5.4 seconds..

it was on our stern and the boat exceeded my expectations but it wasn't fun in a 36 foot boat.

i've been in 10-12s in the boat but they were spaced over 10+ seconds.. this tight slop was much much worse.

[B.C.]

We were coming back from Florida one year and left Morehead city on a day like that only we were running into it. I never saw so much white water in my life. It was raining in the bridge we were taking so much spray running 18kts. I was happy to see the woods on the other side of the sound. Ran up to Norfolk that night.

[Talbot29]

This may not count but the worst weather I was in a boat/ship was hurricane Wilma. My wife and I took our first and last cruise to celebrate our 20 anniversary. The worst of it was when we hit the edge of the storm with sustained winds of 100 mph. Waves were breaking over the bow of the 1,100 ft cruise ship. It was awsome to be in that weather in a boat that could handle it. I've never seen so much public vomiting in my life.

The worst while fishing was a couple of years ago off Hatteras in my old 27 Grady CC. A big storm hit at 15 miles out as we were coming in from offshore. The gusts had to have been over 50kts as sh!t was blowing out of the boat that wouldn't blow out while trailering. The boat did great but we got soaked doing 10 kts through the slop. I couldn't tell you what the exact size but they were bigger than we should have been out in...

[Reeltitanium]

I was 18 years old full of piss and vinegar when I took a job as 2nd mate on a 76' steel hulled trawler,8 knots great fuel burn though,I kissed my girl good bye at the fuel dock at Red Hook,St. Thomas and climbed into the tender headed for the mighty "High Sea's Hunter" the name should have been my first clue. Got underway at about 4pm headed for the canal with a bearing of all ahead full for the canal with no stops in between. Anyway long trip short story I never knew how much and how tall all that water could get! Once we arrived and our slot to enter the canal opened up I spent the entire passage tightening every nut,bolt and screw on that thing! The Pacific side and our arrival in the then virgin waters of Costa Rica made it all worth while. Dropped anchor at 3:17 pm November 11, 1978 in Santa Elena CR home to the clearest blue water I've ever seen to this day. Since this area is just south of the border with Nicaragua home of the Sandinistan (sp?) Army and the AK 47. Anyway maybe I'll bore you with my tales of rolling seas and Gulf of Papagayo winds that blow from about December to March,Tales of still unidentified fish etc... ahhhhh the good old days!

[fat2na.com]

In November or 1991, on the Grand Banks on a 72' steel hull longliner, 90 knot winds and 30' seas. They were fairly spread out but we were working the deck during it, it was insane! At 18 years old everybody thinks they're pretty much indestructable.
Also, in 1999 I got caught in a microburst in a 35' Cabo, that was really hairy, the seas weren't that big, maybe 8'ers or so but the wind was over 100mph, it lasted about 15 minutes, that was pretty insane as well. The wind ripped off all of the enclosure as well as tore off the rub rail.

[Deep C]

Jeeze... I wouldn't know where to begin. Down here in summer we get a special breed of thunderstorm almost every day. Some are run of the mill boomers with some wind then there are some that make you wish you were plowin fields in the midwest instead of being there. Down bursts pushing 100kts, windshear colse to the same, water spouts all come into play along with lightning that can register 5000 strikes an hour thats almost two a second.
I've done quite a bit at Cape point off South Africa and there it is commonly blowin 40 plus and seas with swell run 30fott even to 40 foot if the "cape doctor" comes calling. The "cape doctor" is a southeasterly win that can pop up out of nowhere. It funnels through the mountain passes and dumps into the Atlantic at places like Clifton or Camps Bay at 100-130mph...
Some storms have stood out as special though. One off Palm Beach caught me on a summer day. I was only wearing shorts that day. I had picked a few school dolphin and saw it comming. No biigie. Or so I thought... This one was packin quarter sized hail and welted me but good as well as a bolt of lightning blasting my antenna into "feathers". Another had a down burst pushing a hundred that lifted my skiff and threw me about thrirty yards on each gust for a couple minutes.
A waterspout drilled me straight on while anchored catching bait off Key Largo. That one was not really bad but interesting...
I had a bitchy one catch me just out side the bay bridge tunnel while running a boat north and on the same boat. We caught a line of lighting bolts coming back from the Washington Canyon one day that had me conviced that I had a glimpse of Hell itself...