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How To Hunt Big Game
What’s your spookiest hunting experience?
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<blockquote data-quote="Noobie" data-source="post: 3033603" data-attributes="member: 127485"><p>Cousin and I were lobstering backside of Anacapa Island. Had to wait until midnight for the opener and then did a night dive to grab some bugs. Got on the weather channel and the Santa Anna winds were already starting to kick up, blowing offshore with gusts to 45 knots, increasing to 65 knots in the morning. My vote was to hole up in the cuddy until afternoon the next day when the winds died down. He had to get back for some reason and talked me into heading home. It is 11 miles or so from the E. end of Anacapa to the harbor entrance, directly upwind, making for an 11 mile 'fetch' to build wind chop. The islands pretty much block the whole bay up there with only a few miles separating them, so wind driven current, or a 6' tide swing trying to fill that bay through the gaps generating enormous currents sucks water from front and back of the islands off each end due to the venturi effect. I've even spun in tidal whirlpools drifting for halibut off of Santa Cruz.</p><p>Anyway, I told him that once we rounded the end of the island there was no way to turn back without turning broadside to the chop and sinking immediately, and we would be sucked away from the island and blown out to sea if things went south. He still wanted to get home so off we went. I figured we could motor in at about 5kts. and slide down the back of the waves, then pop over the top.</p><p>So we rounded the end of the island past the arch and were hit by 8 foot wind chop with about 2 feet of foam on top. 8' chop on 8 second intervals is called a 'square' wave. This was 8' chop on 5 second intervals...</p><p>Instead of sliding down the back of each wave, we dropped 6 or 8 feet or so and landed with a bang, then the bow dug in and as we came up through the wave it flung about 2 solid feet of foam over the windshield. Time to duck!</p><p>Well my boat was a very old 1965 18' glasspar deep vee with a new 65 hp. Yamaha two stroke, and a tiny cuddy cabin up front.</p><p>First order of business was to secure the hatch up front that was banging up and down due to a broken hinge, letting enormous quantities of water pour into the cuddy. I climbed around the windshield on the six inch or so wide 'gunnel onto the bow while my cousin took the helm. About half the bow had a railing to grab onto in front. The plan was to string a line back and forth over the hatch to keep it somewhat closed. All this whilst getting completely submerged every 5 seconds or so.</p><p>Second order of business was to turn on the bilge pump and the bait pump overboad, maybe 10 gpm total. Then, of course I pulled the drain plug out because it was above water level due to the raised deck.</p><p>Next I radioed the harbor patrol and let them know the situation, and asked if there were any ships in the channel. They cruise at about 25 knots and are dead quiet, sometimes pulling a barge with a mile or so of steel cable. Thankfully there were no ships at the time. Obviously the harbor patrol couldn't see us on radar due to the chop.</p><p>So we continued dropping, plowing, and ducking deluges of water every 5 seconds or so. I was hoping the chop would subside by the time we got to the oil rig 3 miles offshore, but no dice. Obviously I kept a close tab on the portable fuel tanks (sloshing around in the stern) in order to swith them prior to running out. Had that Yamaha quit we would have turned broadside and sunk within seconds, which brings up another point. Thanks be to God for Yamaha engineering, it took the whole thing in stride, getting constantly deluged with water and such.</p><p>The glaspar was so named because it has fiberglass 'spars' that separate the hull from the deck, making for positive flotation. No foam. The boat was so old, however, that the deck had all kinds of cracks in it and water just leaked through, filling up the area between hull and deck. There is a small plug to drain that but I couldn't reach it as it was on the outside, the main plug I always put in from the inside.</p><p>Anyway it was pitch black with no moon but thankfully we had radar so could make out the breakwater and slip in behind it. The harbor patrol was there shaking their heads in disbelief. When we got to the ramp a mile or so farther I was unable to pull the trailer out due to all the water in the hull under the deck. It took about 30 minutes or so to drain it out through the small plug.</p><p>My cousin was given strick instructions never to tell the wife about it.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Noobie, post: 3033603, member: 127485"] Cousin and I were lobstering backside of Anacapa Island. Had to wait until midnight for the opener and then did a night dive to grab some bugs. Got on the weather channel and the Santa Anna winds were already starting to kick up, blowing offshore with gusts to 45 knots, increasing to 65 knots in the morning. My vote was to hole up in the cuddy until afternoon the next day when the winds died down. He had to get back for some reason and talked me into heading home. It is 11 miles or so from the E. end of Anacapa to the harbor entrance, directly upwind, making for an 11 mile 'fetch' to build wind chop. The islands pretty much block the whole bay up there with only a few miles separating them, so wind driven current, or a 6' tide swing trying to fill that bay through the gaps generating enormous currents sucks water from front and back of the islands off each end due to the venturi effect. I've even spun in tidal whirlpools drifting for halibut off of Santa Cruz. Anyway, I told him that once we rounded the end of the island there was no way to turn back without turning broadside to the chop and sinking immediately, and we would be sucked away from the island and blown out to sea if things went south. He still wanted to get home so off we went. I figured we could motor in at about 5kts. and slide down the back of the waves, then pop over the top. So we rounded the end of the island past the arch and were hit by 8 foot wind chop with about 2 feet of foam on top. 8' chop on 8 second intervals is called a 'square' wave. This was 8' chop on 5 second intervals... Instead of sliding down the back of each wave, we dropped 6 or 8 feet or so and landed with a bang, then the bow dug in and as we came up through the wave it flung about 2 solid feet of foam over the windshield. Time to duck! Well my boat was a very old 1965 18' glasspar deep vee with a new 65 hp. Yamaha two stroke, and a tiny cuddy cabin up front. First order of business was to secure the hatch up front that was banging up and down due to a broken hinge, letting enormous quantities of water pour into the cuddy. I climbed around the windshield on the six inch or so wide 'gunnel onto the bow while my cousin took the helm. About half the bow had a railing to grab onto in front. The plan was to string a line back and forth over the hatch to keep it somewhat closed. All this whilst getting completely submerged every 5 seconds or so. Second order of business was to turn on the bilge pump and the bait pump overboad, maybe 10 gpm total. Then, of course I pulled the drain plug out because it was above water level due to the raised deck. Next I radioed the harbor patrol and let them know the situation, and asked if there were any ships in the channel. They cruise at about 25 knots and are dead quiet, sometimes pulling a barge with a mile or so of steel cable. Thankfully there were no ships at the time. Obviously the harbor patrol couldn't see us on radar due to the chop. So we continued dropping, plowing, and ducking deluges of water every 5 seconds or so. I was hoping the chop would subside by the time we got to the oil rig 3 miles offshore, but no dice. Obviously I kept a close tab on the portable fuel tanks (sloshing around in the stern) in order to swith them prior to running out. Had that Yamaha quit we would have turned broadside and sunk within seconds, which brings up another point. Thanks be to God for Yamaha engineering, it took the whole thing in stride, getting constantly deluged with water and such. The glaspar was so named because it has fiberglass 'spars' that separate the hull from the deck, making for positive flotation. No foam. The boat was so old, however, that the deck had all kinds of cracks in it and water just leaked through, filling up the area between hull and deck. There is a small plug to drain that but I couldn't reach it as it was on the outside, the main plug I always put in from the inside. Anyway it was pitch black with no moon but thankfully we had radar so could make out the breakwater and slip in behind it. The harbor patrol was there shaking their heads in disbelief. When we got to the ramp a mile or so farther I was unable to pull the trailer out due to all the water in the hull under the deck. It took about 30 minutes or so to drain it out through the small plug. My cousin was given strick instructions never to tell the wife about it. [/QUOTE]
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