bar crossings

[rubba]

tell us about youre hairy trips across bars and what you have learnt from trips thanks maybe we can all learn something8-)

[Far side]

tell us about youre hairy trips across bars and what you have learnt from trips thanks maybe we can all learn something8-)


Hey dale have you been out through that bar since bill's BC course

[bastard]

I have never really had any scarry crossings, but i did read somewere that anchors jumping out of anchor wells and catching propellors was common for first timers.

[Reel Magic]

I went to Fraser Island about 3 weeks ago,

On the 3rd day I was heading out through the gutter when we needed to cross on the incoming waves, I crossed the first, only about a 1m swell on an angle and had up a bit of speed due to not alot of depth in that area, as I came over the back of the wave on an angle to soften the dip, My engine stalled side on to the next wave coming at me. :o
First time it has ever stalled on me and I think the leg touched the sand which may have contributed to it stalling, and being cold however it has never stalled before.
All of a sudden we had some dirty undies and my mate is yelling at me go!, I'm saying I'm starting it!!
I had to trim down at the same time as I was starting it as i was trimmed up a fair height due to being very shallow at the time.

One small swell came through us side on, I think if it was much bigger she would have turned over, it broke not far past where we were, maybe a couple of meters, - she fired and I smacked that girl on the Ass something shocking and had us back on the plane where she belongs and got over the next wave to some safe ground. Phew!! (We didn't even get wet in the Cruise Craft with high sides they have) legs were shaky at that however I kept my cool, had picked the smaller swell's to tackle and that is what safe boating is all about,
We went and got a feed had a good day and dealt with the 3.5m swell offshore b4 returning home nice and safe as we all like to do.

Cheers Ryan.

[Dirtysanchez]

Strewth Ryan, did you chuck your undies over the side once you got out to smooth waters ?

[Reel Magic]

I think it was lucky I kept my cool,
I would suggest many would panic, next thing you know engine is flooded, then it is all over, hard to keep your head under these circumstances but you need to.

I was just glad I hadn't done anything really stupid to put us in that predicament and then roll her over, that would have really sucked.

Cheers Ryan.

P.S. Would love for some guys to be brutally honest who have rolled them over on a bar so we can learn from their experiences also, I know there would be some here.

[rubba]

yes mate went out through jumpinpin last week end on sat at the top of the tide allwent well and plotted gps marks out mate how have you been outside of south pasage been catching any farside

[rubba]

great story reel magic just shows what can happen and lucky you had a cool head mate

[seastorm]

Has anyone come close to hitting the Rufus King when crossing the South Passage Bar?

[finding_time]

Has anyone come close to hitting the Scottish Prince when crossing the South Passage Bar?


Not even close!!! But as the scothish prince is basically east off sea world:P it probably the Rufus king your refering to;)

Ian

[rubba]

sea storm you are talking about the rufus king and who goes out that way.there are 3 ways 2 cross that bar.

[tunaticer]

I was coming back into Eurimbula Creek near 1770 right on sunset one night after chasing macks and tuna all arvo. The tide was going out at around 8-10 knots and i was heading into it. No problem, its a fairly easy bar to cross wihtout any big rollers or anything so i sat on the back of a wave in my 4.1m veepunt and was coasting in nicely........until my motor snagged on a submerged tree heading outand i was being dragged out tail first into half metre whitewash coming over the stern. The gearbox caught in the fork of the main branch and i could not lift the outboard to get the tree off the leg.
Ended up we grounded out pretty hard and had a tinny over half full of water and a dropping tide.
I jumped out and so did the mate and we manhandled the tree caught in the sand in the dark till the motor came free...took about ten mins and a lot of washing around in the whitewash. The boat was barely floating so I pulled the bungs and started the motor again and jumped aboard as matey sat right on the point of the bow and i gave it enuff revs to move forward and we eventually caught the wash on our tail and helped push us accross the bar and into the channel inside. I kept it driving forward doing large loops for about 20 mins and had the bilge working trying to get water out. As soon as I could get it to plane i beached the boat straight up as far as it would go then dragged it another foot before setting the anchor in the sand.

Was a rather scary half an hour before we got the boat into the channel and to safety. Sometimes the dangers are not the sands or the waves and I don't know how you could prevent something like this happening again if you cant see it.

Jack.

[Angla]

Hey Jack, thats a great story that shows when you need to do something to survive, you just do it.
I think you must have kept a level head amongst the panic and its fantastic you had a great outcome.


For my experience- it was the centre channel on the south passage bar. I followed the marks outwards to the dogleg and turned for the final mark. It just seemed stupid to be heading for white water when the better water was 25-30 degrees more north but I figured it was a depth issue. I travelled more slowly as it was a pretty good weather day and decided not to listen to the GPS Mark but to listen to my head. Glad I did as it proved the flat water was deeper and the heading would have taken me towards the shallow bar to the south.
I don't mind saying that the distance between the correct line and the gps mark would have been 80 metres.

Chris

[Far side]

yes mate went out through jumpinpin last week end on sat at the top of the tide allwent well and plotted gps marks out mate how have you been outside of south pasage been catching any farside

Yes mate but I dont post them too much flack when you catch a few fish. Have been watching the weather this week its purfect

The boat is in getting clears fitted and off to trimax for an autopilot should be in the water on saturday

[Far side]

I don't mind saying that the distance between the correct line and the gps mark would have been 80 metres.

Chris[/quote]

Your right about this channel its changed we went through it about a week ago and some big ones lept up in front followed a more northerly track where there was no lift . You need to make that split second decision follow the marks or read the water. it is definately deeper on a more northerly track and safer

[Jeremy]

I have been over on the Caloundra bar coming in, good conditions, late morning. Had trouble picking the channel and was mucking around waiting for a swell to follow in. I found one and was waiting for it to pass me so I could follow it, but it kept building and building and picked me up rather than passing underneath me, and we rolled.

I have also had a couple of near misses, one in the southport seaway, and one in South Passage.

I learned alot from that.
1. never ever take a bar crossing lightly
2. make sure everything is secured so it doesn't fly around if you get airborne
3. check there is enough fuel in the tank to make it through
4. always take back marks on the bar as you depart, or at least a GPS mark, as it is much harder to pick the channel from outside the bar
5. never muck around in the bar. When you make a decision to go, GO!

Jeremy

[Getout]

Rolled a 4m open tinny on the Noosa Bar 15 yrs ago. It was 4hrs old. We were just careless. Tide too low, missed the channel, wave up the bum, leg hit the sand, over she went. Managed to save everything but a towel(including the car keys).
Righted it on the sand bank, bailed it out, got towed to shore. Removed the spark plugs from the 25 Merc and pulled the starter for a while. Put the plugs in and off we went as if nothing had happened.
I'm more careful these days. although I have been out many times when i probably should have turned around and gone home.

[wadeo]

Gday guys was up noosa bar a few weeks ago to see a salvage of a 6m roughly haines signature being dragged out of the bar. My first thought was is everyone ok. the coast gaurd told me it happened the night before. scary to think this could happen to anyone. Have had plenty of near misses myself in my previous cruise craft. think i'll do bill's bar crossing coarse before getting excited about any more bars as i'm spoilt with moloolaba's deep entry/exit.
wadeo

[Noelm]

gees any crossing on a NSW bar is "intersting" especially if there is any swell at all

[seatime]

Has anyone got first hand details about a recent incident on a bar crossing course on the South Passage Bar where someone had their leg badly broken?
Apparently the incident is under investigation, not sure how long such an investigation takes before the results are released.

[Sea-Dog]

Has anyone got first hand details about a recent incident on a bar crossing course on the South Passage Bar where someone had their leg badly broken?
<snip>

Ever heard of a leg "nicely" broken? ;)

[seatime]

Ever heard of a leg "nicely" broken? ;)

no, never heard of a "nicely" broken term used to describe a fracture. some are worse than others though. maybe in an orthopedic dictionary ?

about 12 yrs ago I broke my leg in 2 places, I reckon 1 place would have been better , it was onboard a boat too, another story tho. ;)
compound fractures aren't as nice as spiral fractures either, imo. :(

[GBC]

Some scary chat going on about following gps marks through bars in here.

I agree wholeheartedly with Jeremy - take a backsight for the outside entry point, but that's it.

I assume the 'centre' channel is the old trawler channel?:-X

The 'pin bar is a classic for changes in it's nature - you might head out on a 3/4 in tide and follow what you perceive to be a good enough line and drive straight over the outer bank that you probably didn't even notice.

Coming home and the onshore breeze has kicked, the tide is almost out, and that track you laid in the gps this morning to save your arse is now all but worthless because the outer is now a beautiful sucky 5 foot right hander.:-/ What do you do now?

[Far side]

Some scary chat going on about following gps marks through bars in here.

I agree wholeheartedly with Jeremy - take a backsight for the outside entry point, but that's it.

I assume the 'centre' channel is the old trawler channel?:-X

The 'pin bar is a classic for changes in it's nature - you might head out on a 3/4 in tide and follow what you perceive to be a good enough line and drive straight over the outer bank that you probably didn't even notice.

Coming home and the onshore breeze has kicked, the tide is almost out, and that track you laid in the gps this morning to save your arse is now all but worthless because the outer is now a beautiful sucky 5 foot right hander.:-/ What do you do now?
Turn tail and come home by the seaway better to be safe than sorry

[bastard]

I nearly hit the rufus king when i was about 15 years old i allways told my parents i was crabing beetween amity and one mile but most of the time we would stop and catch squid up in front of letherlands at amity and go around to shag for a fish and come back ,we only had 10 foot tinies with little outboards but we didnt no any better,that was back in the good old days ,we didnt even use crab pots back then.

[Ian1]

Few years back I was trying to get into yellow patch at Cape Capricorn in my 7m Caribbean. It was flat weather but there was a big swell rolling in from a cyclone somewhere offshore. The swell wasn't really causing us a problem but the water was too shallow as we got there a bit late on the tide.
We were just noseing up to the bar checking out the water depth and I was thinking 'na thats way to shallow'. Next thing the back of the boat comes up and we're starting to surf down a wave and the boat is going to broach.
Two choices - 1. Shit myself and roll the boat.
2. Slam it into gear, gun it and hope like hell the water is deep enough.
Well, we must have 2mm under the leg when we went over that bar but it was just enough. I still remember the rediculous urge I had to lift my feet to clear the bar. Fortunatly we were there for a few days so I had some spare jocks.
Was my own fault for not paying attention and it was pure luck that got us through. I'm not one to blame the old 'freak wave'. I think thats just an excuse for people that won't admit they stuffed up.

Cheers

Ian

[bastard]

Some scary chat going on about following gps marks through bars in here.

I agree wholeheartedly with Jeremy - take a backsight for the outside entry point, but that's it.

I assume the 'centre' channel is the old trawler channel?:-X

The 'pin bar is a classic for changes in it's nature - you might head out on a 3/4 in tide and follow what you perceive to be a good enough line and drive straight over the outer bank that you probably didn't even notice.

Coming home and the onshore breeze has kicked, the tide is almost out, and that track you laid in the gps this morning to save your arse is now all but worthless because the outer is now a beautiful sucky 5 foot right hander.:-/ What do you do now?I reckon your best bet in this situation is more throttle,you can never have enough horsepower.

[Spaniard_King]

I Was Heading out of the Tweed bar a few years back in my trusty old V-sea with 70 johno.. Had heaths old man as decky. Was crossing just on daybreak not a real lot of light. got through what is normally the dodgy part of the bar which I used to cross at a slow speed but just planing. Well we began to relax when I looked up and I mean up! and saw a big greeny just about to peel, I just pushed the throttle down hard as we rode up the wave.. came out the other side with a nice soft landing to look up at another... motored into it at a reasonable pace but I have a vivid memory of the shimmering light of dawn coming through the top of the wave, got through again and went hard left and punched the throttle to get way out of there into deep water. I just looked ad heaths old man and never said a word.. He new tho.... we were lucky!

[GBC]

I would have thought the best bet would have been to go another 100 mtrs south and find the 'real' bar mouth that wasn't apparent on a 3/4 tide?

Not trying to be a smartarse, just trying to point out that there's people here talking about doing dangerous stuff, and probably other inexperienced boaties reading this thinking - "If I can just get the marks for South Passage I can fish outside" - and I'd hate to think we'll be watching them on the news one day.

[Far side]

I would have thought the best bet would have been to go another 100 mtrs south and find the 'real' bar mouth that wasn't apparent on a 3/4 tide?

Not trying to be a smartarse, just trying to point out that there's people here talking about doing dangerous stuff, and probably other inexperienced boaties reading this thinking - "If I can just get the marks for South Passage I can fish outside" - and I'd hate to think we'll be watching them on the news one day.

Your right about this the gps marks are and indication only the rest is wind tide swell local knowelge going with someone experienced reading the waves watching and planning before you make a choice. The right boat engine reliability fuel all of these to get you out of trouble even the most experienced bar crosser will be in trouble if if their boat is mechanically unsound. Anyone who thinks they are going to go through on a few marks in a gps deserves the darwin award. Things happen fast on the water and caution and planning are prudent.
And just because you can get through the bar dosent mean you are going to catch fish outside.

[tunaticer]

Generally I make two complete runs up and down the outside of a bar before i make a selection of where is my best choice to cross. Once you are committed there is no turning back so make that choice twice. It never amazes me how much a bar's conditions can change for a particular crossing location on 5 minutes.
Several times i have made a mental note of where to cross on the first passing outside only to see it turn to crap on the next passing.

Your window of opportunity for the best passage has always passed when you have seen the perfect entry wave. After that you make do with what your selection delivers you and do your best to do it safely.

Jack.

[michaelddd]

as a regular crosser of south passage bae i know not to take it lightly. Even in a forty foot cat i have at least 30 hairy crossings a year. When you have an east or north east swell it can be very dangerous. We have lost the whole roof on the outer bank when a 3 meter barrel cleaned us up. I have seen 19 foot halfcabins get swamped and capsize 100 meters in front of me.The bar is very silted in the northern gutter. The sand spit seems to be getting longer.Avoid the bar when you have 1.5meter east or north east swell it even scares me.

[Getout]

I reckon that each boat has its own idiosyncracies when crossing bars. My old centre console accellerated quickly and lifted over waves. I could spin it around quickly and bail out when that was the best option. The 6m glass boat I have now punches through waves without slowing and feels like it could take on a monster but I'm too chicken to find out!

[seatime]

There has been some great advise posted so far, sorry if any more is seen as hijacking the thread http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/images/icons/icon6.gif

The return inbound crossing of a bar will look very different to the outbound crossing, obviously. Now you'll be looking at the back of the bar and any waves that are breaking. Using rear marks or a GPS history trail are only to be relied upon if the outbound trip was thru the deepest channel and the one which remains the best entry channel. If you took the wrong marks on the way out, they'll be useless to come back in on. Your best asset will be your own eyes and the resulting assessment you make. Marks, whether GPS or terrestrial are a guide. The only way to make your own assessments or judgements on how to safely cross coastal bars will come with experience and the local knowledge learnt from repeated crossings in varied conditions.
This time of year is a good time to gain some experience, generally conditions are more favourable than the summer months.
I'd like to see a bar familiarisation course done where there's tag along trips with experienced operators such as VMR or charter skippers and boaties can cross in the boats they'll use themselves. Prior to the boat run there can be some formal theory on weather and tide effects, boat handling, that sort of thing. VMR Southport for example conduct a terrific powerpoint presentation of bar crossings and you can do runs out thru the seaway with them.
cheers
Steve

[Getout]

Going out, its fairly easy to see the channel and stay in the deeper water but waves are the enemy.
Coming in, its hard to see the channel and shallow water is the enemy.
Tide level is just as important as swell size.
Outgoing tide makes the waves stand up and pushes you into them before you are ready. Incoming tide with plenty of water means you just have to wait for a lull or run in behind a set.

[Getout]

Other than the time I fully stacked it, the next most scary time was a big day on the Noosa bar. The swell was huge. It took 20 min to get out, waiting for a decent break in the relentless sets. Once outside we kept losing sight of land and we were only a km offshore.
At come in time we broke the rules again. The tide was running out and there was no water on the outer bank. We did get in safely but the inside area of the bar was so shallow that we kept hitting bottom and getting spun around by the tide and swept back out to the lineup.
Motor filled with sand and undies filled with brown stuff.
Caught a heap of mackeral tho!

[Getout]

I have learnt by my mistakes!

[purple patch2]

About 10 odd years ago 3 of us went fishing out of south passage. We planned to fish the shallow reefs of moreton (30-40 m) We had a good days fishing and decided to fish the dusk-evening period. It turned out to be a hot bite and we ended up pulling the pick about 8ish and heading back to the bar, we were keen to get in as more ice was needed for the fish.Conditions at the time where 10-15kt N/E with a 2.5 meter e/n/e swell the tide had already started to run out (we thought we could make the top of the tide). So we approch the entrance of the northern gutter about 9pm old mate skip is on gps track from the morning crossing when we could just make out in the darkness 2m greenies with 1m of breaking water on top of them it looked like a washing machine. We where in a 18ft profish platey with a90hp merc, We had crossed this bar many times in all types of condition day & night so we where mad enough to have confidense to cross this bar with hair all over it. We jockied around the outside of this washing machine looking for any track that looked half decent . Skip had 2 attempts at it and with the dark conditions the waves would come out of nowhere. The gps track was right threw the middle of the channel and it was just the swell size and run out tide that was makeing these waves stand up. We decided to wait a little longer for the moon to rise for mybe better vis but when it did rise about 10min later it went straight behind a large bank of clouds.great we all said. This is when skip says here you take it in.hmm I had a bit more experiance than me skip so I took the helm.While we where jocking around i noticed a bit better water just to the inside of the washing machine so I keeped my eyes on this track.A good set rolled threw and when things settled a bit I started the run.WE where at 3000rpm+ a bit of speed on when the washing machine appeared I turned slightly to strarboard of the gps track another round of steep froth top waves where on our port side I turned again slightly to starboard. At this stage in the story I'll go threw a few thing about the area we where in.If you know the northern gutter there is a sand spit on the nothern side of the start of the gutter with a shallow bank to the east of it the washing machine i have been talking about was just to the n/e of the shallow bank in the channel. Any way back to the story I was of the gps track but still getting threw the bar when the water starts to glow under us (shallow ) old#2 who is sitting on the esky looking backwards says something fairly loud as I turn my head i catch sight of 2m of white water nearly right on the port stern corner I hammered the thortle and we shoot away from that one. Both skip and myself where looking over the windscreen things where looking good calm water in front with just afew ripples on it.I started to back the speed of when we noticed that the ripple we were looking at was actualy the beach.I knocked the thortle of and started tilting the motor as we came to rest on the beach. We had landed on the front of the sand point you know where the nice looking whithing gutter is. We all jumped out of the boat and started to turn her around the waves where surging up the beach and this made it easier to turn the boat as a wave came up we could turn her a little each time a wave came. She was afloat agian so we slowly motored down the gutter and came to a short very shallow bank. This is the narrow bank the drops of into the inside of the northern gutterI tilted the motor up and rode over the bank with abit of slop breaking on it .0.5meter tops and we were inside the bar. phew. The adrenalin was certainly pumping. We all lit a smoke and hit the thortle back to the ramp. We were all very humble on the trip back but still having a joke about not getting on the news. This was the worst crossing of the south passage that i have had. There has been others but this one was very hairy. I havn't lost a boat on any bars, and crossings like this one makes one fully aware of what could happen. Cheers Roy.

[Mr__Bean]

Has anyone got first hand details about a recent incident on a bar crossing course on the South Passage Bar where someone had their leg badly broken?
Apparently the incident is under investigation, not sure how long such an investigation takes before the results are released.

If it is the one where the guys were on a bar crossing course, then yes, it involved a guy at my work.

I haven't seen him yet as he has been off with a broken arm.

Another guy in the boat (reportedly) broke both ankles.

I am waiting to see him to get the facts.

- Darren

[dnej]

Any idea,of which "course" it was?
David

[Heath]

There's always an element of relief when you either get out over a bar or back in over it, isn't there.

I remember the oldman recounting the story SpaniardKing put up. Yes, he was shitting himself.

I've had a few incidents.
Crossing Currumbin bar in a friends boat, he gets me to take the wheel, as he's not confident. He then decides to kneel on his seat which is about 1 inch below the gunwale. I tell him its a bad idea, but he wants to kneel. So I tell him to hang on. As we hit the first bit of white water, the boat jinks to the left, then grips. Plop, over the side he goes. Thing was, it was just on day break and there were boats behind us. Namely my oldman, who's blind at the best of times. Got a funny look as I whizzed past them back into the bar, & had to pull the guy over the side, before the next set come through or he got run over by another boat.

One after noon on a falling tide and biggish swell we again went out of Currumbin. Got out, after doing a bit of dredging. Conditions started to deteriorate badly so we pulled up stumps and headed in. By this time it was half tide, and running through the gutter a biggish set comes through. It lips and pushes us , straight up the beach. Lucky a few people were around and they help push the boat back in & we then were able to get round into the creek.

My worse experience was on the Tweed bar. Fullish moon, run in tide. About 1.5m of swell. It'll be fine with the run in..... so I thought. We were about 200m outside of the bar, when the horizon, dissapeared. It was a wall of water coming towards us. On the gas, and I hit the lip. Then nothing...... just free fall. Long enough for me to look at my oldman and say a few expletives. The boat finally lands with a dull thud, and my uncle is laid out flat on his back in pain. I look up and see another wall of water. On the gas again and I hit the top just as its lipping. Water gushes over the window and drenches us all. We again land after what seems an eternity. We then make it out into deeper water and recompose ourselves. My uncle is still in much pain, so as it gets light enough, we head back in and get an ambulance to meet us at the boat ramp.
I hate to think how high up in the air we went that morning.
On all but the flatest days now, I wait till I got enough light to see, especially with my precious cargo now on board most trips ( junior decky aged 6).
You can never ever take the water for granted, for when you do, it'll nip you, just to let you know who is boss.

[Getout]

I rescued a couple in the middle of the Noosa Bar once. Their 5m tinny had rolled in the 2m swell coming in. It was a difficult rescue.
1. There was a danger of fouling my prop on all the flotsam washing around in the break zone- anchor ropes, all sorts of floating stuff including a BAIT NET!
2. The lady passenger was too big for me to lift and too weak to climb aboard. I eventually towed her into calmer water and got her in after much huffing and puffing. My back still hurts today thinking about it
3. Had to keep bailing out and jumping waves to avoid being rolled myself.

[capt]

Hey Dale,
you started this thread, and I believe you would have a great story to tell about bar crossing
You may have shared it before on this site , but I never got the full picture..............cheers Jimmy

[Chas & Clarry]

Jeez how scary is this thread...Clarry just read it and went "see I told you".

We used to cross Noosa bar to fish off Sunshine beach when we were lucky enough to live up that way. Saw some very scary close calls for other boats, including a Cat that got absolutely vertical. It sort of stood on its tail then slowly fell forward (luckily), but it just got out through the bar and turned straight around and came back in...maybe an injury, definitely some laundry to be done!

After that Clarry refused point blank to cross the bar with me:( , so I used to call her a girl (well she is...so I got away with it) and used to drop her off at Hastings Street, then I'd launch the boat, cross the bar and motor round to Main Beach and she's swim out to join me!!! I swear the tourists though we were dropping drugs or doing something weird.

My advice though for people like me who don't do bars very often is to do a course...and preferably one on the actual bar you are crossing, and get some practice with someone with experience. I did the course with Noosa Coast Guard. It was great and practical. After the theory, and Noosa-bar-specific info we went across the bar in their boat, and then in our own if we wanted. It was a long time ago, don't know if they still do it, but the CG blokes were fantastic. Backed that up with a few goes with a mate who knew the bar well (thanks Jeff).

C&C

[Mr__Bean]

Originally Posted by gelsec http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/images/buttons/viewpost.gif (http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/showthread.php?p=664050#post664050)
Has anyone got first hand details about a recent incident on a bar crossing course on the South Passage Bar where someone had their leg badly broken?
Apparently the incident is under investigation, not sure how long such an investigation takes before the results are released




If it is the one where the guys were on a bar crossing course, then yes, it involved a guy at my work.

I haven't seen him yet as he has been off with a broken arm.

Another guy in the boat (reportedly) broke both ankles.

I am waiting to see him to get the facts.

- Darren


Well it has been a while but I finally caught up with the guy from work that was onboard the boat this day.

He tells me......

There were 2 other customers with him in the boat, not sure if one was an acquantance of the instructor / operator.

He and another guy had done there run in and out of the bar and had been instructed on where to go, how to trim and how to throttle.

With one of the others at the wheel the guy from work and another heavy set guy (140kg) were standing behind the front seats as another was being instructed.

They head out into some decent waves and as one steep one approached the boat the instructor called for the driver to "throttle up". At this point the driver flattened the the throttle and they hit the wave and became extremely airborne.

The boat came down hard, the guy from work came down awkward breaking his wrist and hurting his chest area. The heavy set bloke broke both ankles.

Aparently they had one hell of a job getting the big guy out of the boat, thank god for morphene.....

He questions the sense in using the term "throttle up", as the driver thought he meant to increase throttle, whereas the instructor meant for him to pull the throttle up.

It didn't end there for the guy at work, later in the night he suffered intense chest pain that had him in hospital with suspected heart attack. After a couple of hours in intensive care they determined that he had severe chest organ bruising.

Not really what he was looking for in a course to better his confidence in bar crossing.

- Darren

[seatime]

Thanks for getting back with more details Darren.

It sounds like the 'throttle up' term was misunderstood allright. What were the instructions to go faster, 'throttle down' ? that could be confusing also.
Terms like "power up" or "ramp up" are used in industry when increasing the power supply to machinery, I can see how "throttle up" could be interpreted to mean a similar command as "power up".
What's wrong with "speed up" and "slow down".

What brand of boat were they using on the course?

regards
Steve

[Greg P]

Hmm - sounds like a communication breakdown. Never heard the term Power Up referring to easing off the stick. There is the "Power On" approach to bar crossing where you use the "rounding up" technique to turn a little to port or starboard to decrease the airtime when running over a swell in the bar.


Sounds confusing so no wonder that happened