Kem and I had the opportunity this past Memorial Day Monday to learn a lot about getting ready to go cruising on a sunny day along a waterway we've traveled before.

Our boat is a 49 foot DeFever Cockpit Motor Yacht (44+5) named “Spirit Dancer.”

We were busy and didn't take any pictures. The photo to the right is the closest one that I could find that represented what we faced. We didn't have near the visibility seen in this picture. We would be more to the other side and to the right of the lightening. This photo is courtesy of NOAA Photo Library.

Our story..

The weather forecasts were for isolated thunderstorms with the chance increasing during the afternoon so along with several other boats we got an early start.

We left Lakewood Yacht Club's docks (Lakewood South) in Offatt's Bayou Galveston Texas around 8 AM to head back to our slip at the Lakewood Yacht Club in Seabrook. This is about a 4 hour cruise at 7 knots. Channels are clearly marked the entire way.

We passed through Pelican's cut and were in the Houston ship channel before we got the high wind alert from the Coast Guard. With the incoming tide we were moving along at 10 knots at 1,800 rpm. In trawler terms, we were flying. To turn around would have meant going against the current. The storm was heading in a Southeasterly and would be on us in less than 30 to 45 minutes so if we slowed down we thought it might pass by in front of us or be over us, rain, bounce us around a bit, and be gone in less than an hour.

We were already well over an hour away from any safe harbor so after some discussion Kem and I decided to move on with three other boats. AJ and Gayle Ross were leading the way aboard Agape', a DeFever 44. Tom and Sue Collier, Jr. were on Pirate a 42' Kadey Krogen. Tom is an experienced skipper with local knowledge and stayed in the shallow water (10 to 15 feet in Galveston Bay). Margie Clark and David Good were on Feelin' Grand, a 42 foot GB Classic. They were about 30 minutes behind us in the ship channel.

AJ coordinated the discussions as we proceeded up the ship channel making sure everyone stayed in the loop.

"All Lakewood boats, All Lakewood boats, this is Agape', go to six - eight" was often heard after any significant communications were picked up. He also paid particular attention to making sure the novices (Kem and I) got and understood the communications. Gayle and Kem also took to the radio to coordinate between our two boats as we were as close together as the weather and visibility would allow. Thanks AJ and Gayle.

AND THEN... We were approaching buoy # 42 and were being passed by two ships (one coming and one going), when the first part of the storm hit.

The temperature dropped dramatically, sky turned ink black, and we evacuated the flying bridge for the comfort of the lower helm.

Windshield wipers were doing a good job clearing the rain, chart plotter was showing our boat position (usually inside the channel), direction (sometimes sideways) and speed (forget 10 knots). Radar started to get cluttered but we were able to pick out the big stuff (ships, range markers, and some structural marks – during the height of the storm we had trouble with the buoys as they often sunk below the wave line).

Initially, waves inside the channel were a 3 - 4 feet with winds steady at 35 mph, heavy rain with visibility about half - mile. We were following Agape.

AND THEN... The storm moved over us and we drove deeper into its center. The winds blew steady at 50 mph (Tom’s readings) with gusts reported up to 65 mph (others reporting).Four water spouts were spotted in the water by the Shaw's from their home on the bay. Seas were a steady 4 to 5 feet with some waves cresting 10 feet on an all too regular basis. Tom said he didn't get the big waves in the bay that we got in the channel. His major challenge was dodging around a tug that turned sideways in front of him.

During one series of 10 footers, Agape' drove up a 10 foot wave and got hit with one of those 65 mph gusts (or the edge of a water spout) that turned her sideways and down into the trough of the wave. As she came back up her autopilot lost bearing and turned her back down the ship channel and went passed us on the one whistle before anyone knew what happened. For a moment AJ thought that we (Spirit Dancer) had turned around when his compass confirmed that it was indeed his little ship that had done the spectacular about face. He wrestled control from the autopilot and within moments was turning Agape around to bring her in behind us. We were now the lead boat in our small flotilla (heavy emphasis on the float part).

AND THEN... the rain got worse.

"Spirit Dancer, Spirit Dancer, this is Agape'. Over.

"Agape', Spirit Dancer - go to 68"

"Sprit Dancer, Agape'

"Agape' go ahead

"Spirit Dancer we've lost visual contact with you. Over.

"Agape', can you see us on your radar? Over

"Spirit Dancer, too much clutter. Where are you? Over.

"Agape' we're approaching 56. Over.

"Spirit Dancer we passed 54 a few minutes back. Over.

"Agape', I've been holding at 1,300 rpm’s to control the boat in the winds, I’ll throttle it back. Can you pick it up any? Over.

"Spirit Dancer I'm pushing her up to 3.7 knots.

"Agape', let me know when you've got a visual. We'll hold as close as we can to the red side. Over.

"Thanks Bob. Agape' returning to 16.

"Spirit Dancer going to one-six. Over."

In about 5 to 15 minutes... (if you know what I mean)

"Spirit Dancer, Agape', we have visual.

"Agape', ditto. Go to 68..."

We paid more attention to each others postion as we moved forward through conditions that deteriorated, got better, deteriorated, got better, etc.

AND THEN... The rains finally lightened up as did the sky. The waves subsided to the 2 - 3 foot range. The worst of that cell was over, we made our turn East into the boaters cut at ship channel buoy # 61 and at boaters cut day mark # 8 we turned Northwest to compass heading 275 degrees targeting # 2 marker at the entrance to the Kemah channel that would take us into Clear Lake.

At we rounded boaters cut # 8, the sky to the east was still very black. It looked ominous to the northwest and we were 45 minutes from Kemah going 7 knots with 7 feet of water under our hull.

As we got closer the seas lessened to 1 - 2 feet and boats started venturing out, the sun broke through and we were cutting back on the throttles to the "no wake" speed as we entered the Boardwalk area of the Kemah channel.

AND THEN... we tied up, toasted with frosty one and talked about the adventure.

AJ said that this model DeFever has self-righting capabilities for as much as 65 degree roll - we never came close nor did Agape even when she went broadside to the waves – then again she does have stabilizers – but we don’t.

Spirit Dancer handled well and acted as though this was a great day out for an exciting cruise. I thought I heard her say more than once, "Hang on ... Yee Haw."

What's really great is that even though there were some really exciting (read as terrifying) moments, neither of us felt that our lives were in danger.

Spirit Dancer took to those waves and bucked the wind as though this is the kind of work she was designed to do.  Having the full displacement weight of 52,000 pounds and the rounded hull forward gave a soft ride through the waves. The flat after section gave some design stability but we did indeed rock and roll.

Many lessons were learned to keep her (us) from having to work this hard in the future and if we do, to make it even a more comforting ride for us (read as more secure and confident).

A few of these include knowing your course headings on paper charts. The Houston Ship Channel is very well marked, why know the course? Imagine that you can only see 50 feet in front of your boat, now where are those buoys? What heading should you be on? When was the last time you checked the accuracy of your compass?

Know the depths. 40 feet meant if a ship was in the channel they could smack us. 25 feet meant we were outside the big boat area and 10 to 15 feet meant we were on the edge of the channel. Using depths to guide really helped keep us in the right area in the channel. However, there were a couple times when the wind and the waves put us on the Green side before we figured out the right rpm to hold us on course and not get tossed around in the process.

Practice steering by radar during nice weather. Match up those blobs you see on the radar with sightings of the actual objects. Do this at different ranges.

Even though there were many times when we couldn’t see the buoys, we were able to pick up the range markers on radar. We kept them at the right distance and watched as they came abreast, then fell behind. Any significant identifiable landmark will do if you can monitor your relative position to it.

As an extra, the chart plotter really made a difference in defining our location and heading in the channel. We had been monitoring it throughout the trip (during the good weather) to make sure that it was putting us on the chart where we should be. It did. And it became a really important guide during the roughest part of the storm.

Know your location. Imagine that you had to call for help and had to give your location. What would you say? We heard several distress calls and I got to hand it to the Coast Guard for helping these people figure out where they were.

It goes without saying that emergencies are not planned events. Always know where you are on the chart and be able to describe it to the Coast Guard or to able to tell a friend who wants to raft up with you for a picnic how to find you. With extremely limited visibility you must be very specific. Does everyone on board know how to read and call out the GPS readings?

Know how to operate your radio. Your first mate may be doing most of the radio communications. We heard lack of experience walk over Coast Guard communications and we heard some very interesting radio protocols.

Finally, know that someone has to be plotting and monitoring your course and location, communicating on the radio, looking out for marks, ships and other things that come floating down the channel during a storm and don’t forget keeping an eye on the gauges and instruments. Oh and did I mention, drive the boat, use the engine(s) to steer and help climb the big ones? Be able to trade off duties as it can get pretty tiring if you’re doing this for an extended period of time.

Having been through this and survived, we now feel that docking the boat in 15 knot winds is a manageable task for us.

Bob DeGroot DCH