Severe Weather situation on the water

[C_M_25]

Today's severe weather outbreak in Oklahoma is just a reminder that spring is here and severe storms can pop up extremely quickly. Our weathermen have gotten better at forecasting but these storms can be quite unpredictable. Do any of you old timers have any tips for what to do if you are caught on the water and a severe storm pops up? Perhaps you could share any close calls that you have been in with bad weather on the water?

[RcgTexas]

I was fishing 40 miles offshore in the Gulf once and squalls popped up everywhere. We counted 6 waterspouts at several points on the compass. A guy asked if we were going to make a run for it. I asked "which way?"

It got bad and then it got better. Had it really gotten bad I would have put everyone on a platform and put the boat on a long tether and sea anchor.

Best I can advise is check weather before departing, give someone a "sail plan" and don't be afraid of beaching your boat and getting the hell off of it!

A pontoon will ride a "following sea" real well. Don't be afraid to go with the flow, so to speak.

[NonHyphenAmerican]

For decades, my boat was a little 14' shallow v aluminum boat with a 7.5hp Honda.

So I'm in the habit of watching weather reports.

I also have a Weather Alert Radio tuned to the National Weather Service on the boat. It squawks an alarm if a watch or warning is issued.

If I ever get caught unawares, I'll bend over and put my head between my legs and kiss my hiney goodbye.

Then I'll head for the nearest shoreline and hunt a hole, ditch or drainage culvert.

But I'm pretty paranoid about storms and I keep an eye out watching the Kansas sky so hopefully, it will never become an issue.

[lakerunner]

Been caught a few times. I get in back of a protected cove and wait it out

[ROLAND]

Got caught out once in a terrible storm... we were tied up in shallow water fishing and out of nowhere the sky darkened, the wind kicked up and then all hell broke loose... it was scarey as hell, especially when when it started lightening all around us... the wind was so bad that even with anchors and being tied up, the boat kept turning and twisting.. I literally stood at the front of the boat and held onto a tree to keep us from blowing out in the open.... next time I'm going to beach the boat, tie her up and head for higher ground...

[Hawk_308]

Ive been caught multiple times ,but two times were pretty bad . First time I was on my bass boat fishing under a dam on a 1 mile wide grass flat with scattered stump beds . There was one other bass boast with me out there about 100 feet away and the sky was clear and blue . Well we got to hearing an almost constant rumble like a train for about 3 or 4 minutes then we saw were it came from a black line rolled over the damn . There was no time to go anywhere , so I just moved away from the nearest stump bed, lifted both motors and dropped anchor . The other boat did the same , by this time you could see the lighting flashing on the lake above the damn and the wind was picking up . The closer it got the the lower I got , I finally got under the console and pulled the throw cushion to block my self in . I could feel the boat being tossed around good with lighting hitting about every 15 - 30 seconds and water came over the back deck a few times so I reached out and flipped the bilge pump on .
The storm took about 5 minutes to start dieing off which felt like an eternity so I poked my head out , it was weird to see a grass flat white capping and in the bottom of the swells you could catch a glimps of the stumps that were normally submerged . Once lighting moved off a bit I climbed out and looked at the other boat they were shltered under a poncho in the floor of their boat . I cleaned the hydrilla off the decks and dropped my trolling motor , which the other guys heard and popped out and gave a loud woohoo yell . We talked a few and they told me they had got worried about me when they looked out and didnt see me in my boat any more ,after I tolded them were I was they got to laughing pretty good . The bildge pump ran water out for a good while and that night when I got home I found I had bruised my shoulder and back on the steering box under the console when I gotten thrown around a bit .

The second time was on my Kayak on the same water but 60 miles and 2 dams up . Dead center of kerr ( buggs island lake) near 2 bridges one is a high bridge the other is a old low clearance bridge . I knew there was a storm coming so I watched it on my radar app and saw it was heading south of the lake by a bit so cautiously headed out launching on the side of the old bridge , caught some fish on the land part of the bridge . I could see the storm to the south a good ways off , after fishing the bridge thinking the storm had passed to the south I paddled about 1/2 mile to a point on the opposite side of the new bridge had made a few cast when I looked back up tthe lake to the old bridge and saw nothing but dark sky . I pulled my phone out and looked at the radar to see the storm had blew up and now was a huge comma shape cupping me in with looked like storms behind it for over 100 miles so I figured I better make a run for it I was going to have to beach the kayak and walk back to my van . I started paddling back at a brisk 4.5mph pace made it to the new high raise bridge and the wind hit and hit hard . the water went to white capping , I would go over one wave and the bow would go under the next . Knwing there was no way to make it back to where I launched now , I hoped to make it under the old bridge . I got about 100 yards from the bridges and I had some teens ride by on the bridge yelling F yeah as they passed which was a weird distraction as the wall of rain hit . I finally got under the old bridge and just hit the rock and concrete as hard as I could to beach it up as far as possible . I jumped off grabbing the front rope of the kayak and drug it up behind me as I took shelter under the bridge . I stayed up there for about a hour or more just watching the waves and lighting till it all passed which by that time it was dark so I put my light on my kayak and paddled back .

This might help , I lunched at the C store at the north west of the old bridge
https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=36.6286 ... 3&t=h&z=16


I have been out in quite a few other storms but they were the worst . On my bass boat I could gun it to the opposite side of the lake and dodge most small evening storms.

When weather hits you need to have a way to secure all of your gear . You Dont want 200 lbs of ice and drinks to be rolling around while you are trying to control your boat in rough water , nor fishing baits whipping around in strong winds

[OK Toon]

I remember when I was a kid and out fishing with my dad in his old Kingfisher bass boat -- very skinny profile. We were out in the middle of a large section of Eufaula when a storm quickly came up. We pulled up the anchor and Dad tried to start the boat but it wouldn't start. The wave were getting big and they turned the boat sideways to the waves. I thought we were going to get dumped over for sure with the large waves hitting the side of the boat. He tried and tried to get the boat started but it wouldn't start. He finally realized there was a small hole in the fuel line which was allowing air into the line. He had me sit in the back of the boat holding on to a piece of rope he wrapped around the fuel line to try and seal the hole in the line. That allowed the fuel to get to the motor and it finally started. I was never so scared to be out on the water in my life that day.

But that gave me a whole new outlook on storms and being on the water. So now that I have my own pontoon boat, we are constantly keeping an eye on the sky when we are out. In Oklahoma, a storm can pop up pretty fast and on Eufaula, there are lots of narrow bends with high hills so you may not see a storm popping up till you round a bend and see it. That's why I want a bigger motor on our next boat -- not so we can cruise faster, but so we can get back to the dock faster in the event a storm pops up.

[BobG]

I just commented on this in the Avalon thread:

viewtopic.php?p=173306#p173306

[zoom650]

Yep, can be a stressful situation at best. My handheld marine radio has weather bands and my iPad has weather radar. We boat so often, it's no big deal if we stay home on questionable days, but sometimes storms sneak up on you.

I was fishing 23 miles offshore in the Gulf and finally couldn't dodge the storm, so the best we could do was drop the 8' radio antennae (which made a good lightning rod) and run for port.

Once at anchor (both anchors) on the Harris in a shallow basin behind some jetties, we waded ashore to the beach and sat out that nasty little thunder-boomer hunkered down between the sand dunes. I prefer being off the water if given the chance when there's lightning striking.

I used to have a 23' sailboat. Sailing with another boat, I saw the storm crossing the lake before he did. I let go of everything and quickly dropped both sails as the big wind hit. Got my engine cranked just in time and ducked into a sheltered cove. The wind knocked my friend down and water took out his engine. I went back after him and towed him back to the club. We later learned that was a 45mph gust from a tornado that ripped through nearby.

Canoeing a river in north Georgia, it wasn't so much the rain but lightning got so bad, so we pulled off the river, turned our boats over and crawled underneath. Smoked a doobie and rode it out, but that was the good old days.

Back in the earliest days of my ski boat, we would tie up under a bridge and wait it out.

[C_M_25]

Crazy stories. Oklahoma can be particularly scary because storms can pop up and go severe within 15-20 minutes. Not even enough time to get the back to the dock half the time. It really stinks too because those days in Oklahoma are the best fishing days.

I don't have any first hand stories, but I remember a couple of years ago a monster storm was rolling into okc. The sky to the west was black, and this storm had a massive rotating wall cloud. The news helicopter was looking across the city to the west, and they zoomed into this lone sail boat on the middle of lake hefner. I remember Gary England saying that somebody should tell that idiot to get off the water. I kid you not. The sky was black from this storm and this guy was out there sailing his happy little heart out. He must have made it back to the dock because nobody died in that storm.

[Soonertoon]

Nowhere in the country brews storms as fast and dangerous as here in Oklahoma. Having lived here virtually all my life I have a firm eye on the weather especially from April thru the middle of June. If it looks iffy or if they are forecasting favorable conditions for a boomer breakout...I stay home. Love to fight another day. It only takes a few short minutes to be in the wrong place at the wrong time an no way to get out of it. Plus I HATE LIGHTNING..

[Drago]

Our scariest moment was when a big storm came in from the south while a bunch of us were beached on our island. Everyone broke for safe water when I noticed a flare on the north side of the island. Turned out to be a non starter Bow Rider full of young folks. In a horrendous storm with lightning hitting all around the perimeter of our lake, we towed the 19 foot fiberglass loaded boat over 6 miles across the lake to a protected marina. I don't think I have ever been so scared.

[sunedog]

(I think I wrote this story on this forum before, but I can't find it when I searched. So forgive me if you've already heard my story.)

I used to wonder how "normal" people ever drowned. It just didn't seem likely. Then I encountered a series of events that almost killed me -- a fit, healthy, reasonably intelligent 42 year old (at the time) guy.

We boat on Lake Murray in SC and it is 35 miles long and 14 miles wide at it widest point. We beached on a popular island with a wide sandy beach. There were probably 30 boats beached with us. We played for a few hours with my two year old son and had a great time. A pretty strong storm blew in from the West, directly behind my beached boat. The lake got rough and whitecapped and the waves ended up pushing my boat up the bank. When we tried to leave, I couldn't push the boat into the water by myself. No problem...a couple of guys nearby helped me push it in.

But the wind was so strong, as soon as the boat floated, it caught the wind and started to pull me parallel to the shore. Since my wife and two year old had not boarded yet, I clambered aboard and yelled for her to go back up the beach and I would motor around the point (which was right next to us) and pull in to the beach around the corner heading into the wind. So I fired it up, gunned it in reverse, went around the point and headed towards that beach more or less into the wind.

But we had a miscommunication which resulted in our first mistake: I intended to beach gently into the wind. Wife thought I would get stuck again (she did not realize the wind from behind in the original place I beached caused us to get stuck), so she picked up our child and waded into waist deep water to meet me. As I was getting closer, she stepped into a hole and the two of them disappeared below the surface. I panicked. I cut the motor, ran to the bow and dove in after them. This was my second mistake. For crying out loud, I was sitting on a throw cushion when they went under. Hellooo? Why the hell didn't I keep my head and toss them the cushion? The water was not deep but the wind and waves were a challenge but I was able to quickly get them back up to the beach.

As soon as they were safe, I turned to see my boat getting blown further and further off shore. It was probably 50 yards away when I made the ridiculous decision (and third mistake) to swim after it. I dove back in and swam. And swam. And swam. Each time I looked up, I was closer to the boat, but it was still well out of reach. So I continued swimming and rapidly losing strength. Eventually, I looked back at shore and concluded there was no way I had the strength to make it back. I was committed to catching the boat. Or I would drown.

I put my head down and gave it everything I had and, thankfully, caught the boat. Had to hold onto it for quite a while before I had the strength to pull myself up the ladder. Fired her up and went back to the beach and uneventfully retrieved my family.

My third mistake was particularly stupid. It was chaotic in the storm, but there were still a handfull of boats left on the beach. I could have asked someone to fire up their boat and take me out to catch my boat. Even if no one would, the worst thing that would happen at that point was my boat would eventually reach shore and would probably incur minor damage and we would have somehow gotten off the island.

The point of this long story is "normal" people drown when they encounter a series of events that line up just right to kill them. Taken individually, each of the mistakes above would be innocuous. But in just the right (make that wrong) order, you can die.

[Capt. Dan]

Drago -- i dont quote understand, you were on am island and decided to leave ig during a storm? Would it habe not been safer to hunker down instead of risking open water?

[NonHyphenAmerican]

Drago, Folks like you helping someone in need are the kind of neighbors I like having.

sunedog, Good that you recognize after the fact and critiqued your actions in case there's ever a repeat in the future.

Your story basically points out that we all need to plan ahead as much as possible, and then think before we act.

Sometimes, that makes all the difference.

Glad you made out ok in the end and that you and your loved ones were safe.