Danger in Rough Water

Saturday we decided to take the boat up to Baltimore. I guess it's about 10 miles to the Inner Harbor from our dock, so it looked like an easy trip. I studied the charts and plotted our course. The forecast was for 10-15 mph winds, but it wasn't too rough in the Magothy. We had a pretty easy cruise until we got to the mouth of the Patapsco which is the river leading to Baltimore harbor. The wind was whipping at about 30 MPH here and the waves were as high as any I've seen yet. (I later learned the NWS revised the forecast to a small craft advisory for the Bay for the remainder of the day.) Although somewhat jostled, we managed to make our way into the sheltered downtown harbor.

We had lots of fun cruising downtown around the Aquarium, Hard Rock Cafe, ESPN Zone, etc. and passed several excursion boats and water taxis. There weren't too many power boats out because of the high winds, so we had our choice of travel lanes and docking places. The best discovery is that it only costs $5.00 to tie up at the inner harbor, while it's at least $15.00 to park a car. We decided to have lunch at Feld's Point and even found a place there to tie up free. We ate and shopped for a while, then I took a nap while Dianne read as we waited for the wind to lay. After an hour or so, when it only seemed to be getting stronger, we decided to head home.

Even though we were traveling with the wind on the way back, the waves were much higher. We were really bouncing around. Going fast put us on top of the waves but airborne much of the time. Going slow really wallowed us up and down on the slopes and caused waves to break over the bow. Seeking to shorten the trip, I made the mistake of cutting the corner too sharp as we entered the Bay from the Patapsco. Even though I was about a mile from shore, the depth finder dropped suddenly from 27 feet to 6 feet to 3 feet. I shut down quickly but the big waves rolled us deeply so that the motor hit rocks twice before I could get it trimmed up. I was sure I had destroyed the outdrive or at least the prop, but it seemed to be okay as I idled us on high trim out to deeper water. I loaded her on the trailer last night and noticed a few dings on the prop. I'll inspect further in better light. We were lucky, and I made a mental note to watch my charts and GPS more carefully in the future.

On a much more sobering note, it turns out Saturday's high seas might have been fatal to one of our neighbors. While I was fishing yesterday evening I noticed Coast Guard search planes and helicopters patrolling just below the Bay Bridge. Watching the news last night I heard that a well-known newspaper publisher from Arnold was missing after they found his boat unmanned and adrift Saturday afternoon. I've been out in rough water on the lakes, but the Bay is obviously another league altogether. Last night the water was as smooth as glass and it didn't seem like the same Bay as I explored some of the coves and marinas near our house. -S