Rough weather boat handling
Rgilfert:
What you experianced was what is know as a pitchpole. The stern lifts up on a wave and the bow plows down into the through.
The textbook way to deal with the heavy seas (and I have done it) is to hit the waves at an angle. Picture a sailboat tacking directly into the wind. Zig zagging to the upwind destination. In rough seas a small boat should zig zag (no, not the rolling papers!) into the waves.
What gives you control at the helm? You have a wheel and a throttle. They control a rudder and a propeller. When you take a large wave straight on the bow lifts and then drops down pivioting the hull like a sea-saw. When the bow drops and the stern lifts the rudder and screw lift out of the water and you lose control, hence the pitch pole. And in your boat the screw and rudder are your cobra drive, way aft.
By hiting the waves at an angle (say 45 deg.) the boat will roll up and over the top of the wave, the screw and rudder stay wet giving you control to run through the trough and up the next one.
Next year try it out on a "sort of" rough day and I think that you will develop a new skill.
Misty Blue
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