This applies to operating a boat darn near anywhere ...
Suppose you know the weather is supposed to be nasty in a given area and you're planning on fishing the north side of an island to stay out of the forecasted STRONG south winds. No matter how much your family, friends, clients, whatever implore you to head down to open water in the other direction because they want to go crabbing or fishing in a particular place ... tell ... them ... NO.
Had a couple close calls this summer because I let myself be overruled on where to take the boat fishing. I've been going to Ketchikan for several summers, and while I'm not an expert, I do have a basic understanding of hazardous conditions up there. As far as I'm concerned from here on out, if I'm skippering a boat (my own or a rental), my word on safety decisions (including where to fish in inclement weather) is FINAL.
Y'all can begin laughing now. We managed to lose an anchor, break two downriggers, lose two full spools of downrigger cable, and lord only knows how many downrigger balls (5 if I recall correctly). But, I wasn't there for the really big day. Everyone decided to traipse on down to Bostwick Bay with forecasted SE winds of 20+mph, even though I told them to head north around Clover Pass. It took them a couple hours to get back in ...
Suppose you know the weather is supposed to be nasty in a given area and you're planning on fishing the north side of an island to stay out of the forecasted STRONG south winds. No matter how much your family, friends, clients, whatever implore you to head down to open water in the other direction because they want to go crabbing or fishing in a particular place ... tell ... them ... NO.
Had a couple close calls this summer because I let myself be overruled on where to take the boat fishing. I've been going to Ketchikan for several summers, and while I'm not an expert, I do have a basic understanding of hazardous conditions up there. As far as I'm concerned from here on out, if I'm skippering a boat (my own or a rental), my word on safety decisions (including where to fish in inclement weather) is FINAL.
Y'all can begin laughing now. We managed to lose an anchor, break two downriggers, lose two full spools of downrigger cable, and lord only knows how many downrigger balls (5 if I recall correctly). But, I wasn't there for the really big day. Everyone decided to traipse on down to Bostwick Bay with forecasted SE winds of 20+mph, even though I told them to head north around Clover Pass. It took them a couple hours to get back in ...
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