ive done a ton of googling and youtubing for boat safety and boat driving info....but there were a few things I wasnt able to figure out. Plus...some of the recent events have me wanting to ask instead of just learning on the go.
Im in a tracker that tops out at about 30mph. So thats prolly important. Basically my understanding of riding waves is perpendicular is best and TRIM down so the boat has more "to grip"....unless the waves get really huge and you need to keep the nose up to avoid water in the boat. Right?
Now im wondering...what do I do if I spear a wave? and is there anything I can do to avoid spearing waves....figure its just finding the fine balance of trim down+nose upping just enough? Ive read that if you spear a wave bad it can effect the boat operating (i.e. wont start)....anything to do if in that situation? Im in a 17 foot tracker...im not planning to be out there on those days.....but weathermen in the southwest are absolute garbage! Theyve become complacent just saying "its gonna be hot" daily and are terrible forecasters! lol My home lake gets choppy too....so Im trying to think for that just in case situation.
2nd thing. How do you handle "rogue" type parallel waves that kinda just pop up? Ive been doing OK riding the waves so far by basically just staying perpendicular to them...but one thing ive noticed is that occasionally youll get some waves coming from a completely different direction, usually pretty parallel to the direction im traveling. Guessing the waves might be the left over wakes from boats or just funky gusts that pop up enough to churn the water up in a different direction? No idea....but its something ive noticed. Waves coming at me perpendicular and then all of a sudden I got some side to side motion from waves coming at me from my sides.
Figure seat time can get me most of my answers....but these situations seems dangerous, and im alone 99% of the time....so dont wanna learn on the fly...aka end up swimming! Thanks.