"Jay Chan" wrote ...
Is 3 miles away from shore considered as "very close"? I don't go
near-shore or off-shore that often. Therefore, I don't have a point of
reference as of how far is considered as too far to be safe for small
boats.

Depends upon where you're at, I guess... If you're in an area where the reef
provides a lot of protection from the seas / surf, then it's acceptable for
a small boat... If there is no reef, that 3 miles can be a rough trip in
even light to moderate seas... I have a 16 ft jet boat (actually probably 14
ft since the swim platform really shouldn't have been counted by the
manufacturer) and with 2 ft seas, I can keep up a pretty good speed... Once
it gets to 3 ft or more, I have to slow down to hull speed or it will beat
me to death on those drops when the troughs are not evenly spaced... A 4 ft
following sea can be kind of fun if you can get the speed matched right so
that you can basically surf it into shore... A head sea will slow you down
to a crawl unless you can go fast enough to be able to just skip over the
tops of the waves (but this can be a painful ride when you encounter a rogue
wave/trough)...