otnmbrd wrote:
I don't remember, was "Kenai" a flush deck or raised foc'sle ship? (If
flush deck, going to the foc'sle in even relatively calm conditions
could be dangerous to ones health.)

Kenai has raised foc'sle. We were hove to trying to maintain steerage to
keep the bow about 45 degrees or so to the seas. Making about 40 turns
or so, was really grim listening to the engine, hoping that we wouldn't
lose the plant.

Even hove to we were rolling so badly it tore the Sat-A off the mount
and snapped the HF whips. We had a "hydrostatic" load on board but still
had a good deal of freeboard but there was no way to avoid taking seas
when the roll was out of phase.

It was the most incredible storm I have ever experienced in quite a few
years at sea. No one even spoke for days, too exhausted, too stressed to
do anything other than minimal movement to go on watch, no hot food for
the whole week. What amazed me was the pressure of the water was enough
to bend a perfect curve in the ladders on the kingposts ... the idea
that the water could bend that steel when the only area it found was
about 3 inches wide on the side straps.

The sight of the deck movement was awe inspiring, thank heavens it was
not one of the high tensile hulls like the Keystone Canyon or Atigun
Pass. We found a few cracks on our return though.

The Kenai has shelters and breakwaters at a couple of spots along the
deck but still there was no way to go on deck. Not even on the stern.

One less interesting trip the C/M and bosun had to go forward in weather
to secure something or other in the stores forward. The weather was bad
enough that the deck was secured but it was one of those "had to do"
things. I was watching from the wheelhouse as they made their way
forward from shelter to shelter between seas breaking over the bow. The
water would hit the bow and rise vertically for maybe a hundred feet or
so and crash back on deck just behind the IG vent mast. It looked like
it was just heavy spray from the wheelhouse. They got just behind the
vent mast when a big one hit the bow and came crashing down on them.
They were knocked down like bowing pins and washed back to the pipeline
where they managed to hang on. It was amazing how much weight of water
was in the harmless looking cloud of spray.

Rick