You had the wrong boat in the wrong circumstances.

Chances are that an an 8-10hp engine in a displacement hull would have quite
happily powered you out of those circumstances.

The problem you faced was because you were in a hull designed to be
'exciting' for holidaymakers, so it was lightly constructed, designed to
plane on the waves, and (from the point of view of seaworthines) loaded with
an overlarge outboard motor weighing down the stern. All great fun for
****ing about in the calm, but useless for real sea use.

40hp or whatever is irrelevant for seaworthiness, what counts is grip in the
water (depth/keel), freeboard
and balance.

I've regularly driven an 18 ft displacement boat, quite happily and safely,
through 3m waves off a lee shore with a 6hp engine.

I grew up in east anglia, my favourite area as a kid was Southwold harbour,
if you want to play in small boats take a look at the hulls used by
fishermen. Understand what they learnt.

You did well with the boat that you had, you were in a dangerous situation
and you survived; we all scare the **** out of ourselves at some point.

Training + experience provides the anchor points for the next trial.

nick
"Steve" wrote in message
...
Simon Brooke , wrote:

Steve writes:

If you know your colregs and basic
navigation, you'll get through the exam without difficulty. If you
don't, I don't much want you on the water in a powerful boat, with or
without a certificate.

Define "powerful".

More than four horsepower.

If you don't want to get one, stick to hiring low-powered boats.

25hp on open seas is not "low powered", it's dismall and probably
unsafe.

Don't be ****ing ridiculous! My 26 foot ocean capable boat has 8
horsepower, and is grossly overpowered - half throttle is ten knots
and anything over half throttle she just squats. Four would be
adequate in all conditions, and with a good inboard installation and a
good prop two horsepower could probably drive her at hull speed. My
father's similar 22 foot boat forty years ago had two horsepower and
it was never not powerful enough.

Perhaps the Greeks rebadge their outboards then g, and I was
conned into paying for a 25hp when in fact it was a 0.25hp. lol.

Seriously though, perhaps the engine's torque figures make a
difference, or the propeller size, etc? These things are quite
slow, but more importantly they struggle to make *any* progress
against undercurrents.

If you think you can't go into open water with less than 25 horse
power, you aren't safe to go into open water at all.

That's not quite what I said, I'll explain further.
www.skiathosinfo.com/islandmap.htm
I hired a 40hp boat from a place in the bay to the South called
"Vasillias" which is indicated on the map. The island had winds
coming in from the North so I was advised to remain within two
points at either side, from Krasa to the west and the Is Arkos to
the east.

Had a great day untill about 4.00pm (boat due back at 5.00pm) at
which time we were just off Kalimaki and the wind changed
direction. Suddenly (and while drifting peacefully in calm
waters), we found ourselves in a huge swell and facing wind
coming in from the south-east. I set off to head back around the
small Kalamaki peninsula with my wife looking very worried and
our child (thinking she was on a playground ride) giggling. *I*
knew we were in serious danger.

The current and swell were pushing the boat back towards the
rocks, while use of any real throttle resulted in almost flipping
the boat while climbing the swell of water. The trouble was, that
only full throttle would make *any* progress against the wind and
current, but that would also flip the boat. Just getting the hang
of things and phut.. phut.. fuel empty!

I had to keep everyone calm, move them around to balance the tiny
boat, refill the tank from the spare fuel can without spilling it
everywhere, put everything back under the seat, start the engine
quickly without flooding it and make progress against an (approx
15-20ft) ever-increasing swell without flipping the boat in sheer
panic.

Once re-started, I managed to keep my family as forward as
possible and alternate between backing off throttle but
maintaining some speed up the swell and then accelerating down
the other side. Eventually I brought us 'behind' the shelter
offered by the two small islands (Mikri Tsougria and Megati
Tsougria) at which point the sea was more or less dead calm
again.

That was a shock, unexpected, with no warning and we lived to
tell the tale due to "common sense". Seriously, could I have done
any better while holding a certificate?