"Scott Vernon" wrote in message
...
seen water once - and that was diving through an 8 foot square wave caused
by 25
knots of wind against a 5 knot current at the exit of a canal.

Cape Cod Canal I presume? Cool place.

Yup - Eastbound, last year. Westbound it happens more often, because the
prevailing SW funnels right up the canal, but the current is a bit less at that
end. This day we had a little "mini Nor'easter" to nail us on the way home. I
had plenty of warning on the radio, including the large cruiser ahead of us
begging the Sandwich Marina for dock space until the tide turned. Although
these waves were nastier than any I had seen on the other end, we soon turned
North and were clear of the current. On the other end of the canal, once you
get into it, there aren't many options but to tough it out for a while.


We took a wave over the bow of the Mac with the forward hatch open, soaked
the v-berth. Learned my lesson.

We were lucky - the time we flooded our berth we had a plastic picnic table
cloth spread out as protection against the cats yacking on the bunk. It
actually contained a few gallons! Its saved us a few times when unexpected
showers caught us off the boat.