Every boat, obviously, has its limitations and ordinary judgment dictates that the one designed for lake and river use should not be expected to be suitable in all weather offshore. It is a fact that just what a boat will do is governed to a great extent by the skill of the man at the helm. Thus a good seaman will bring a poor craft through a blow that a novice might not be able to weather with a larger or better vessel.

Rough weather is purely a relative term and what seems a terrible storm to the fair-weather man may be nothing more than a good breeze to the man who has known the sea in all its tantrums. When the going begins to get heavy, various types of boats will behave differently depending on their size and design, the way they are trimmed or loaded, and the nature of the sea. Large shallow bodies of water, such as Lake Erie, kick up an uncomfortable sea in a hard blow, because the depth is not great enough to permit the waves to assume their natural form. The result is a short steep wind sea with breaking crests. Miles off shore in the open ocean with the same amount of wind, there might be a moderate sea running but the greater depth permits the waves to assume a smoother form, without broken crests.

Little difficulty will be experienced by the average well-designed cruiser when running with the seas head on. Some spray may be thrown or, if the sections are full forward, there may be a tendency to pound somewhat with the impact of the bow against the seas. However, she is likely to handle well enough while the seas are met head on or nearly so. If the seas are steep-sided and the speed too great, it will be necessary to slow down. This will give the bow a chance to rise in meeting each sea instead of being driven deep into it. In the worst seas, it may help to run slightly off the course, taking the seas a few points off the bow. This will give the boat an easier motion. The more headway is reduced in meeting heavy seas the less will be the strain on the hull.

If the course to be made good is such that it will force the boat to run in the trough of a heavy sea with wind abeam and the seas striking the hull broadside on, it may be well to resort to what might be called a series of tacks, except that the wind is brought first broad on the bow, then broad on the quarter. This results in a zig-zag course that makes good the desired objective, while the boat is in the trough only for brief intervals while turning. With the wind broad on the bow, the behavior should be satisfactory; on the quarter, the motion will be less comfortable but at least it will be better than running in the trough.

Running dead before a sea is well enough if the stern can be kept up to the waves without being thrown around off the course. This is known as yawing. But when the sea gets too heavy, the boat tends to rush down a slope from crest to trough and, stern high, the propeller comes out of water and races while the rudder, also partly out, loses its grip on the water and the sea takes charge of the stern. At this stage she may yaw so badly as to broach to, that is to say, be thrown broadside into the trough. This must be avoided at all costs. Checking the headway to let the seas pass usually has the desired effect. While seldom necessary it is often recommended that towing a long heavy line astern will also help to check the boat's speed and keep her running straight. Obviously the line must be carefully handled and not allowed to foul the propeller. Cutting down the engine speed will reduce the strain imposed on the motor by alternate laboring with stern deep down before an overtaking sea and racing as the head goes down and the propeller comes out at the crest. The ordinary swell off shore is seldom troublesome on this point of running but the steep wind sea of the lakes and shallow bays makes steering difficult and reduced speed imperative. Excessive speed down a steep slope may cause a boat to pitchpole, that is, drive her head under in the trough, tripping the bow, while the succeeding crest catches the stern and throws her end over end. When the going is bad enough to allow risk of this, it helps to keep the stern down and the head light and buoyant, by shifting weight if necessary.

When the offshore swells run into the shallower water along the beach, they build up a steeper ground swell because of the resistance created by the bottom. Natural inlets on sandy beaches, unprotected by breakwaters, usually build up a bar across the mouth. When the ground swell reaches the bar, its form changes rapidly and a short steep-sided wave is produced which may break where the water is shallowest. This fact should be taken into consideration when approaching from offshore. A few miles off, the sea may be relatively smooth while the inlet from seaward may not look as bad as it actually is. The breakers may extend clear across the mouth, even in a buoyed channel. The shoals shift so fast with the moving sand that it is not always feasible to keep the buoys in the best water. Local boatmen often leave the buoyed channel and are guided by the appearance of the sea, picking the best depth by the smoothest surface and the absence of breakers. A stranger is handicapped in such a situation because he may not have knowledge of uncharted obstructions and so does not care to risk leaving the buoyed channel. In a case of this kind he should have a local pilot if possible. Otherwise it will sometimes pay well to anchor off, if necessary, an hour or two and follow a local boat in.

If it becomes necessary to pick a way through without local help, there are several suggestions which may help to make things more comfortable. Don't run directly in but wait outside the bar until you have a chance to watch the action of the waves as they pile up at the most critical spot in the channel, which will be the shallowest. Usually they will come along in groups of three, sometimes more, but always three at least. The last sea will be bigger than the rest and by careful observation it can be picked out of the successive groups. When you are ready to enter, stand off until a big one has broken or spent its force on the bar and then run through behind it. Ebb tide seems to build up a worse sea on the bars than the flood, probably due to the rush of water out against and under the incoming ground swell. If the sea looks too bad on the ebb, it may be better to keep off a few hours until the flood has had a chance to make.

When conditions get so bad offshore that the boat cannot make headway and begins to take too much punishment, the usual sailboat practice is to heave to, that is, to carry just enough canvas, principally aft, to keep the vessel's head to the sea a few points off where she can ride comfortably without making progress ahead. Ships some-times are hove to by allowing them to drift in any position relative to the sea they will naturally assume. Neither of these practices is feasible with a motor boat as her comparatively high bow and lack of canvas permits her to fall off broadside to the sea, in the trough, and she is not big enough to be left to her own devices as the liner might be. On the other hand motor boats are seldom caught out where they must weather prolonged blows. For short periods, where the fuel supply permits, the average motor boat will be most comfortable when the propeller is allowed to turn over slowly, giving steerage way enough to keep her head to the seas or a few points off, depending on the period of the waves and the motion of the boat.

In extreme cases, a sea anchor is occasionally used. This consists of a canvas cone-shaped bag having an iron hoop to keep it open at the mouth. To this hoop a heavy line is attached which is paid out from the bow and made fast to the forward bitt. A trip line is attached to a ring at the end of the cone. This is used to spill the bag and make it easier to haul the anchor back aboard. In use, the theory of the anchor is not to go to the bottom and hold, but merely to present a drag or resistance which will keep the boat's head up within a few points of the wind as she drifts off to leeward. Such anchors are sometimes equipped with an oil can which permits oil to ooze out slowly and form a slick on the surface, thus preventing the seas from breaking. In the absence of a regular sea anchor, any form of drag rigged from spars, planks and canvas or other material at hand that will float just below the surface and effectively keep the boat from lying in the trough, would be worth trying. The oil might be distributed from a bag punctured with a few holes and stuffed with oakum or waste saturated with oil. If it could be launched successfully and swamped, with a stout line securely attached, a dinghy could be tried in lieu of the sea anchor, but such procedure is easier to talk about than to accomplish, when conditions are bad enough to justify the attempt.

In rough water a dinghy becomes somewhat of a nuisance. In moderate weather it will prove tractable enough if properly designed. And if the boat is large enough to secure the tender properly aboard, there will be no difficulty in bad weather. But when it becomes necessary to tow it in a heavy following sea, it alternately lags astern on the back of a wave and then surges ahead on the forward side of another in an attempt to run the towing boat down. A long strong line is necessary and another line towed from the ring in the dinghy's transom will form a drag and prevent it from yawing so badly.

One of the cardinal principles of seamanship requires that you be ready on any and all occasions to render assistance to other craft in need of aid. This may necessitate your taking another boat in tow. A long strong line will be needed, especially in rough water. When conditions will permit towing a small boat close up, it will be noticed that the length of line has considerable effect on the amount of resistance offered by the tow. If the stern of the tow is deep in the trough of a stern wave, she will tow much harder than if she is hauled in a few feet to get her up on the crest. When riding on the forward slope of one of the waves, a small boat may tow so easily at times as to take most of the strain off the tow line, but in this position she will yaw at the slightest provocation. When a boat has two bitts aft instead of a single one amidships, a bridle is often rigged to tow from both, instead of throwing the whole load on one side. A heavy tow with the line made fast to a bitt aft will handicap a towing boat in maneuvering as her stern is prevented from swinging freely. If it is possible to make the line fast further forward, maneuvering will be much easier.

One of the attributes of a good seaman is the ability to steer well— another of those faculties that is developed not by study, but by practice. Not all of the principles laid down for the proper steering of a ship will apply to small pleasure boats. Nevertheless if one is posted on the fundamentals applicable to large vessels, the chances are he'll do a better job at the wheel of small craft. And, by the same token, the experience pleasure boatmen have acquired in handling small boats is today serving them well aboard cutters, patrol craft and other good sized vessels.

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