Hi, I am the writer of The Marshal series. My second book is set largely aboard a 70-foot Hinkley-built sailboat. There is one portion where they are being chased through the Sea of Okhotsk by a 400-foot giagayacht. They are in 70+ foot seas.
I was once in seas like this aboard the fv North out of Ballard, WA. We were off the coast of Ketchukan, AK in a gale-force storm. I’m wondering if anyone has any pictures of seas like this? It is for my book cover. There is a great shot at the end of The Perfect Storm, but very hard to extract that.
[QUOTE=themarshal;94605]Hi, I am the writer of The Marshal series. My second book is set largely aboard a 70-foot Hinkley-built sailboat. There is one portion where they are being chased through the Sea of Okhotsk by a 400-foot giagayacht. They are in 70+ foot seas.
The Marshal[/QUOTE]
Oh dear Lord NO! THIS CAN’T BE HAPPENING TO US HERE?
God, I pray for you to deliver us real professional mariners in this time of great distress from such amateurs…
Hull speed of a 400’ motor yacht is going to be about 27 knots. Hull speed of a Hinckley 70 (which has a 52 foot waterline) is 9.6 knots. That’s going to be a short “chase” :rolleyes:
Since I’m not aware of Hinckley (Though they do make works of Art) making sleds, even a 400 ft sailboat is going to run that Hinckley down very fast. Heck, even a Swan 60, or most J Boats over 40ft will run down a 70 Foot Hinckley.
Hinckley is the boat to take if you want to cruise the world in any weather, though they are fast, they can / have won races, but racing is not why they are built (actually very-overbuilt).
If anyone wants to give me a Hinckly, I’d have something even my grandkids could pass down with pride.
[QUOTE=Bayrunner;155357]70ft seas? Lol I doubt a yacht could handle that no matter how much it cost to build.[/QUOTE]
Yea, they can and have. I was in a 28 footer exactly like this (Same maker - Bristol Channel Cutter)
While I know thery were not 70 footers, the seas were definitely equal to and sometimes slightly above the 42 foot mast.
70 Foot ocean crossing Sailboats are designed to handle seas beyond mast height. The Hinckley Sou-Wester 70 has a 93 foot mast. The Hinckley Sou-Wester 70 is also Bruce King Design, so It will handle 70 foot seas with ease. …and they remarkable easy to sail single handed.
Now…how often do 70 foot seas exist? Seen 40-50 footers, but never anything bigger. At least I’ve never been in anything bigger.
[QUOTE=rshrew;155392]I’m trying to remember the last time I heard about 70’ seas by Ketchikan let alone why anyone would go up the outside in them and not up Chatham…[/QUOTE]
this clown is a complete Bozo there rshrew…he doesn’t even know where Ketchikan is likely let alone where one could conceivably encounter such seas. All the years I worked in Alaska, I never saw a 70’er even as a rogue wave. 50’ers yes, maybe even a 60’er once but never 70’.
Can guarantee he has never been in high seas in any kind of vessel.
50’ers yes, maybe even a 60’er once but never 70’.
Was onboard an 800’ 125K ton loaded tanker from Valdez toward Tsingtao when we ran into a typhoon in the western Gulf of Alaska and hove to for 5 days in seas up to 100’ and that is no sea story. Huge damage to deck gear, rafts, rails, and a smashed boatdeck. Antennae were shattered from whipping, lost one sat dome altogether. That old story about atheists in foxholes applies to sailors on tankers too … staterooms were completely trashed, crew completely exhausted. No way is anyone in any kind of boat going to “chase” another boat in much of a sea state…
of course it is not just the height of the sea but its period and pitch. Big or small, lots of vessels could survive extremely high seas if they were long enough but they usually aren’t when you get this:
70 foot seas near Ketchikan? I doubt it. Maybe the Captain [I]told[/I] him they were 70 footers just to rag him a little. I’ve been in and out of Ketchikan for years and I’ve seen some rough water…but never a 700 foot sea.
