Pushing up hill

P

Ponce

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May 3, 2006
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How do most of you run when in rolling seas? Do you throttle up when going up hill or do you let the engine load and slow the RPM's on its own with the increased effort needed to climb?

I don't want to make my engines work to hard when I am far off shore, but I also don't want to waste fuel when I am 1/2 tank out.

Advise please from all who have traveled up and downhill.
 
Cool, looking forward to reading responses to this. I've never been in rollers big enough for it to matter, but it sounds exhilirating!
 
I always throttle up them and then back off on the down slope. I think the biggest rollers must have been around 12 footers, I had a 32 carver fly bridge and when in the trough I could see the top of the roller about at my eye level. The distance was safe enough to climb them , but would have been difficult to turn around in.
It was my first white knuckle ride , my first experience in crappy seas and I realized when i finally made it to safer waters and that was hours later my hands had such a tight grip on the wheel they hurt.
I was careful on the down hill ride cause I had this fear of pitch polling, I more then likely was never in danger of it, but scared of it all the same. This happend while crossing the straits of Juan De Fuca.
 
It was years ago a couple of times in about 6-10 footers in Block Island Sound. Heading East from LI NY we would leave the throttles alone but would have enough so we climb the back side at fair speed ,a few seconds to reach the top, then surf the down slope. We traveled in a very small pack back then ( 3 boats or so and ranged from 28-40 footers ) and it was cool when everyone would hit the bottom at the same time and you would loose sight of your friends and the sound of the engines rpms going down on the uphill and up on the down slope would almost lull you to sleep. We never felt unsafe and I for one couldn't tell you what the right technique that would best benefit the engines health or what the most economical way to ride those rollers was. We did put more emphasis on the angles once we had the right speed. To slow was uncomfortable for us because when you hit the down slope or front side of the wave you would get pushed from the stern to much..

I'm looking forward to what some of the pro's have to say in here
 
Running those Block Island Sound rollers was the main reason I got rid of my 30` Wellcraft. At 10,000lbs. dry, the two 5.7`s weren`t enough to to get it over the swell, without LEANING on the throttles it would just wallow on the back of the wave and come off plane, when I went over the top I had to pull back, then lean back on them at the bottom, a real pita, used tons of fuel. I tried zig-zgging back and forth across them but the increased distance run used just as much gas. Now, I just set the speed and steer, nothing like diesel torque.
 
Inkblue,,

We rode with them and I'd say about 1 or 2 o'clock or so if you can get an angle out of that. Our loop included the run from Montauk Yacht Club ( MYC was the first time a saw a car on top of a yacht ) to Block Island as part of our yearly 2 week cruise. I don't remember the compass reading anymore but I do remember one time the rollers were so big no one was coming out of The Block,, many thought they would leave but soon turned around especially if their heading brought them into the waves or West.

Sometimes ignorance allows you to enjoy an experience and beautiful day that would otherwise cause a knowledgeable person a lot of stress :)

Mark
 
It depends on your hull. I've always been more concerned the the boat's behavior with the following seas.

I was in the flat bottom C-Dory that would take off like a surf board on the front of every roller. I had to shut down the engine and drag lines to brake the hull.

On some of the deep V hulls, they would climb over the following seas just fine. In this case, I left the throttle at the most efficient setting and let the boat speed and slow.

In summary, I would look for speeds that gave me the most control of the boat.
 
You never want the water moving under the hull faster then the boat. That might allow the boat to be swamped or broached. And you never want the bow to dig into the oncoming wave. So you need adjust your speed accordingly. Monterey did a wise thing!
 
If you nail the throttle at just about the top of the wave. So the wave can help your intiial acceleration. Your skier will have a much faster and hopefully easier time getting up.
 
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