Five Basic Rules to Follow
Let’s assume we make all the right decisions regarding the pending storm. What actions do we take? Here are some basic rules to live by if you fish offshore. They can give you peace of mind, but more importantly they can save your life.
- Never head offshore without at least a twenty-five watt VHF radio wired to a good vertical antenna. As you leave the dock, call for a radio check. The Coast Guard is not the right group to call at this point. They monitor channel 16, the hailing channel, but they are far too busy to be checking everyone’s radio. Call the dock master at the marina, or one of the several emergency boat towing agencies. They will gladly respond to a request for a radio check.
- Never leave the dock to head offshore without a full tank of fuel. You should have enough fuel to fish all day and return to the dock with no less than a half tank of gas remaining. That may sound high, but the reason will be clear as you read below.
- For a fishing vessel, the deepest water you can safely and conceivably anchor in is about 150 feet. Even at that depth, you need a lot of anchor line. Plan to have an anchor line that is at least seven times the depth at which you may have to anchor – more is better. This depth to line length is called “rode,” and it is an important factor in keeping your boat anchored in a heavy sea. Given the amount of line required in a heavy sea, anchoring offshore in a storm should absolutely be your last choice.
- Keep several sealed gallon jugs of fresh water safely stowed on board. The additional space and weight are negligible compared to the need for that water in a boat adrift at sea for several days.
- The first four rules are not Coast Guard requirements; they are common sense. In addition to those first four, make sure your vessel meets all the Coast Guard safety requirements regarding PFD’s and signaling devices. You may need them.
Your Choice of Action
With the rules in tow, we can now make intelligent choices regarding the storm now heading our way.
- Make a call on the radio to verify what you see. Find out which way the storm is headed. Ask about the winds. Tune to the predesignated weather channel for your area. If you are beyond the line of sight distance, ask any boat you can hail to relay your request. Find out what the storm is doing. Sometimes they build over the coast and sit until they cool off the air around them. Sometimes they move offshore.
- If the storm is heading offshore, our first choice is to run, not away from it, but perpendicular to it. Heading for the dock is not possible; that puts us right in the teeth of the storm. Head ninety degrees in either direction and run out of the storm’s path. You now see the reason to have sufficient fuel! If the storm is large, you may need to run ten miles or more. If you make this choice early, it will likely be the only choice you need to make.
