... as he staggered back up to the helm, I could see on his face that he was done.... I barely managed to get him to show me how this particular gps worked, and what sea-buoy we were aiming for, before he joined the other fallen on the deck, towels over their heads, puking on themselves...
... it truly is scary to see what true sea-sickness can do to even the most strong willed person... We were taking 12footers over the bow at this point.. water was backwashing up into the cockpit... literally soaking these numb-nuts... and they could not have cared less... if the boat had begun to sink, they would have gone down with it. Sea-sick to the point that you completely give up... crazy chit that I have only seen once thank God.
... I continued East... knowing that the closer I could get to shore, the less fetch the swell would be able to build at me... completely blind at this point, I was able to get the radar turned on... which, truthfully, was of no use at this stage... the peaks of the waves were so high that it rendered the radar useless for the first 25 miles... I had only a spotlight by which to see a short distance ahead in the driving rain/spray should I encounter another vessel... which I knew there were many large shrimp boats anchored in the vicinity...
... Had one close call, was fooling with the squelch on the radar and noticed a "pattern" of wave peaks that seemed to be staying in the same vicinity... directly in front of me... steered hard away... barely missing a PITCH BLACK/NO LIGHTS 100' long sleeping shrimper .... I guess that was about 1am that morning...
.... 4am.... listening to Lynyrd Skynyrd... beer in hand.... slick calm water(wind still howling out of the east)... I knew I was getting close to shore... GPS said I was coming up on the main channel... what should have been about 15' of water...
... about that time, I hear a "bang-bang-bang-bang-bang..." coming from the prop.... I quickly pull her out of gear, as everyone jumps up from their puke-induced stupor to see what had happened... shining a light over the side... what had been a solid 15' of water, was now a mere 5' and we had run aground... stuck solid, still miles offshore
... The prolonged easterly high winds had literally "blown" the water away from the coast, effectively creating a "super-low-tide".... we sat there until 10 the next morning... waiting for the wind to die down and the tide to come back in...
... What had taken 6hrs to make out to, had taken over EIGHT hours to get back in the strong head-sea... good thing I brought extra beer
Once at the dock... nothing was said. I smiled as I unloaded my gear and some fish... the crew could not look me in the eyes however... They know.
