high wave issue-gctid815899

[ttv]

I ventured out on the Minnesota/Mississippi rivers today for the first time and encountered something that I have not had issues with on a lake. We approached a big paddle boat who was coming the opposite direction and after we passed, the bow of our boat bounced on the waves and actually went under on 3 consecutive waves. Our speed was just above no-wake and I had turned into the waves but with 2 teens on the front we took on a huge amount of water. I am guessing that we had 4 inches on the floor...20 minutes to pump once we reached shore. My question is could I have positioned the boat or adjusted the speed to avoid this? Obviously we had too much weight in the bow but is there anything else besides shifting the weight that I could have done?

My conclusion about these rivers in particular is that the waves are definitely more tricky than those on lakes.

[Ruffryder]

4 inches on the floor...20 minutes to pump once we reached shore is a lot!

Not much a small bow rider can do in conditions like that.

[88fourwinns]

When a big rolling wake is coming at you the thing to do is throttle up to get the bow up high and turn so you hit at a 45* angle. You must get the bow up to keep water out of the boat....

[ttv]

Thanks, that is the type of advice I was looking for.

[Nickdixon]

It's not the river, it's the paddle boats...the real ones that use the paddles for propulsion. They throw up a truly nasty wake. The big commercial barges are not much of an issue.

Yep, all you can do is get the bow up and go through it. It's usually only 3-4 crests. Have enough speed to get it over with and have good steerage.

I boat where several of these sternwheelers are based, but they only go out for short tourist loops. Mostly, they try to be courteous, but with a narrow channel there's not much that can do.

[ttv]

Thanks for the info. We did not encounter any barges, as they were all docked but this area also has several paddle boats as you described. It definitely caught me off-guard and made for a fun adventure.

[driz]

"88fourwinns" post=815902 wrote:
When a big rolling wake is coming at you the thing to do is throttle up to get the bow up high and turn so you hit at a 45* angle. You must get the bow up to keep water out of the boat....

Ditto! Never head straight on if you can help it. I always try to punch it a tad and raise the nose going up if it's a bad one then back off before you go down again. Rinse and repeat. Keep the bow trimmed high too it helps. With practice it's pretty easy and self evident. Take them slow at a 45 you won't even have to do throttle stuff.

We used to surf our 14' outboards behind lakers when we were kids, at a respectable distance around 75' . That 45 angle keeps you right there if you want to stay.

[Jim_Gandee]

When a big rolling wake is coming at you the thing to do is throttle up to get the bow up high and turn so you hit at a 45* angle. You must get the bow up to keep water out of the boat....

+1. That's it.

[ttv]

Thanks for the comments and advice. Our next trip we are going to take the Minneapolis side so we can experience a lock.

[carguy]

"ttv" post=816535 wrote:
Thanks for the comments and advice. Our next trip we are going to take the Minneapolis side so we can experience a lock.

That lock is the deepest one on the river. It feels like you are in a mine. The procedure is pretty simple though. Get a hand held and request lockage (they monitor 14). They'll direct you to the front of the lock and hand you lines. Do yourself a favor and bring some gardening gloves to handle the lines and push on the wall. They get pretty slimy. Cool stretch of the river though and great views of MPLS. It's too bad they permanately shut down the lock at St Anthony a few years back. Have fun.