"Little Miss Judy's Believe It or Not!
This is a picture that I took of a severe storm around the mid 1960's that had formed on a summer afternoon out in front of Tybee Island. I found this picture as I was going throw some old books. As soon as I saw it I remember the storm just like it happened only yesterday. I was in my old, but new to me then, 30-foot wooden boat "Miss Judy." The four fishermen on board with me were very concerned. At the time when this happened I didn't have enough experience to even be concerned about the storm, which had high winds along with multiple water spouts. After all I had already been through many storms just like this one. I was around 16 year old at the time this happened. With bags of experience now in tow I now know why the four fishermen on board were concerned! This brings to mind what I tell my customers every morning as I am explaining about the onboard safety equipment and it goes like this. "The older you get the more safety equipment you buy!"
The Storm of 1998
I can definitely say, "This was the storm that exactly changed my sea going life forever!" The reason being it was probably the first time that I have ever really been truly scared. It's was the first time in over 40 years plus that I had to say, "we need to put our life preservers on!" Although during and after the storm I realized that life preserves, rafts, or any other floating aids probably wouldn't have done much good. This doesn't mean for one minute that boaters shouldn't take their equipment seriously, because it could save your life. It's just that I don't believe on this particular day it would have done us any good. There wouldn't have been enough time between breaking waves for a person in a life jacket to take a breathe after being sucked under. I really don't know any other way to put it.
On June 19, 1998 we loaded our customers on the "Miss Judy Too" as we have done for over 40 years plus. I had some regulars that morning. Regulars are fishermen that fish with us frequently. I had three young couples, which as time went on I found out that all had at least two young children each. We were supposed to head out to the Gulf Stream, but for some reason I decide to go the snapper banks instead. I called this decision, "a captain's prerogative!" The stream was located about 70 miles offshore while the snapper banks are about 35 miles. I can still remember this day as if it happened yesterday.
It was so calm that there wasn't hardy a ripple on the ocean. We bottom fished and had a great day. We caught red snapper, grouper, and an array of other types of bottom fish. Since we were originally going to fish the stream Captain Ali and I had pre-loaded the boat with all of the necessary extra rods and reels that were needed. When we fished the stream we did quite a bite of trolling. To troll in these waters we needed our blue water tackle, which wasn't kept on the boat, but in the house. Our blue water tackle rods/reels set-ups costs in the neighborhood of about $600.00 to $1,000.00 for each rod/reel combination. Thanks goodness we had plenty of room for all of the extra rods and reels. I lined the bridge with all of my gold internationals. It looked like Christmas morning on the bridge!
At about 2:00 PM I decided once again for some reason to head in early. We were supposed to stay and fish to about 3:00 PM, but I pulled the plug early on the trip. Captain Ali cleaned up and I started to get everything comfortable for the two-hour ride to shore. It was so calm that it could have taken less time. I powered up, set my compass heading on about 305 degrees, settled down in my captain's chair, and started to tell my normal "Fish Tails" as we made our way home.
The Miss Judy Too was built in 1994 so therefore she wasn't very old. She looked good, handled great, and was very comfortable in the ocean. Over the last four years I had seem some pretty nasty weather, large sea conditions, but not a thing as bad as what we were unknowingly heading straight into. At about 15 miles off the sea buoy I received a call on my boat cell phone for another charter captain. Captain Bob said, (and I quote) "you had better batten down the hatches and get ready for what is heading in your direction. It's pretty bad!" I thanked him and immediately turned on the weather channel on my marine radio. The broad cast went something like this. It was another first for me. The station announced a warming tone. This is the noise that no one wants to hear. For a second it reminded my of "lost in space" when the robot raised his arms to say, "danger Wil Robinson, Danger!" That about how lame the weather statement was. The weather statement was very strange. It's stated that we had what is called a "weather event heading our way!" I had never until this point heard that kind of a statement made. I had my radar on about 20 miles and couldn't see anything in terms of rain on the screen. However, I could see a little discoloration in the cloud line to the west, but as I said not a thing out of the norm especially for this time of the year. At about 5 miles off the sea buoy I started hearing the kind of chatter on the marine radio that I wasn't used to hearing. Vessel in distress, weekend boaters calling the coast guard with concerns and some real serious questions. One vessel called the coast guard and asked this question. He asked, "What was he supposed to do?" The transmission stated that it was his first time in his new boat, he was in an area that he was not familiar with, it was rough, the wind was blowing and etc. The coast guard quickly replied suggesting that he put on his life jacket and basically head into the wind. That answer sounded strange, because normally the coast guard asked if they needed any assistance. During and after the storm passed I knew why they suggested what they did for the "green boaters." They couldn't have helped at the moment if they wanted too. They were basically grounded until the passing of the storm. This is when I turned my radio down real low so that I was the only one that could listen.
I motion for Captain Ali to come close so that we could talk quietly. It was the beginning of a drill that we had done many times over with the exception of getting the safety gear out. I told her of the so-called pending weather, knowing that neither of us thought much about it, but I still put her on notice about the safety gear. She headed below to get the jackets in a pile and ready. We also closed the hatches, windows, and straighten up any loose objects such as buckets on the aft deck. Loose things that take flight with the wind aren't a good thing. I finally got a glimpse of what we were heading into. It didn't look that bad, but it was about 40 miles long and it did cover most of my immediate coastline. It was moving from the west to the east putting us along with many others right in its destructive path.
I remember the ocean conditions being without any sort of movement. The air was basically non-existence. It was hot, muggy, and I think you get the picture. This is what happens when a large strong weather change is approaching an area. It basically sucks the life of the current conditions. The wall of the storm, which couldn't be seen on my radar, due to the fact it wasn't lined with rain, was very definite. I entered it from complete calm sea conditions to a strong ripple. A storm ripple is which the winds were very strong, but the sea hasn't caught up with it. As I write this I can't help but remember the air pressure being so tight.
The so called "wall" looked just like the weather that the sail boat in the movie "White Squall" plowed right into. It didn't look very threatening, but real strange. It was my first "white squall." After penetrating the front wall the wind went from zero to an immediate strong thirty knots. I told Captain Ali to hand out the life jackets, which were ready and instructions had been explained. Everyone on board already knew that we had a situation, but didn't know how bad. Heck, at this point neither did I. Everyone put their life jackets on with Captain Ali stating that it was just a drill of sorts and that we normally went through weather like this on most summer afternoons. These were all very true statements for the moment. With thirty plus knots winds, which aren't bad and I had seen much worst, I plowed right on making way. After about three minutes the winds dropped out and for a brief moment giving me the feeling, but for a brief moment that I had scared my customers for no good reason. However what happened next would change my life forever.
I heard it, but couldn't mark it on the radar, but it was there and had headlights on us. It swallowed us up like any hungry animal would. The noise sounded like an ocean going (not that there is such a thing) "freight train" doing about 100 hundred miles an hour! The sound got louder and the wind got stronger. Just when I thought the winds would top out they picked up! My boat had and still does have lots of electronics, which means it has lots of antennas sticking up. My father always said, "While in a storm the first antenna that blows off could be just one that has a bad bracket holding it up. However, if more comes off, your super structure could be next. As I looked back I saw an antenna hanging by its cord being really tossed around. It finally got completely torn off taking it to the ocean. The next antennas were right behind it. Popping off as if they were tooth picks. I really got to thinking about what dear old dad said, "the supper structure could be next, which meant we were next. The supper structure is the part in which we were standing. You basically have a hull, which is the base of the boat, then the up right wall also known as the super structure holding the windshields and windows is added. It was so noisy that I didn't hear the crack as it made it's way around the front of the super structure. At this point that was a good thing. I had enough going on. I had slowed down to holding my way in waves that were so large that I didn't make it over one before the next one was breaking over the bow. Believe me it's hard trying to steer a boat that doesn't have the rudder in the water. The boat heeled over so far that my arm on the starboard side went into the water. My boat lay over so far that I really don't know why the heck it set right back up, but for some reason it did. All waves were the same size, which was very big! All on board were being thrown to the starboard side of the boat. The first big wave tilted the Miss Judy Too so far over that those on the port side were relocated to the starboard. When she righted herself there was another wave just as big waiting to pound us.
My mind was racing thinking about the young couples onboard and their children. I had to snap out of that thought. I wasn't giving up it had just occurred to me. Captain Ali assured the customers that this boat was built to handle this sort of afternoon storms. She even had me believing that it was possible. We were now 8 minutes into the storm. My weather instruments blow off at 80 knots. My canvas top on my bridge ripped off and was wrapped around what was left of my radar. My out riggers looked were twisted and bent. My gold reels on top were still there, but I was afraid at this point that they might become projectiles of sorts. However, one of the push bars loosen up allowing 500 yards of 50-pound monofilament to be wrapped around the rod and reels that lined my lower deck. This was an eerie sight for sure. It wasn't until this moment that I realized that I had been in a serious wind tunnel, because the line was wind so tightly around everything on the deck. It looked as if someone has grabbed the end of the line and pulled it around and around the deck. It was very strange looking.
At 16 minutes, which at this point seemed like hours, Captain Ali leaned over and said, "Judy we have been working together for a long timethis is when I stopped her from finishing her statement. I knew that she knew we were only minutes away from having the "Miss Judy Too" ripped right from under us." I have to admit from a very seasoned captain, this is not a very good feeling! Maydays were many on the radiothe waves were being pushed by the 80 knots winds and they were straight up and down. They tossed us over and around giving me only brief intervals of control of the boat. To this day I don't know how we made it through this storm. In the heat of the storm I ran my boat at almost full throttle to compete with the storm's fury.At 18 minutes I knew we were going to make it, because a brief pull back from 80 to less knots signaled the passing of the storm. As the stormed pasted us the noise went with it. It was so loud that you couldn't hear yourself talk much less "think!" When you are covered up by a storm such as this you are always looking for any changes such as light peeking through. In this case we were in a total "white out" for about 17 minutes. I never saw anything, but the waves that broke directly over my bow.
As the storm passed fear began to really set in, which meant I then had time to think. I moved to the back deck to view the damage. All uprights (antenna, outriggers, canvas top,) on the boat were snapped off and were either hanging by wire or gone completely. I got my roll of duct tape out to secure all loose hanging objects. Here's a note in regards to duck tape. It can be used to attach, hold, or tie almost anything whether it's totally wet or just damp! I suggest to all boaters to add a roll of duct tape to their safety equipment list. I never really had to think about this until now, but you can take this tape and wrap it around your life jacket to secure it better. The straps are good, but the tape just adds that extra needed support.
Around the outside of my supper structure I had quite a bit of damage. On the starboard and port front corners were cracks that weren't just superficial. It's has always been my belief that had I been in a few more minutes of continuous 80 knot plus winds the Miss Judy Too wouldn't have held together. However, she did and that's why I am able to share the story with you!
The storm moved offshore and become a stationary event holding many large 40-foot plus Gulf Stream boats in large waves and high winds for over 7 hours. Knowing what I know from the experience I had I am so fortunate that I didn't make the gulf stream run on this particular day. Everyday before leaving the dock, I asked myself, quietly of course, how I feel about the fish day? Call it a captain's intuition, if you would like!
The bottom line to this story is a simple one. I have been on the water all of my life and I have had only one instance where I feared for everyone's life on board my boat. I guess you could say, "The law of averages caught up with me." I have been fishing for over 40 plus years and I would say and still are saying, "that's pretty goods odds!"
Thanks for reading! Captain Judy