Safety thought of the day… Know your weather!
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OK, so most of the time we know exactly what to expect when we head out on the water, but I recently learned a lesson in why it is important to still pay attention and check out the forecasts before you go out on the water. This is especially important on marine waters.
To give you a little history on what happened to teach me this lesson, I headed out Thursday afternoon to drop off some crab pots. The weather looked nice with a slight breeze and plenty of sun. Headed out it was a bit choppy, but the waters outside of Everett usually are in the afternoon. By the time I got to my spot and dropped pots, the water had gone from choppy to small waves with whitecaps. To make things more fun, the wind was blowing pretty good now and from the direction I needed to get home.
For the next hour and a half I slogged home, fighting waves, wind and generally really rough water. When I got home I checked the marine reports to find that I had been cruising home through a small craft advisory. At least I know what that is like now. So my lesson from this is to check the tide and weather reports from now on. Apparently I was deciding to head out during a big, fast 12′ incoming tide, with a good strong wind blowing against it. That sucked.
So from now on I have a couple places I will check before I head out, and I suggest you do to!
NOAA - National Weather Reports
NOAA - Graphical Weather for the Northwest
Salt Water Tides - Tide info for all the coastal areas.
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