Very interesting article on bar crossings (and more)!
Some good pictures also!
Maybe many of you have seen this article, first time for me!
G

Reading Weather, Bar
& Ocean Conditions for a Small Boater

http://www.leeroysramblings.com/Weather_Barcrossing_small_boat.htm

I like that rule of 12's... very easy to remember. Also illustrates why the hour on either side of slack is the PRIME time to be fishing.... well at least the brand of fishing I prefer.

The hard part is remembering the LAG between low tide (a low water level) and low slack (a tidal current velocity of ZERO that occurs sometime AFTER low tide). I think we forget about the fact that this lag is dependent on the volume of water being exchanged. The run-out on a big ebb takes LONGER to finally go slack. Can't forget that when making a bar crossing.

I was always told "Ocean Squared"; 6', 6 sec. 8', 8 sec. etc. But their are always exceptions! "A good seaman weathers the storm he cannot avoid and avoids the storm he cannot weather". It's the unpredictability that makes me nervous.

Here is one of my favorites.

https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/vi...mp;action=click

Happy Thanksgiving.

some years back there was a video of boats crossing the bar at Depot Bay with the Coast Guard boat criss crossing behind the boats on the way in.

The first time I read that article of LeeRoys' was December of 2013. It paid off big time. Good information for the novice and veteran mariner alike. I pull it up every once in a while to refresh and ingrain his information.

The lag time that eyeFish has referenced is also something I pay close attention to. On the CR Bar it can be as much as an hours difference. A lot of guys who fish there use this site as it calculates those variable into the equation and give a better timing on the slack.

http://tbone.biol.sc.edu/tide/tideshow.cgi?site=Clatsop+Spit%2C+NNE+of%2C+Washington+Current+%2815d%29

I used to have a technique where I would drive out till out got rough or not. If rough, go back, if calm, go out.

Sometimes you get into the thick of things in what seemed like an easily do-able bar crossing, only to find yourself mired in what seems like an ENDLESS series of one chaotic wave after the next.

There is NO turning back.

If you get sideways for a split-second too long, and you're getting rolled over... guaran's.

You either
1) trudge ahead slow and easy because you're confident that you're actually gonna make it thru...
2) attempt to hover in place while waiting for conditions to improve, or ...
3) admit defeat and let the waves slowly push you back into the bay. (Think of it as backtrolling)

Going out on a soft bar and finding the ocean to be a bit ruff, then making a decision to return may work out well. Doing a blind run on a bar especially the CR Bar may not work out so well. LeeRoys articles cover the many reasons for timing a bar crossing. There have been a few times where I'm fishing a soft ocean and have found that I must wait and time my incoming bar crossing due to poor bar conditions. Perhaps running out of a location such as a large bay with no bar turning around is a viable option. Turning around on a bar where the conditions have deteriorated is hazardous at best as eyeFish mentioned.