Bruce Davis talks about heavy weather in Salt of the Sea - Bruce named the Jo Davis after his father and put a mark on the stern quarter that said âStayput 550â. âThey used to call me Stayput because I never used to come home when the weather blew hard. I used to go to sea, then wait until the fuel ran out before Iâd come home. Iâve been in a bit of weather. Iâve been at sea twice in 100 knots of wind, which is about 185 kilometres per hour. Once off the west coast of Tasmania in the James Leigh, a boat I skippered built the same as Centenary Star, a 52 foot canoe stern carvel. The James Leigh was picked up by a big wave and rolled sideways. We were broadside for 200 yards until it slowed down enough to get steerage again. We had no control, like a ski going sideways on a wave. The James Leigh survived and was sold. Like Centenary Star and so many other fishing boats these days, she has been converted to a pleasure boat.â âI did two years cray fishing in Port Davey on the west coast of Tasmania. Sometimes on the west coast we would catch 20 score a day. A score in Tasmania was two dozen. They weighed about 53 pound per score, so some cray would weigh more than a kilogram. This was back in 1960 and 1961. It was a wonderful industry. I tried to buy a boat there and would still be there today except the banks wouldnât give me any money.â Bruce says, âSome people up in this neck of the woods donât even know what a big sea is. Itâs so different down there in the roaring forties on the west coast of Tasmania. The seas can break over Whales Head, which is 200 foot high! We never get a swell as big as that here. During the war, the massive liner Queen Mary was taking soldiers to Europe off the west coast of Tasmania and it took significant structural damage to the hull while steaming at seven knots â thatâs how big the seas get down there.â âIâve been on vessels in the Coral Sea around the Swain Reefs in 30 metre swells. But thatâs just a ground swell and would have come from a cyclone somewhere. Down there they get 200 foot swells a mile apart with ten and 12 foot breaking waves on top of them. The winds come all the way from South Africa and the Antarctic and blow 80 or 100 knots for weeks at a time! There is nothing to stop it until it hits the west coast of Tasmania.â Bruce continues, âThe boats down there are all very good sea boats. The Sharpies they build up here wouldnât survive in those conditions. The southern boats are yacht type hulls and they have a great big well running fore and aft, full of water thatâs pumped in. The wells are to hold the crays, and also lower the boatâs centre of gravity, stabilising the boat. Every one of these boats has a sail, which they raise when itâs rough, just a little headsail that keeps the boat steady. Whether youâre coming or going, it doesnât matter, you still have that little sail up. The Sharpies would roll over if they got sideon to those massive southern swells, because they have a big flat side on them. If they were round like a bottle, they would roll with the swell, not against it. Itâs the same as all the boats in the North Sea that work 60 knots all the time; they are all beautiful round carvel hulls. All the rough places in the world have canoe stern boats â look at all those New Zealand deep sea trawlers â canoe stern. You canât have a square flat arse and work rough weather. â
Posted on: Mon, 15 Dec 2014 05:17:48 +0000
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