North Australian FISH FINDER TM forums

I spoke to BOM about what to do when caught in a storm at sea.
1st put up the canopy so it acts as a Faraday cage
Pack away all rods, avoid touching the sides of the tinny, don’t hand arms/legs over the side
Sit in the middle of the boat
The other things like tarps over the side just protect you from the rain.

And keep the toilet paper handy ...

Matt Flynn wrote:And keep the toilet paper handy ...

It gets soggy.

Hence the ''dry bag'' mine is from sea to summit it has protected my phone in hectic storms plenty of times it could even save yr life up here in the remote topend if especially if u are getting into the far to reach areas .........

My dry bag is so old and has had sooo much use that the bottom has tiny pinholes from wear

Dry bags are good. My boat is real wet, so I have a pair of safety googles from Bunnings. I pt my hat on low and tight and pull the buff over the top and up over my face. It keeps all of the rain and spray out and I can see really well. Works a treat and might upgrade to a motocross one when it dies.

I have been using ski goggles for years, I forget where I got them from but they were on special for less than $20. Any spray seems to hardly affect your vision and they cut out the glare.

I've had a few scary moments over the years up here. Got caught out down channel point on a solo mission. I was in a 26ft fibreglass boat with a full cab. About midnight i heard the thunder so i got out and had a look, then the wind started. It would of been blowing at least 80kph for a good 20 min. I stayed at anchor will i was hiding in the cab with a life jacket and epirb in hand. The whole bow of the boat was getting pulled under and and the waves were crashing over the windscreen, thank god for the self draining deck and the sealed cab.

Lightning is what scares me the most, left from darwin once heading down to dundee, we got around the corner from charles point to pull up for a drop. When we stopped i could hear a humming noise. I turned every thing off and i could still hear it. At this point there was a storm down over crab claw with a bit of lightning in it but i was a good 30 or 40 clicks away. Turns out it was the rods in the rocket launchers! We were getting shocked by them when our hands were an inch away! Im glad i had someone with me as a witness! We took all the rods out and threw them in the cab.

The worst thing was only a couple of weeks before a bloke was killed over in queensland by a "out of the blue" lightning stike when a storm a fair way off! That was the only thing i was thinking about! Graphite rods just dont mix with lightning!

There is a saying about thunder/lightning. No matter how far away it is, if you can hear it then you can be struck by it. you dont have to have clouds overhead to be struck by lightning

You raise a good point re anchoring. Ive seen so many people just drop anchor almost straight down.
In normal conditions, multiply your depth x 3 for rope length.
In windy conditions, multiply your depth x 5 for rope length

In rough conditions, use all of your rope. add on your spare rope to flatten out the angle

The flatter the angle the more hold you will have and virtually excludes any risk of dipping the bow under.
Try it next time