Sep 05 2008
Small Craft Advisory changes
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NOAA has revised the Small Craft Advisory criteria for our area. Wind speeds in the 21-33 knot range still rate an SCA as do wave heights 10 feet and above, but they have decided to make the wave criteria even more stringent, including smaller waves that arrive in intervals of less than 12 seconds.
The chart above details the new standards.
The addition of smaller, short-interval waves is based on the fact that waves frequently break in these conditions, which is particularly dangerous for low-freeboard vessels with open cockpits.
While you may not consider these conditions particularly hazardous, heading off into this stuff would be bone jarring on the bow, sickening on the beam and a wild and probably wet ride when coming from astern.
That said, remember that the advisories are posted for a large swatch of the channel. If you’re staying near home, you might not be anywhere near the worst-case conditions. I’ve found Sailflow to be the best source for trying to parse the forecasts.
Nice interpretive write-up. I find it interesting that NOAA never defines exactly what a “small craft” is. Your thoughts?
Yeah, that is interesting. I think it’s part of the reason that the small craft advisory criteria are different in various regions. In Alaskan waters, they probably have heavier duty boats and their small craft aren’t as delicate as ours. In CA, we see a lot of boats that belong on lakes – jet skis, bass boats and all sorts of open cockpit, low-freeboard vessels.
I don’t consider the Hunters small craft. On the other hand, at the mid to upper ranges of the criteria, they’d be sporty as hell.