[Gerry Zagorski]

For sure Dmac. Bigger is not always better.... Smaller boats are a lot more nimble, especially in close quarters like an inlet... Their ability to turn on a dime and power up quickly helps a great deal. Point in case, I've seen some Wave Runners run some pretty nasty inlets when larger boats had a more difficult time.

And you are right.... The worst thing to do is panic.

I was coming into the Belmar inlet once.... We had run down from Sandy Hook and the east wind started honking pretty good. It was bumpy and we took a few over the bow when runing the ocean, but were never in any danger. Every time we'd take some water over the bow the 2 women we had with us were screaming... "OMG were gonna die" sort of stuff....

As I approached the inlet I knew it was going to be a bit nasty because we had an outgoing tide and the waves were standing up. I slowed the boat down well outside the inlet and told the ladies.... "Look.... You want to get in safely right? Well, we are in no immediate danger but I need to really concetrate when we go through the inlet, so could the 2 of you please calm down so I can take us in"...I'm sure my words were a bit more forcefull and colorful then that, but I needed them to get ahold of themsleves and stop screaming so I could concentrate.

I waited for a few minutes and you could see that there was a definate cadence to the seas. The waves would come in sets and then you'd get a lul.. I timed it so we went in behind a set and we hardly even got a splash on the windshield.

Take your time, be observant and don't panic and you can get through just about anything.