Are the cuts in the Bahamas really that dangerous?

[dustman]

Are the cuts in the Bahamas really that dangerous? Like all the ones in the Exumas for example. People make it sound like I'm going to die for sure going through these cuts in a small catamaran. I just can't imagine them being any more dangerous than the large rapids I've been through while rafting on rivers in boats a small fraction of the size. Is this fear mongering to a newbie or a legitimate concern?

[SailingHarmonie]

No, you are not going to die (probably). Sailors DO love their drama stories. But I have also seen quite a few wrecks on the side of inlets in the Bahamas. And there is NO reason that you should ever be running them close to max ebb or max flood, is there?

It is quite a bit different than river rafting. Your cat is unlikely to bounce off rocks nearly as well as your river raft, for example. And if you do manage to roll your raft, you float feet first down to the next pool and get back in.

You need to have a good deal of respect for these cuts. If the wind is blowing hard against the tide, there can be large breakers across the channel. Enough to roll your boat. I run a 53 foot monohull that has circumnavigated--twice. She can handle what the ocean throws at her. I have waited twelve hours to enter a cut in the Abacos during a rage, and ended up not going in at all, because a sailboat makes a piss-poor surfboard, and an even worse river raft.

BUT... if there are not large inbound waves, most all of the cuts are easily navigable within a few hours of slack water. Many of them are seriously uncomfortable at max ebb even in good weather. Just don't go there, then, and you'll have no problems.

In short, most of the cuts are a piece of cake at the right stage of tide and in the right weather. If either of those are bad they can be really tough. If both are bad, they certainly CAN be very dangerous. If you approach them with the idea you are tougher than they are, eventually they will smack you down.

[dustman]

Originally Posted by SailingHarmonie

No, you are not going to die (probably). Sailors DO love their drama stories. But I have also seen quite a few wrecks on the side of inlets in the Bahamas. And there is NO reason that you should ever be running them close to max ebb or max flood, is there?

It is quite a bit different than river rafting. Your cat is unlikely to bounce off rocks nearly as well as your river raft, for example. And if you do manage to roll your raft, you float feet first down to the next pool and get back in.

You need to have a good deal of respect for these cuts. If the wind is blowing hard against the tide, there can be large breakers across the channel. Enough to roll your boat. I run a 53 foot monohull that has circumnavigated--twice. She can handle what the ocean throws at her. I have waited twelve hours to enter a cut in the Abacos during a rage, and ended up not going in at all, because a sailboat makes a piss-poor surfboard, and an even worse river raft.

BUT... if there are not large inbound waves, most all of the cuts are easily navigable within a few hours of slack water. Many of them are seriously uncomfortable at max ebb even in good weather. Just don't go there, then, and you'll have no problems.

In short, most of the cuts are a piece of cake at the right stage of tide and in the right weather. If either of those are bad they can be really tough. If both are bad, they certainly CAN be very dangerous. If you approach them with the idea you are tougher than they are, eventually they will smack you down.

Thank you for the input. I don't plan on doing anything stupid or going out of my way to get into a dangerous situation. There is no room for pride in such things. Nature has a way of punishing you for your ego or ignorance in short order.



If I was forced to go through one these cuts in less than ideal conditions my plan would be to basically do what I do for running a significant rapid; scout, assess, form a plan of action, do my best to keep my boat oriented properly, follow the plan, adapt if necessary.


Do you happen to know what the common maximum speed of flow is through these cuts?


Sorry to question your statement, but big river rapids are much more dangerous then you're making them out to be. There are many different types of hazards to account for, in my opinion a more complex environment than navigating a cut.

[GordMay]

What SailingHarmonie said.

You want to transit the cuts as close to “slack” tide, as possible, to avoid fast currents, and ‘rips’, or ‘rages’.

I used the “Rule of Twelves”* of to make a prudent decision about when, or most importantly, when not to, run a cut.

* The Rule of Twelfths assumes that the rate of flow of a tide increases smoothly to a maximum, halfway between high and low tide, before smoothly decreasing to zero again; and that the interval between low and high tides is approximately six hours.
The rule states that in the first hour after low tide the water level will rise by one twelfth of the range, in the second hour two twelfths, and so on according to the sequence: 1:2:3:3:2:1

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by dustman

Are the cuts in the Bahamas really that dangerous? Like all the ones in the Exumas for example. People make it sound like I'm going to die for sure going through these cuts in a small catamaran. I just can't imagine them being any more dangerous than the large rapids I've been through while rafting on rivers in boats a small fraction of the size. Is this fear mongering to a newbie or a legitimate concern?

It is more of the cuts CAN BE very dangerous. There is a lot of water moving through them and if the wind is blowing against them then have get nasty.

[chubby]

Originally Posted by SailingHarmonie

.... a 53 foot monohull that has circumnavigated--twice. She can handle what the ocean throws at her. I have waited twelve hours to enter a cut in the Abacos during a rage, and ended up not going in at all, because a sailboat makes a piss-poor surfboard, and an even worse river raft.
.....

i 've done the same (in exumas)..
usually there are just those 2 hours in a 6 hour cycle you need to avoid...
but i've also waited 12 hours for benign conditions....that never came.
(ended up scrapping plans on doing the alternative route)

[Olddan1943]

We have all seen videos of Haul Over cut, in FL They all would indicate they are “Here, hold my beer.” In reality, most days and nights, it is a fairly calm cut. Just use common sense. If Haul Over is that rough/dangerous, go south to Miami or north to Ft Lauderdale. Haul Over is about mid way between Ft Lauderdale and Miami.
Remember there is a delta on the inside.

[ramalkin]

A rage in a Bahamian cut is MUCH worse than haulover. I have seen 13' waves in a B rage, unrelated to tidal flow.

[SailingHarmonie]

A true story...

It was the tail end of an Abacos rage, with the swell from distant the north Atlantic storm slowly lying down. We had waited offshore overnight to enter Man 'o War cut in daylight when we could evaluate conditions better. We listened to the Abacos radio net for their morning "eyes on" reports for the north facing entrances, and they reported that Man 'o War looked like a 2 on a scale of 1 to 5. That's not so bad...

We followed the morning mailboat in the cut. Never did we feel in danger, although the view of the surf across the reefs to either side was truly scary, it was obvious what would happen to any boat that got the entrance wrong. We took a lot of spray, but nothing too bad, no green water over the bow, and no surfing, but it was rough, no question. My brother's perfectly reasonable comment was, "If that's a 2, I'd hate to see a 5!"

All you who have more experience in the Abacos than I did then will know what we learned later that afternoon... the 1 to 5 scale the local radionet uses for inlet conditions is backasswards: 1 being totally impassible and 5 is flat calm...

[dustman]

So I imagine that some of these cuts can have a rising and/or funneling bottom so could manifest much worse conditions than one would expect based on the sea state. Are the conditions in the cuts usually obvious from a safe distance?

[dustman]

To summarize?



The cuts are to be respected as a potential danger.



Timing and sea state are very important.

[Tin Tin]

They are extremely dangerous in the wrong weather. Mix in a large ocean swell of say 8ft+ with a 20knot wind against a 5 - 6kn outrunning tide, oh and throw in a storm cell with lighting, horizontal rain and white out for good measure that uncannily arrives at the same time.

[singlespeed]

Just pay attention and understand that you may be stuck outside waiting for a couple of hours or have to divert to another cut. At least being on the inside you can move a bit away from the cut and drop the hook to wait.

[chris mac]

Originally Posted by dustman

So I imagine that some of these cuts can have a rising and/or funneling bottom so could manifest much worse conditions than one would expect based on the sea state. Are the conditions in the cuts usually obvious from a safe distance?

The "rage" (incoming wind and wave, outgoing tide) is very visible and obvious as you approach. In rivers or the gulf stream its sometimes called marching elephants because the waves stand tall and back to back. In these cuts it is similar but the waves are also breaking and rolling over. So lots of height and white water.
Wait for tide to change, and it becomes long easy swell rolling in.

[cr180]

Originally Posted by dustman

To summarize?



The cuts are to be respected as a potential danger.



Timing and sea state are very important.

The tidal current can be several knots and outgoing tide with onshore wind causes short, steep waves. Add ocean swells, waves incoming and a rage occurs where waves are breaking across the cut. Both conditions are very visible.

So to summarize, wait for calm offshore conditions and wind in same direction as current. If you lack engine power in a small cat, wait for slack current which generally lags either high or low tide by about 2 hours.

True for Florida inlets as well, although they are wider and conditions are not as pronounced.