old versus new, lesson

[pcrussell50]

i have a 13 foot boston whaler,
AND a 13 foot classic 1960 span america runabout

. i got both of these boats in the last year, which is my first ever year as a boater, so i'm no expert. i got the classic first, a little over a year ago, and the whaler back in may of '09. boy howdy, i could tell right off the bat that the whaler is more seaworthy. and today really taught me that lesson starkly. it was a nice day here in santa barbara, calm and gentle seas, so i was out fishing in the classic... the kelp beds, just a couple hundred yards offshore, and a mile downshore from the marina where i launch my boats. when i'm the only one in the classic, it lists toward the heavy side, which is the right. because it was so smooth today, i was able to run full speed, which i gps'ed at 25 mph today out of it's totally fun and reliable 1959 super seahorse, 35hp. but i also noticed that the swell was just right such that when it would pitch up, then down, it would to that thing where it would hook sharply on the landing. pretty disconcerting, though never quite to the point that i was about to go overboard. with more speed, it could have had a bad outcome. once i figured out what was happening, i moved myself more toward the middle, which was a more awkward driving position, but the condition cleared up. i'm pretty sure this would not have happened so easily in the whaler.

in any event, good as the whaler is, i still enjoy taking out the classic fairly often in the same way people enjoy driving classic old cars. i'll just have to pick my conditions more carefully. lesson learned.