[Jeff Barnett]

Hi folks,
Thought I'd pass on something you all may already know. Mariah’s are one tough boat!
My girlfriend and another couple decided it would be fun to launch out of Marina Del Rey, and cruise 35 miles down to Long Beach, dock and have lunch.
The day started by the other couple being an hour and a half late. with a slight worry about surf and wind we decided to head out. Beautiful day, zipping along at 30mph in 1 to 2 foot surf (that’s fun) we ran into pods of Bottle Nosed Dolphins, who ran right along side at 30 mph, less than 2 feet off my port, starboard side, about 4 off the bow, (our escorts) It was amazing! We stopped and circled around to play with them. And boy do they play, just like Flipper. Right up to the boat, half their bodies out of the water, chatting with us. (Next time I bring snacks for them) after about 20 minutes, we get back underway, arrive in Long Beach, have a great lunch, cruise around the harbor for a bit, then out to see for the journey home. About 2 miles outside the breakwater, it got nuts 3 then 5 then 6 footers, just killing us, go slow, get swamped, go fast, take a very scary beating, so we drove on at 25 mph, jumping some, going through some, and just flat out slamming into some first the new LCD goes flying out of it's hole, then the DVD player follows! No biggies they landed on the cushions and are fine, with both the girl’s cold and getting seasick by the minute, we finally made it back to the safety of the Marina Del Rey breakwater.
Once we hauled her out, I found both my recessed docking lights to had been blown out and broken into bits. I considered myself lucky, as that was it for damage. Other than a major clean up of orange juice and champagne (gotta love the Momosa's)
I can tell you, I don't think I'll ever do that again. Pretty scary heading into a wave that you can't even see over at 25 mph. The bow would point upwards almost 40 degrees, thank heavens for drop out bolster seats, as you would hit them, and you would recline back, if timing was on, it was a smooth landing, if not, well drop your boat from 5 feet straight into the water, and you'll know what I mean, Not a good feeling or sound. I hope the hull is ok, is there any way to check other than obvious cracks?
Jeff

[boatman]

WOW! Sounds like quite an adventure. I have never smacked that hard, just cruiser waves 2-3ft, knocked the glove box door open but never broke anything. The boats are solid and here's to you not having any serious damage.

[Z 202]

When I took mine out for it's test run, the salesman noted that the water was going to be rough. My reply was "Good!"

And rough it was. Lake Ontario had some 3'-4' rollers so I never got to open it up much. We got really hammered on a couple of occasions, but the boat handled amazing, and not a squeak or a rattle anywhere. I was sold right then and there...

I wouldn't be worried about the hull. Fiberglass is incredibly strong stuff. I've only ever heard of boats having issues where rough water excursions have caused the deck to separate from where it's bonded to the hull.

[aquaknot]

awesome story. Glad everyones OK. I ran into a bad storm on lake Simcoe in my Z222 that scared the hell out of me, had to throttle back and forth to make it through, but nothing like 6+ swells, well done!