[Fr. Frank]

On the other hand, if it's 85 degree water (and you're a diver already wearing a mask ), and you're making a 10 hr run to the Abaco's thru 2-3' square waves on the Little Bahama Bank, trust me, even a SMALL improvement in ride is a VERY big deal! Denny

And no one who has not made an 8+ hour run offshore in a powerboat has any idea!!!

I made a run to Chub Cay in the 80's with a friend in his 25' Robalo. After 3 hours out of St. Lucie, even though the seas were only 2-3', we pulled it back from 28-30 mph, to 18-20 mph. We felt like our spine had been compressed.

Here's the analaogy: Dropping 5 feet (3' seas equal 4'10" wave height) while standing at a center console loads up to a momentary 1.4-1.5 G's onto your spine, legs, and feet. For a 200 lb man, that's like somebody dropping an 80-100 lb sack of feed onto you shoulders for a second, before you shrug it off, then doing it all over again. Now do that every 3-4 seconds (15-20 times per minute, 900-1200 times per hour) for hours on end.

With a softer ride, you get a lower rate of deceleration, and less G-loading. Metaphorically speaking, you're still getting a sack of feed dumped on your shoulders, but it's a smaller, lighter sack.

That's why a soft ride is so important offshore.