Going offshore in a small boat

[TexasState]

Any advice? Smile

Buy insurance for the boat, and the family.

[hobogato]

used to go out in the gulf for king fish in an 18.5 ft deep v hull boat when i was growing up. only on calm days and ever mindfull of the weather - just like the previous people have said. take and extra tank of gas and a noaa weather radio.

[Someone]

floaties ics pray it doesn't rain and all too....

[Flobex]

lets see, weve done this before. just make sure the weather looks good, and if you get into breaking waves like at the beach, go straight throungh them, you'll all gte soaked, and your boat with plow through the waves, causing all the water to go in, and over the boat... just dont get sideways... :P oh yea, dont get sick :P

[R.Allard]

josh give me a call. i have had my 22ft boat in the gulf several times with no problems.
make sure you have a vhf marine radio,gps,flares and for sure some life vests.
i have several weather sites that i check and if the forecast is for anything over 3 ft we stay in the bay.
remember there is plenty of fishing to do in the bay.
i should be home tonight arround 7pm
Robert
830 739 5967 cell
830 792 9623 hm

[Bug_Power]

just for your viewing pleasure. I use this for surf forcasting when I'm going it. it does a fairly good job predicting swells which coinside with the winds pretty well. Here are two links you'll find usefull. One is a surf report however if you look on the bottom it has a 36 hour swell forcast. If you follow the address on the images it takes you to the NOAA web site which has more good info.
http://www.surfsidetx.com/pages/surfreport.htm
The next web site is the bouy just off of Corpus Christi.
http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=42020

You can actually call the bouys and they will tell you the info if you want. Keep that and any pressure fronts in mind when you ever make a decision. I've actually kayaked out to the rigs before without a problem....took me some time, but I made it. When in doubt keep the shoreline in sight. You can make it to some of the first rigs and still see some of the hotels and stuff. If your in trouble, slow and steady, and don't be afraid to put you boat into the beach. My grandfather actually lost some friends in Galveston bay once when a storm came up. As a rule of thumb my grandfather, who was in the Coast Guard Auxillary, wouldn't take a small boat out over 2.5' seas. Spring has some nice weather and typically decent winds to go out in. Most of the wind in the corpus area happens from thermal pressures created when the sun heats the land. Water for the most time stays relativly constant as the heating coeff for water is roughly 4x air over land. So this is why during the days as the land air mass heats up it rises pulling a ocean breeze off the water. As it cools the water keeps the air over it warmer then the air over the land and the wind will shift some times. During the spring when water temp and air temp are relativly similar is the safest time I have found to go out. Be sure to take notice of natural signs of impending weather such as high altitude whispy clouds and birds looking for shelter.

[Bug_Power]

No problem, grew up 3 blocks from the Laguna Madre, and lived at the beach most of my younger years. My grandfather taught me the ways before 24 weather channels were available.