These guys are either crazy or they have some very big stones!!!

[12voltman59]

I had seen a short clip of this raw video captured by some video guys from what I do guess is a New Zealand television station---its of some fishing boats making their way into a river at flood stage---in the report I saw--they didn't say that the boats were still coming in from the sea. They were doing one of the most dangerous thing you can do in a "boat"---make your way into an inlet that is flood rushing into the sea and crossing over some bars---I have done something of this myself a few times (doing so really did make us all "soil ourselves")--but not in such nearly rough conditions as these. I got to hand it to these fisherman, they were either damn gutsy or crazy as hell. I sure hope both boats made it back to the pier Ok.

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/incredible-video-fishing-boats-in-rough-sea/1617421692

[Realist]

Whoa! I got sea-sick watching that!

I saw the guy on the deck, then he ran around to the back of the cabin...couldn't tell if he made it inside, or not.

I'm going back to bed!

[Long Duck Dong]

the grey river run.... its in a area near greymouth on the west coast of the south island o new zealand.... not that far from the pike river mine where we recently lost 29 miners.....

lol as for the guys in the boat..... lol thats actually normal for them... I would say the skippers were sitting in the cabin, on their chairs, one hand on the wheel and the other holding a smoke.....

the words bat shit crazy... more balls than brains and nerves of steel come to mind

they are not the only mad bastards in NZ.... we have a area between the north and south island, called the cook strait... and the run leaving wellington, thru the wellington heads over to the south island, is regarded as one of the most dangerous ferry crossings in the world.....

there are times that the ferries have sailed in 18 foot swells and worse...lol
but here is a short vid to give you a idea.... and lol this is on a good day.....

ferry leaving the wellington heads (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUWascqCBe0&feature=related)

[12voltman59]

With the area the ferry was heading out--it must obviously be a rather shallow, "shelf" area because even as far out as that ship seemed to be at that point--the seas were more or less "surf break" and weren't the more long wave cycles you get when you are out in deep, blue water.

The biggest seas I was ever in---thankfully it was deep water-- were around 30 feet---with our "boat" being just about 100 feet in length. It was damn scary as all get out.

With the video of the two fishing boats--I am betting there were several things happening to make seas of that sort--first the wind was obviously up, blowing in the direction of the shore; there had been a lot of heavy weather that filled the river with run---off so the out going current from the river outdid any tidal effects and on top of the flood rush of the river---the seas were not only being pushed inshore by the wind---but the tide was coming in---a really volatile mix for trying to run over a series of bars coming into the mouth of a large river.

My hat is off to those guys!!!! Bet they lose some of them every year just getting in and out of port if those sorts of conditions are persistent in that area--something I suspect they are, at least during certain times of the year. The seas in this part of the world are among the roughest going.

[Long Duck Dong]

a sailor ye must be....lol

yeah.... the wellington heads are swallow and narrow .... but they open up onto the pacific and the way the shelf lays, it creates a cross flow right at the point that the shelf drops.....

the heads open north to south and the pacific runs east to west, so when the tide shifts, and there is a strong current, you have the undercurrent coming up the shelf, going to the north, the cross current... and then the out going tide going south...and she can get as rough as hell.....

been on the ferry a few times when the ferry has been going backwards even with the engines at full speed....lol

but I hate flying more.... a 100 foot drop... thats definately pants filling material

[DuckiesDarling]

Alright babe, that is the ferry crossing we have to use to go see our friends on North Island???? You better get over your fear of flying for at least two trips, there and back lol.