I've talked to many anglers by phone, through email, and face to face about this topic and I'd like to hear your ideas. Please use this thread to put forth your ideas on when an how you feel weather evaluations should be made and how cancellations should be handled.

So many people have overwhelmingly offered their assistance in any way - well this is one way all of us can help.

Well as I write this I can hear thunder to the SW of me and I am NE of Grand Haven. Could my boat and me fish today most likely would I take a group of ladies fishing today not likely. Even though I am 10 to 12 miles from the pier at Grand Haven I don't know what the exact cond are there. But would have to say if there is lightning present the start should be delayed. Other than that it will likely be a miserable day of fishing in bad weather with building waves accorrding to the lake report I got it should be captains call on fishing today. So based on what I see from my house I would not take the ladies out till the weather clears but I would sure have the rain gear on and be fishing with the guys if there was no lightning present. That is based on my 26ft boat my 18ft boat would not get hooked to the truck today. So I think a delayed start today could be wise but let em fish when lightning pass's the area. Captains call on early stoppage make the weather announcements and suggestions but if you send them out let them fish.
GOOD LUCK TO ALL

I applaud the GH Offshore weather boats and committee for allowing the start to go on as scheduled. Yes there was lightning present, but sending folks back up the river only would have risked longer exposure to the storm. It was nice to see common sense prevail over paranoia. Well done!

I liked the way the GHOC committee took roll call of the weather boats for fish/no fish votes. It makes sense to me. It gets the weather boats/competitors involved in the decision making which should appease the majority of the teams. The decision came from fishermen, not "the evil tournament committee" lol. Of course that's not the way I feel, I just used that phrase to make my point.

Conditions to delay: Severe Thunderstorm warnings, Gale warnings, Tornado warnings that are nearing an end. In the event of nasty weather without coinciding warnings leave it to a vote of the weather boats as was done in the GHOC. Maximum delay of 3 or 4 hours with that time added on to the end of the days fishing period so that it isn't shortened if possible.

Conditions to cancel: Severe Thunderstorm warnings, Gale warnings, Tornado warnings that are not nearing an end. If no coinciding warnings are present but the fishing was delayed by the vote of the weather boats take another vote each hour with a final vote at the end of the 3 or 4 hour delay window. If at the end of the delay window the weather is still too bad as voted by the weather boats, the fishing is cancelled for the day.

Conditions for early end to fishing period: None. But if that isn't possible I'd like to see the decision to once again be by vote of the weather boats as they are the ones with the best grasp of the current situation. In the event of an early quit, lines out immediately, make your way safely back to port by the original time. No early return times.

I too agree that the right decision was made concerning the start of the Offshore challenge. An interesting start to the day though. I guess it pays off to have some pros with Nexrad weather radar on their boat.

Here is my concern though! Take a look at the majority of the weather boats. They are mostly 36' boats. Now, take a look at the majority of the participants in the tournament. In Grand Haven there were 71 AM boats and 36 Pro boats. In general, the AM boats are much smaller but still the larger pro boats (who are the minority) are the ones making the call as to when we stay on the lake. I love the scapegoat of, "It is the captain's responsibility to keep his crew safe." Seriously, we are all out there because we are competitive and want to win. If we just wanted to fish, we wouldn't pay the entry fees and we would go out anyway. I don't think there are more than a handful of people that are going to go back in the pierheads after weather boats say that we should stay out. People are going to take the risks and try to endure the weather. I am not saying that all weather boats should be 19' open bow boats, but at least a few should be smaller boats. The way it is now, the majority of the boats don't have a say, the minority do.

Sea Buck wrote:
I love the scapegoat of, "It is the captain's responsibility to keep his crew safe." Seriously, we are all out there because we are competitive and want to win. If we just wanted to fish, we wouldn't pay the entry fees and we would go out anyway.

This is exactly why weather committees and tournament committees are forced to delay or cancel days of fishing. Captain's Responsibility is not just a convenient slogan it's a fact of the maritime lifestyle. If decisions can be swayed by money or fame and for that Captain's are willing to put their crews lives at risk then chances are they're willing to be unsafe at any cost and more experienced Captain's are forced to take in to account the safety of those crews.

I was impressed with the behavior of most boats at Grand Haven as they safely and slowly motored through the weather instead of putting it to the pins and letting it all hang out. Once conditions began clearing and the field had spread out boats began to run harder - that was very nice to see and proof that most Captain's understand safety.

Setting up and running a Tournament is not an easy job and one I don't envy. These guys have to try to please several hunderd people all at the same time, from the competitive captains (most of us have an ego as well) to the crew members that are fishing with these captains and the sponsors. You can not please all of the people all of the time, but I think they do a damn fine job of trying.

Every boat is different as is the seamanship of the captains, look at the 36 foot boat that went down in Wisconsin last weekend, just because they were on a big boat and had an experience captain dosen't mean bad things can't happen. If we were to sit around and wait until conditions were perfect, we would never fish and I think it comes down to the call of the captain and the crew together as to if they can handle the conditions safely (personally I have complete confidence in my captain and my abilty but if he made the decission to not fish or return early, I would support him 100%). I realize that the smaller boats many not be as COMFORTABLE as a larger boat in rough conditions but as far as being as safe, I'm not sure I would go that far as there are some pretty safe smaller boats being made, again every boat/captain is different. If a person can afford the price of a large boat then they should be rewarded with the comforts as well, if not and they go for a smaller more affordable boat then they have to be willing to sacrifce comfort as well, keep in mind most smaller boats have the big speed advantage over large boats in calmer conditions, should we penalize them and issue a speed limit on tournament boats.

I kind of feel like if there are not severe thunderstorm / tornado warings out or Gale warings then let the weather committee make the call and we should fish. The committee should be a good mix of boats from the entrys but you can't always make that happen. Once the tournament starts I think it should continue unless severe weather/gale warings come up and if it is called early I don't think a time limit should be imposed that may create a hazzard to the boats or crew trying to return to port within a set time _frame_.

The Grand Haven Offshore tournament committee did a great job last weekend in my opinion and should be congradulated for thier job. Using the weather boats as input showed guts and compassion and as it worked out it was best not to call all the boats back in during a short squall and have people in the river mouth and marinas trying to dock thier boats possibly running into each other or worse.

I think if a steering committee is set up for tournaments to gather ideas and comments and set some ground rules as far as weather dessions, then at least everyone will know what to expect at every tournament and we wouldn't have the problems we have now at some tournaments. Again, not an easy call for any tournament committee and these guys all do it as volunteers so we need to put the shoe on the other foot sometime before we go off on someone or committee and start ripping in to them. I guess if some one don't like the way a tournament is run they have 2 options, get on the tournament committee and try to help out, or don't go out and play with the big boys.

Greg,

I agree completely with what you had to say concerning the reason why committees are forced to make decisions as when to cancel and I would never second guess their decision. South Haven the call was made and it turned out being a decent day, but when the call was made that was the right decision based on the facts they had. Many times when we are already on the water though, I think the larger weather boats are much more apt to stay on the water than smaller AM boats if it gets rough. I am glad that the committees are made up of expericned captains as you mentioned but I think we are all kidding ourselves if we think that money is not a factor when a captain is thinking about heading back in. Especially with newer and less experienced captians, they might not know how dangerous it actually is. I also think that the boats in Grand Haven did an excellent job with being careful and was glad safety prevailed.

Flat Rate,
You said, "Again, not an easy call for any tournament committee and these guys all do it as volunteers so we need to put the shoe on the other foot sometime before we go off on someone or committee and start ripping in to them." Refer back to my first line - "I too agree that the right decision was made concerning the start of the Offshore challenge." I wasn't ripping into anyone, I actually commended them for making the right call. I am also glad to see the majority of the posts on here people are saying that they don't envy the committee members' jobs and think they do a fine job, myself included. Also, this thread was created by Greg to gather input on how people think that weather calls should be made. I don't think valuable input is (your words) "if some one don't like the way a tournament is run they have 2 options, get on the tournament committee and try to help out, or don't go out and play with the big boys."

My input was just that more smaller boats should be included with the weather boats, period. Didn't mean to start a riot, sorry Greg!

I don't think Flatrate was referring to you ripping the GH Committee - it was meant more as a general comment for those that actually did rip the committee in Grand Haven.

It is disappointing that some would rip into the committee. I agree that having weather boats make the ultimate decision is a good idea. I was surprised that they made the boats say their decision right over the radio and then ask if committee members wanted to overrule that decision. Do you think some teams or members may have answered differently if they could have talked to Mark in private and not over the air?