What am I doing Wrong?
 

Is it something I'm.doing wrong or just the conditions I've been boating in. The Chespeake around Annapolis has-been rough the last month. Waves coming from all directions, sharp, 2-3' and close together. Add in big boat wakes and I'm getting pounded. I have a 28 Pantera. I've tried dropping tabs, raising tabs, going faster, slower and it's just beating the crap out of me and the boat. Today I ran from 35moh to 47mph, and it's about the same. Of course 35 isn't as bad, but that slow. And I'm down to 3000rpms at that speed. And tips or tricks I can try?
Normally I'm running 45-50, tabs at 3, and drive at 4. When it gets crappy, I drop drive to 3 and tabs to 4.

How about picking your cruise speed to 50/55 and stay on top of the waves? I always felt it was snotty there just like near Baltimore where the Patapsco, Bear Creek and Bay come together.

Thought about that, butt everyone I creep up over 50 I get launched into the air and come down hard. The wave peaks are so close together it's like I'm always landing on a peak. Lately it's been 2-3' close together, them some crazy swells come outta nowhere, then waves start coming from another direction. It's not like I can alter my course to get the angle I want. It's like a obstacle course out there. To be honest I'm expecting the boat to do better than it's doing. If it's me than great, at least it's not the boat.

Extreme example, I was coming into downtown towards the Severn and found my self coming up on a group of waves that were seemingly coming from every direction and making a giant crazy swirl. Couldn't go around, and sent me flying on a angle and scared my wife half to death I was only doing 38-40. Either the area just had to much traffic, or there really is something to this moon situation messing with the tides.

Try staying on the throttle one second longer, such that the nose actually starts to dive a bit when it's in the air. That'll let you fly straighter. If you back off too early and the nose pointed up, you're going to go up. Hope that helps!

Sometimes the wave pattern just...isn't good...I call it 'washing machine' when it is coming at you from all angles. As sonicss42 noted and sounds like you have tried, I usually try to get on top of the things, but you can still get caught out and my wife gives me "The Look" on hard landings, lol!

Fortunately, I have the type of wife that says you need a bigger boat. But, I love my boat so much I don't want to give in this time. Took her out in the morning before all the craziness, and it was spectacular. Nice rollers, easy to time. Fun ride.

The Chesapeake chop is tough. I ran a 30' Superboat which is considered a good rough water boat in it's class. Usually the two choices are either run faster and take a pounding, or go slower.

I boat on the Great Lakes in a 22' boat. Sometimes you can get on top, tabs down a bit to keep the boat level, drive mostly down. But the fact is that 2-3s with some 4s thrown in and we simply need bigger boats. I have planed out in 5 footers briefly on Lake Michigan, skipping across wave tops. I've also been caught in 6-8 foot washing machine slop on Lake Erie that I had to idle through. If I had an open bow I would have sunk! lol

What ??? ^^^^^

It sounds like you are trimmed out too much. Tuck the nose. The boat is long, narrow, and shaped like a knife for good reason. Use as much of the keel of the boat to slice open the water that you land on, so you don't land with the last 1/3rd of the boat, first. I rarely trim the boat with tabs unless in a quartering sea. Tabs neutral, and control the angle of attack with drive trim and throttle.

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