What's the furthest you've ever been out to sea?
 

Cruise excluded, what's the furthest trip in a small boat anyone has ever done?

I went out yesterday for the first time 32 nautical miles of Sydney in a 50ft old rickety boat, had the worst time ever in 4 and a half meter swell. threw my guts up.

any other good sea shanties or stories also welcome.

Cruises excluded, about 15-20 feet in the ocean when I was swimming. A mile or two in a large freshwater lake, though.

edit-Bah-I should have read.

probably 100 feet or so...I cant swim very good, so i wasnt pushing it to much...jeez, this little thread just made me realize how little i do/how boring my life is. Damnit.

I've swum about 300m offshore. Found a sandbar about 200m out that we didn't know was there before...really shallow one with steep sides; it was great for doing flips off, and from the shore it looked like you were walking on water.

Been about 40 miles off shore off the West coast of Vancouver Island on a 22 foot boat....no land in sight. We were fishing for halibut.
I also sailed with my dad on his 42 foot sloop down in the Carribean, I guess that would be the most distant from land. We were many days without seeing land.

LOL

Just far enough to catch a wave and ride it back.

Roughly 150 miles off of Houston in a helicopter. I was headed to an offshore oil platform. I then got to ride the boat back in due to the fog.

A restaurant located at the end of a pier at Huntington Beach. It was almost too far out to sea for my liking.

wasn't a small boat, but while serving on the Aircraft carrier John F. kennedy, we sailed directly into the heart of a hurricane and plucked the entire crew of lost transport/cargo ship from the ocean. The waves were at least 30-40 plus feet from what I understand - I was below decks transferring fuel so the boilers would stay online.
We were horribly low on fuel at the time, so she was a bit light (normal displacement 80,000 tons) and bouncing worse than usual, especially when some of the waves were crashing on the flight deck (which is at least 60-70 feet above the waterline).
the story was on CNN, readers digest, and other places but I forget the name of the ship that sank. Fortunately no crew members were lost.

Great work Speed_Gibson. Surviving any hurricane has got to be a challenge - regarless of the size of your ship. Working to save others in crisis in such weather is almost unbelievably dangerous.

I was on the USS Carl Vinson (aircraft carrier) on a transit to Hawaii from Alameda, CA. Many of the fighter pilots were pretty new to carrier takeoffs and landings so we only worked the flight deck close to either shore so if an airplane could not be recovered on deck it could fly to a land based airport.

In a small boat I took a tiny 14 ft. Kona catermaran off the beach in Ensenada into Bahia de Los Totos Santos - probably a mile or a bit more. Got close enough to some migrating grey whales to give me the willies.

Just over 30 miles, trolling for dolphin off the Florida coast, in my 19' boat. No land in sight.........a true FREE feeling!! I really miss those days.

2 cruises on USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, and 3 months on the USS Kitty Hawk. I've flown halfway around the world and sailed the rest of the way back. You slimy wogs.

-Mikey

About 40 miles I believe. Scuba diving off New Jersey.

My ship took ground on the shore of an uncharted desert isle.
It was supposed to be a three hour tour.
A THREE HOUR TOUR!!!!
sk

I have never even seen the ocean...sigh

Only about 40 miles off St. Augustine, FL for some chartered deep-sea fishing.

I'll never forget how calm it was that day--not a swell or anthing all the way out that far....nothing except clear sky, biting fish, and cold beer. That was a good day.

Half way.

(kidding)

Small craft, about 20 miles in the Atlantic.

And when I was a kid I got to go out on the ship my dad was serving on, the USS New Orleans (helo carrier, now decomissioned). We probably went about 20-30 miles out, talk about an awesome day!

Airplane? Heh, over the Pacific in a 747, LA to Osaka Japan.

catalina island. thats about it.

About 35 miles off the California coast. No land in site but still got great cell phone reception -- weird.