40 MPH winds? Lord. Sounds like when I was an instructor at Landing Force Training Command Atlantic, TTWB (it is called something different now) and experience Noreasters! This was back in the early '90s. We would go outside the Chesapeake Bay. Navigation, ship to shore movement, caching of small boats, special operations; there was a great deal I did in that year.
I was one of the first Marine Corps Small boat coxswain instructors. I have been certified by the North Carolina Power Squadron and damn that test was hard!
We Marine coxswains had to be certified with the above civilian outfit, attend Instructors Management Course at Quantico, VA (I got bad marks for eye contact. Shit, what they want? There is a reason my call sign was Cyclops), then graduate the coxswain course itself. 🤣
Damn, we need you in the crew when heading south from Nova Scotia after hurricane season, @sgt-dan! Thought to enter the inland waterway around Norfolk.
The best duty I ever had while in the Corps for sure! One time we had to take the inland water way from Norfolk (Virginia Beach actually) to Camp Lejeune to deliver some riverine assault crafts (RACs). The Colonel, Gunnery Sergeant, two Staff Sergeants, and we three Sergeants: Sgt Roe, Sgt Adikee, and myself.