I have a 17' Ranger Cherokee. I have had it out in 3' waves. I always feel safe in it. That being said, I'm also completly drenched in water that comes over the boat. Not much fun. I use to not let the wind stop me if I was confident I had a chance at a limit. I always had a few places I could get out of the wind. Getting to those place's was not much fun when your soaked to the bone even with rain gear on. I go by the tempature outside now to deterime if I can handle being wet. If the tempature is above 60 I don't mind getting wet. If it's below 60 and the wind is above 25mph I let the fish live another day.
I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask them where they're goin' and hook up with them later.