What to do when a guest gets scared and wants off the boat?

[travelnodes]

Just got back from my worst day on the water so far. I'm a relatively new captain of a 35 monohull cruising sailboat. My parents asked if I would take them sailing with two of their friends and I said yes. All four of them are over 70 years old and don't have much experience sailing.

I just moved to a new town and this is to be my first time taking the sailboat offshore. The wind was blowing 10mph to 14mph and it was a beautiful day. The current was going out and the wind was blowing in from the east against the direction of the current.

So at the mouth of the inlet, we saw some waves and whitecaps forming...

I was watching my depth and it was okay but the waves were getting bigger and the boat was swinging from right to left as we motored out to sea at 5kts. The women began to express fear and suggest we turn back. I explain that we were almost out of the inlet and that in deeper water it would settle down.

One of the ladies began screaming every time a wave rocked the boat and the waves kept getting bigger as the depth was getting more shallow. At one point my depth meter was showing 3 feet and the tide was falling.

Eventually one of the ladies began throwing up and the other wanted me to call the Coast Guard. We were hardly half a mile from the marina we just left from. I didn't feel scared and yet I wanted to help my crew.

She seemed to be having a panic attack, trembling and yelling out with each wave. Then my mom started dry heaving down below. Then one of the men began to dry heave as well.

I considered turning around and going back in but we had just made it through the worst part of the inlet and the depth was finally starting to go back up. It was almost dead low tide I was concerned we may run aground on the way back in. If that happened we would be stuck in the washing machine of waves.

They were obviously scared, sick, and wanted off the boat immediately!
One said, "just pull close to the beach and I will swim in."

What would you do in this situation?