Sailboat Loses Another Bout With Jetty

[Rockter]

Would it be a lot of work to put a wee line of buoys, lobster-pot style, along the length of that reef?

It looks a terrible hazard. At night, you simply won't see it.

[PBzeer]

If they were coming up from the south, they may have tried to take the cut in the jetty. Everything in the area though is well marked, and I had no problems going in or out of there.

[sailingdog]

Has a boat ever won a round with a jetty??? didn't think so.

Unfortunately, if you're not paying attention to the charts, bad things happen. Yes, most jetties are awash at high tide, but even if you didn't pay attention to the chart, the Mark I eyeball will usually detect them if you're paying attention.

There's a breakwater outside of Rockport Harbor, up on Cape Ann, Massachusetts that has gutted its fair share of boats.

[camaraderie]

Here's a segment of the chart. The actual entrance channel fairway extends a considerable distance at sea but this is just the jetty area. Pretty tough to ignore!
jetty.JPG

[sailaway21]

Originally Posted by Valiente

Rotten luck or bad seamanship or both, but pardon me if I smell a smoking chartplotter somewhere in this mix.

I was doing all I could to not express the same thought!

[Vasco]

Charleston is not much different from other harbours on the east coast that have jetties. Difficult to see how one can go wrong but obviously some do.

[sailboy21]

Originally Posted by camaraderie

Here's a segment of the chart. The actual entrance channel fairway extends a considerable distance at sea but this is just the jetty area. Pretty tough to ignore!

Don't take it out of context here. I am not making excuses for poor seamanship, but if caught off guard or unprepared bad things can happen there.
Look at the two pictures I posted. I am heading outbound with markers 19 and 17 to my lee. There is a full and complete, partially submerged, jetty in the entire frame of view for each of those pictures just over 100 yards away. Visually there is nothing to indicate the presence of a jetty. Since the seas were running straight in the waves weren't even breaking over it. Now, the distance between markers also needs to be considered. It is 1 nautical mile. Many times the next set of channel markers are not visible from the cockpit of a smaller boat, or even a larger boat in haze or fog. Radar is useless there since all sorts of small boats fish alongside the jetty and would make it difficult to impossible to pick out the channel marker on a radar screen. If you judged the tides wrong you could be experiencing +/- 3 knots which could add to the confusion. There can also be a cross current to contend with. One mile is a long ways to stay on a rhumb line with a 50 yard margin of error. With all the reliable, neat (and cheap) electronic gizmo's and plotters there really isn't much excuse anymore. I was doing it with a hand bearing compass, binoculars, and a paper chart. Judged boat speed by the bow wave, got current from the tables etc.

[TxLnghrn]

Originally Posted by sailaway21

I was doing all I could to not express the same thought!

My day job is emergency medicine. Last month I had a patient brought to me that ran his sportfisher into the Galveston North Jetty at 40 knts. Daylight, Sunny, Sober His answer when I asked him how it happened?
"My autopilot messed up." I'm only thankful no other boats where between him and the jetty (which sits about 4 -6 feet out of the water).

Michael

[retclt]

Originally Posted by TxLnghrn

My day job is emergency medicine. Last month I had a patient brought to me that ran his sportfisher into the Galveston North Jetty at 40 knts. Daylight, Sunny, Sober His answer when I asked him how it happened?
"My autopilot messed up." I'm only thankful no other boats where between him and the jetty (which sits about 4 -6 feet out of the water).

Michael

I know that Galveston jetty. It it goes out two miles! I'm surprised more folks haven't hit it at night. I didn't know that Charleston Jetty. Yikes! Under water? I could see me doing something like that . . . but not now. I know the short cuts around here.

[btrayfors]

One of the most important navigational aids when entering Charleston is your FATHOMETER. You know, the thingy which tells you how deep the water is.

The project depth of the 2 mile long portion of the Fort Sumpter Range inside the jetties is 42 feet at MLLW. The Mount Pleasant Range portion project depth is 40 feet MLLW.

If you're seeing much less than this, you're OUT OF THE CHANNEL. Even so, in most places (aside from the southern entrance through the jetties), you've got a long ways to go before you hit the jetty.

That's from the INSIDE.

From the OUTSIDE there's simply no excuse, as the water depths are quite shallow for a long, long ways before you'd be able to hit the jetty (again, excepting the southern entrance).

Basic navigational skills should do it even in nasty weather.

I think the Emergency Room comment cited above gives us a clue as to why so many run into this and other obstacles which are clearly charted, whether or not they are visible, partly submerged, or fully submerged.

Bill