Rough Day Sailing Today - Ran Aground :( A few questions.

[synapse]

Hi - as you may know, I purchased my first sailboat this year and have been having a great time with it.

Well, a friend and I went out today and ran around in the lake. Yes, this means we both hopped out and pushed for about an hour before being 'rescued' by a friendly stranger via rope pull.

I should of put my sails all the way down once I ran aground (they were 80% down haphazardly and not properly tied), because one of my battens broke on the main sail and punctured through the batten sheath due to the 15mph winds.

Question #1: I suppose battens are not optional components and I should replace this and patch the sheath? I suppose I know the answer, I think I just need to hear it

Question #2: I could only find one broken/punctured batten sheath, which is good. However, this was found in 3 pieces which accounted for longer than the allowed batten length. Is it possible they 'doubled up' and put two battens in there (a long one and a short one) in the same sheath? Or do you think I have another broken one somewhere I have not yet found. I only had time for a quick glance.


And oh yeah, my outboard motor stalls now when placed in reverse...so I do some google searches on that one this evening.

The good news is that both him and I kept great humour through all of this and managed to have a nice time.

Thank you

[ChuckA]

Reply #1: You should replace the batten. Battens help achieve the curve of the sail and prevent the fabric from flapping. (that doesn't mean you can't go sailing tomorrow if it isn't replaced yet.)

Reply #2: Anything is possible.

glad you hear you stayed in good humor. attitude is everything.

[CalebD]

synapse,
Battens break, boats run aground and sailors jump into the water to push the boat off. Happens all the time.

Q1: You want to have battens for your sail.
Q2: One guess is that there may have been a previously broken piece of an old batten left in that one sleeve or batten pocket. That would explain the 3 pieces you found as they normally break in half or only once.

Without pictures of the damage/tear to the sail batten sleeve it is difficult to say. If the rip is not too bad and you can still get a batten in there then some sail tape will hold it for a while, or duct tape if you have no self respect!

I'm going to guess that your batten that broke was either old or made of wood. Batten material is not very expensive and not hard to cut and shape. Defender.com Search Results: batten

I'll check your profile for the make/model of your boat.

[Boasun]

A good chart can help you find where the thin & ultra thin water is at... But then that may take the adventure of of sailing in unknown waters.
For #1 replace your batten, don't double it up. Carry a spare for each batten pocket on your Sail. They do break from age and mishandling.

[Tempest]

My fellow sailneters have covered your questions, so I'm going to ask if you tried any other techniques to get yourself free other than pushing?

What was the bottom? Sand? Mud? Stones? Rock?

Having sailed for a number of years in a shallow bay in the east ( Barnaget) It was not an uncommon thing to run aground occasionally. There are several techniques that you can employ to free yourself.

The 1st one that comes to mind when you said you tried pushing..is called "kedging off".
You can walk your anchor out to deeper water ( if you carry an anchor) and set it in deep water. Then, go back to the boat and pull yourself toward the anchor. You can use a winch and the engine to assist, if you can get a proper angle of pull and the prop is not fouled. Heeling the boat over at the same time helps. ( heeling doesn't work with a wing keel)
When walking the anchor out, you can set it on a type 1V cushion, which for your size boat should be enough to help keep it afloat. ( if you have a dinghy..even better)

There are other techniques which you should look into: Simply heeling the boat over..using weight, or even sail is often successful. I've seen bottom more times than I can count on Barnaget Bay...but, it was a mud or sand bottom. Rocks or Boulders would be a different story.

[synapse]

Tempest - Thank you for the ideas. All we tried was pushing, rocking and cursing

The anchor based idea is a great one, but we did not do that, but should of! While pushing/rocking, we tried to heel it that way, but got nowhere. I was surprised how much trouble that powerboat (150 horsepower) had getting us out. I must of really been suck. The bottom was loose sand/mud.

[QuickMick]

ive got extra battens, but dont know the size of your snapped one (if it be snapped...) they are nice, came off of my buddies boat (dont quite remember... hunter 29'ish? when he upgraded sails to some halsey dacrons. in any case, pm me if interested.
Oh, they are the flexi-baby blue ones with endcaps, so you could probably cut one to size....

good luck.

[emoney]

One bit of advice/tip that doesn't apply to either 1 or 2 is to make sure you refrain from engaging the outboard in gear until you can get a feel for what's wrong with it. No sense in making a problem bigger. Sometimes is something as simple as fishing line wrapped around the prop.

[ArcherBowman]

When attempting to curse a boat off a grounding, remember to face forward, and be sure the rudder is directly amidships. Cursing while facing aft will only stuck you harder.

More seriously - mud sucks, literally. It's the most bottom difficult bottom to get off. Not that _I_ have personally run aground on every kind of bottom available. No, not me. I, um, heard about it . . . from . . . other sailors. Yeah.

Originally Posted by synapse

Tempest - Thank you for the ideas. All we tried was pushing, rocking and cursing

The anchor based idea is a great one, but we did not do that, but should of! While pushing/rocking, we tried to heel it that way, but got nowhere. I was surprised how much trouble that powerboat (150 horsepower) had getting us out. I must of really been suck. The bottom was loose sand/mud.