Running Aground

[sailingdog]

The sea gods are often listening, and when you wonder like that, they're more than happy to fulfill your request...

Originally Posted by billyruffn

I'd had a handfull of soft groundings over a 30 year sailing career, and was wondering one day what a hard grounding might be like. Three days later I hit a rock at 6 knots. It was like an auto crash -- we bounced to a stop in about a boat length. Fortunately, neither the people nor the boat were seriously damaged (benefit of a steel boat). We were saved from 12 hours of embarassement by the last 15 minutes of a rising tide.

Lesson learned: it only takes a moment of inattention to ruin our day.

And yes, the rock was on the chart!

[hphoen]

It was November, western shore of the Chesapeake in Virginia. I had motored over to the marina a couple of creeks north to fill my tank with diesel before winterizing the boat. Coming home, I went aground on a hard sand bottom. It was one of those "low, low" tides you get in the Fall. It was getting dark, and the forecast was for snow beginning that evening. The tide, as low as it was already, was dropping.

A tug pushing a grain barge went by me, and I waited for his wake to bump the keel up and down a bit, while I worked the engine. Got maybe six feet with that techinque. Hmmm. It was going to be a long, cold night.

I finally decided to call my neighbor on my cell phone, and he came out in his runabout. I passed him the spare mainsail halyard, and he attached it to his transom and started motoring away from me, perpendicular to the beam. The boat heeled over about 30 degrees before it started to break loose. I gunned the engine and off we went! Back home, I couldn't quite get into my slip, the tide was so low.

The technique came in handy again a couple of years later in the Abacos where we stuffed the keel into the sand in Black Sound on Green Turtle Cay, and a very nice local boater pulled our mast over.

[camaraderie]

Hi Hud Welcome to the dark side! (g)

All -My best aground story took place a few years back on the ICW near Savannah as we were bringing our "new" Camaraderie down south in late November. The crossing from Fields Cut "creek" into and across the Savannah River is notoriously shoal and we took the advice of a power boater to leave the marker WELL to starboard and we promptly went aground in the thick mud and were unable to power off. Thankfully the tide was low and with an 8 ft. swing, we knew we could get off in a couple of hours. We went below to work on some stuff while we waited for the tide to rise when all of a sudden the boat lurched sharply to starboard and we and "stuff" went flying all over the cabin as well. I rushed up the companionway steps wondering how we could be listing with the RAIL close to the water in 4 ft. of water with a rising tide. Looking astern into the Savannah River I saw a huge container ship passing doing about 15 knots. The ships props had literally sucked the water out of the creek we were in and left us almost dry and heeled over in the mud! Fortunately, the water rushed back in the creek as the ship passed and 30 seconds later we were floating again...Whew!

[PBzeer]

Oddly enough, the only time I was unable to get myself off after running aground, was when I didn't have a towing membership.

[Omatako]

Indonesia, momentary lapse of concentration, shallow reef, dead calm water, motored onto the reef and got stuck with the keel amongst the rocks. The tide turned into a flood tide that pushed me further and further into the reef and when it turned the boat was left in about three feet of water on the rocks. Within 12 hours it was a total loss.

Nobody wants to do that twice. I know I don't!!

Andre

[tenuki]

does sticking a hobie cat's mast in the bottom of the lake so bad we needed a power boat to get it unstuck count?

[Idiens]

Groundings, mmmmm, where to start, that time off Dunkerque, frequently in the Baltic, the treacherous Schelde? The important thing is to avoid taking risks on a falling tide.

[BreakingWind2]

We were delivering the boat to Lake Ontario from Lasalle Ontario. Heading up the north shore of Lake Erie we were approaching Point Pelee. We were well off shore (not far enough as it turns out) when I noticed something about the water didn't look right. The water was lapping back on itself and there were seagulls floating in the water. I told my wife to go up forward and I cut the engines to an idle. (We were motoring on a windless, ripple free day). Just as she said "I can see the bottom" we just came to a dead stop in the soft sand. Luckily there was no wind to push us around and I just cranked the rudder and managed to back up off. No harm, no foul.
We then motored WAY out from shore and managed to round the point.

I was always told "it is not IF you go aground, it is WHEN". Figured I got mine in, think I"m done?

[sailingdog]

No... unless you stop sailing, you can always run aground again.

Originally Posted by BreakingWind2

I was always told "it is not IF you go aground, it is WHEN". Figured I got mine in, think I"m done?

[chucklesR]

I shined the lower inch of the prop in mud and oyster shells on my outdrive this past year dodging boats anchored in the channel at Still Pond Creek, Md.
Boat draws 18 inches board up, outdrive and prop draw 20. Now that's not a good thing if you push the limits. I was doing 3-4 kts as it was close quarters and early morning.
Motor shook, rpm varying for about 5 seconds and I was thru, reckon it was a narrow bar. Punched MOB on the GPS so I could mark it and went on about my day.