Running Aground

[killarney_sailor]

Tips here are good. If you don't run aground you aren't really trying.

Silliest one of all for us was in Hadley Harbor, near Wood's Hole. We came in early to anchor for the night and chose the little part of the harbor that had no boats in it (first hint!). Depthsounder said 14' and our draft is 5'. Anchored nicely and settled down for a relaxed afternoon followed by grilling dinner. A couple of hours later I realized that we were aground. Checked the depth sounder and it still showed 12'. Turns out we were sitting on a mound of sand with long grass growing on top to hide it. Had the BBQ and reanchored after the tide came in. toughest part was all the folks coming by in little boats to ask us if we knew we were aground. Maybe it is not running aground if you are just sitting there minding your own business.

[Irunbird]

Originally Posted by Barquito

I don't race, so, I really don't know: If the race rules only allow crew weight within the lifelines, is there going to be a protest if your crew needs to hike-out to get you off the bottom?

Good point, but to my knowledge, this has not happened yet (in our class) in recent CORA racing history. The bigger races locally are Charleston Raceweek or the local regattas and are of the usual W/L design (and away from shallow water) where someone would consider a protest. In our low-key Wednesday night or weekend races, nobody seems to care.

[tweitz]

Assuming you avoid rocks, it is good to remember that you only run aground in shallow water (duh), so it is sometimes possible to get one or two crew off to lighten up the boat. As far as kedging is concerned, while a dinghy is the best way to get it far enough from the boat, another way to get good purchase for the anchor is to drop it at the end of the boat opposite from where it is attached. So if you need to move towards the direction of the stern, drop it from the stern but led from the bow. You will then have the length of the boat to add to the scope and can often get a good grip. Then haul on the anchor line to swing the boat. and pull it in the right direction.

[sawingknots]

i've heard that you can take a kedge anchor out in to deeper water at a right angle to your boat,throw the anchor rope over the spreaders then use a winch to heel the boat over then motor in a arc keeping the boat heeled,i tryed that once,didn't work,maybe in sand it might have

[davidpm]

Originally Posted by killarney_sailor

Turns out we were sitting on a mound of sand with long grass growing on top to hide it.

So why did your depth sounder not pick it up?

[davidpm]

I think is was a Catalina 27 where the owner using local knowledge (wrong) got us stuck.

I was able to to take his lunch hook with line and through it far enough to pull us off.

Actually had to do it twice as the after I pulled him off the first time he insisted on taking the same shortcut.

He was convinced his short cut was right and wanted to try a third time but I objected.
Was getting tired.

[PorFin]

Um, yeah, we've found the bottom a few times.

If you've got a heavy cruising boat like we do, get a TowboatUS and/or a SeaTow membership. It will pay for itself the first time you use it -- very cheap insurance.

The various tricks for getting unstuck will depend a great deal on the type and configuration of your keel and the overall displacement of your vessel. In our case (full keel that has a gentle slop to the stern at about 27k lbs with a cruising load) by the time the boat comes to a stop -- even if we've been motoring at idle speed -- we're pretty much stuck. We've been able to kedge off a time or two, but have been forced to await a rising tide as well.

In the avoidance department, you can try to attempt all your passages through skinny water on a rising tide but that isn't always practical. Avoiding skinny water all together is also an option, but could seriously restrict where you go; there are several spots along the AICW that are good examples of this.

[BubbleheadMd]

In racing, you are allowed outside of the lifelines only long enough to perform a task. Hiking outside on boats equipped with single lifelines is prohibited, on boats with double lifelines, the upper torso is allowed outside of the lifelines.

So, to answer the question- When I ran aground in the West River during a race, I backed the sails and pivoted the boat around to reverse direction, then I put all of the crew on the low side. When this failed, a crew member hung out on the end of the boom, and the keel became free and we sailed off. I hauled him in with the mainsheet and we resumed the race.

He was only outside of the lifelines "long enough to perform the task".

Source: RRS 49.2

[captflood]

GREETINGS EARTHLINGS : I sail in UK and where I am we have upto 34' of tide so Yep been aground loads of times the Boat was a three keeled Trident 24' 4 berth gerat for going abump. best edvice isput the kettle on always worked when Dad was in-charge what shall I do Dad Just put the kettle on son. Coming into the river Dee (between Wales and England) We hit the main sand bank after the engine packed up (bad Carb system) It was a spring tide on the fall and we had missed it BIG TIME. So we stayed there for TWO WEEKS FORTEEN HOURS engine dead so no battery so no radio so we done all the winter maintanance on the thrid day a coast gaurd walked about 7 miles through deep thick Mud and Stuff he was creamed crackered and when he arrived at the boat he was out off puff and asked us if we where OK Dad said looks like you could use a beer ! That year we where the Best boat in the winter yard suppying teas for all . HAPPY DAYS BIG TIME GO SAFE

[remetau]

Carry Tow-Boat insurance.

We anchored off of Sombero Beach in the Marathon to watch the fireworks. The boats were real close, and didn't let out a whole lot of scope. We decided to stay the night, and a storm blew through, we dragged anchor into shallower water. The boat stood up on its keel for a while until another storm blew through and knocked us over. The tides were getting smaller so we were stuck for a long while if we didn't off. We called Tow Boat who heeled us over by pulling the halyard and the bow at the same time.