Hitting a rock is one of the worst blunders you can commit on a boat. You should be
ashamed of yourself.

I've been sailing for 45 years, and although I've taken bottom a number of times, its
always been soft -usually mud, a few times sand, and always a low speed, often dead slow.
And its never happened due to navigational error - its always been shoaled channels,
exploring uncharted shallows, or taking the advice of locals - several times I've grounded
two feet from the fuel dock!

But hitting a rock is a whole other thing. Rocks are what destroys boats. Rocks loosen
keel bolts, break rudders, destroy props. A good whack can break engine mounts, shafts,
exhaust systems, even take rigging down. And we haven't started with the possibilities of
a holed hull, or getting hung up on a falling tide.

And hitting a major rock, which uncovers at low tide, clearly marked on the charts, with a
major buoy protecting it, is totally inexcusable. And to do this one mile from your slip
is inexplicable! Your compass cover was on (welded on???) and you had no chart on deck,
and now you're defending this as a normal event that happens every few years?

Shame on you, Robert. You keep claiming that you want to learn, and your not afraid to
share your mistakes. But when the seriousness of your mistakes is pointed out, you just
make light of it. No compass, no charts, no depth sounder, no radio, and now you're
claiming whacking rocks is fun, you do it frequently! Shame Robert, shame.

Please contact one of these organizations and take a course before you end up costing us
all money on our insurance bills.
http://www.usps.org/
http://www.cgaux.org/

--
-jeff
"Constant Vigilance!" - Frances W. Wright




"Bobsprit" wrote in message
...
Hey, one or a dozen.. I don't like hitting rocks.

Happened to me twice in 8 years! You don't know what you're missing until you
clobber a rock! Unlike the others here, I'm not a coward and admit a
mistake...even if it's one that did no harm!

RB