Anyone else have any good grounding tales?



My second most embarrassing grounding...
During a regatta race that started at our yacht club...up to a sister
club and back to the finish line just past our club again.
The body of water is a narrow 'arm' of the Atlantic that runs approx
North/South off the main harbour. The predominate winds are South,
south-west.
We started off fine...but under light winds slowly ended up near the
back of the pack. Our skipper got tired of this about 3/4's of the way
to the mid point when the faster boats could be seen on their way back.
We left the race, turned around and close hauled, followed the Eastern
shore back to the club. It was a beautiful sail...although we were very
close to shore and dodging wharfs & moored boats. Just as we got
opposite our clubhouse with the main body of racers catching up to us, i
looked at the depth meter and saw 2 feet. I got the words 's*it* out
just as we smashed into the underwater rock ledge. I was thrown forward
and scratched my eyeglasses lens on the aft end of the boom. The
helmsman was holding onto the wheel so he was ok and the owner was able
to catch himself. Good thing we weren't moving fast.
I pulled out my handheld VHF and called the club for assistance. Of
course everyone in the race could now either see us..or heard my request
for help. As soon as the main body of racers had finished, the club
tender came over and towed us off. We slinked back to our finger pier
and avoided the party scene at the clubhouse, enduring a few comments
thrown our way by smirking skippers.