Grandma

Without local knowledge, Brunswick is one of the most difficult jettys
to exit into or out to the Atlantic, Im suprised you didnt have more
trouble. The tides and current in and around Brunswick can be pretty
awesome as well. I spent one night on the ICW anchored near Brunswick
and spent the whole night on deck watching my anchors, I have never
been anchored in a current that strong before of since. Also it is a
lot easier (and safer) to take the ICW down to Jacksonville before
going out to the Atlantic.

I ran aground at our marina last month. - It turned out that the bottom
near the pier in the section at which I attempted to dock the boat had a
localized shallow area due to earth seeping down from the bank adjacent
the pier, leaving a depth of only 1.5 feet or so. - (I had actually
checked the depth along most of the pier earlier and found it to be 4-6
feet, but I missed the one section at which I attempted to dock.) Since
it was at the pier, I was able to lift the rudders and centerboard and
rock the boat off the bar.

This is one advantage of a boat with retractable keel or dagger board,
in that it's usually possible to raise the board and float the boat into
deeper water.

Jim





Capri wrote:

In another post here a new sailor asked about what to do when he runs
aground. He was smart enough not to ask what to do WHEN not IF he runs
aground. For even though you have the best charts and atre the most
diligent about watching where you are going you will eventually run
aground. MY first experience with it was on the ICW south of Cocoa and
Just North of the Pineda Causeway. Beautiful day. Wind out of the east
all sails pulling full, Main, jib and Mizzen, running down what I
thought was the middle of the channel making at least 6 knots, when all
of a sudden we hit a sand bar in about 2 feet of water. Maggie Mae drew
about 4.6. so all of a sudden we were hard aground heeled over on the
side. I made sure everyone was OK then proceeded to call Sea Tow,
Thank goodness we had a contract with them so it didn't cost anything
for them to take us off. I had let the boat wander just a few yards out
of the channel. All my fault. Never happened again. Well, execpt for
the night the anchor dragged when we were all asleep onboard.......but
thats another story. Anyone else have any good grounding tales?

On Tue, 15 Nov 2005 06:02:58 GMT, Jere Lull wrote:

The red was almost on the shore when I finally found
it. I've never had good luck in that area of the Bay, though that was
the only time we touched.

=========================

Sometimes a good chart plotter can help with this.

"Capri" wrote:

Grandma

Without local knowledge, Brunswick is one of the most difficult jettys
to exit into or out to the Atlantic, Im suprised you didnt have more
trouble. The tides and current in and around Brunswick can be pretty
awesome as well. I spent one night on the ICW anchored near Brunswick
and spent the whole night on deck watching my anchors, I have never
been anchored in a current that strong before of since. Also it is a
lot easier (and safer) to take the ICW down to Jacksonville before
going out to the Atlantic.

It would have been OK if Bob had stayed in the channel. He wouldn't
go back north to the next safer inlet. It was pretty calm and we could
see (or could have seen if we looked) where the shallow areas were,
and we were following the shrimp boats which should have had local
knowledge. We've also (on a calm day) gone out the Little River Inlet
and Bob has always wanted to do Oregon Inlet.

I've had people (one with a draft of 8 feet) tell me that St.
Augustine was perfectly safe to come in, and I've seen breakers all
across the entrance. We've also come in Fort Pierce which is a class
A inlet and had quite a lot of rough water which made it something of
a problem.

grandma Rosalie

I have been in and out of Brunswick several times and no problem
if you keep the chart in sight. My last trip was inside and we
had to watch the marks for the turn into the ship channel to get
to the waterway behind Jekyll Island. About half way up, we met
one of those five story car carriers coming out. We were hailed
on our intentions and I told him that we would take the green
side as we were crossing to the waterway and if the water was
sufficient we would move way over marks until he passed. Those
things are really big close up.

Leanne

"Rosalie B." wrote in message
news
"Capri" wrote:

Grandma

Without local knowledge, Brunswick is one of the most
difficult jettys
to exit into or out to the Atlantic, Im suprised you didnt
have more
trouble. The tides and current in and around Brunswick can be
pretty
awesome as well. I spent one night on the ICW anchored near
Brunswick
and spent the whole night on deck watching my anchors, I have
never
been anchored in a current that strong before of since. Also
it is a
lot easier (and safer) to take the ICW down to Jacksonville
before
going out to the Atlantic.

It would have been OK if Bob had stayed in the channel. He
wouldn't
go back north to the next safer inlet. It was pretty calm and
we could
see (or could have seen if we looked) where the shallow areas
were,
and we were following the shrimp boats which should have had
local
knowledge. We've also (on a calm day) gone out the Little
River Inlet
and Bob has always wanted to do Oregon Inlet.

I've had people (one with a draft of 8 feet) tell me that St.
Augustine was perfectly safe to come in, and I've seen
breakers all
across the entrance. We've also come in Fort Pierce which is
a class
A inlet and had quite a lot of rough water which made it
something of
a problem.

grandma Rosalie

On Tue, 15 Nov 2005 19:02:37 GMT, Rosalie B.
wrote:

I've had people (one with a draft of 8 feet) tell me that St.
Augustine was perfectly safe to come in, and I've seen breakers all
across the entrance. We've also come in Fort Pierce which is a class
A inlet and had quite a lot of rough water which made it something of
a problem.

===============================

St Augestine has been recently dredged and we saw nothing less than 15
to 20 feet last week. We've been in and out of Ft Pierce twice this
year and had no issues with 5 1/2 feet of draft but some of the ICW is
down to 7 ft or less near there.