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?

"Capri" wrote in message
oups.com...
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?

Was there no way to free yourself?

I've grounded a bunch of times. They were all a learning experience. The
best, or most interesting, was in the BVI. Anchored at Cooper, waited an
hour or so, because it's notoriously hard to find a good spot. Everything
looked fine. We went to dinner and got back about 11. The boat had moved
about 40 feet onto a sand bar. It took until 2 am to free her... Kedge with
the anchor on the main halyard. Then, we reanchord and I did a night dive on
the anchor.

Was there no way to free yourself?

Capt

We tried but with 13,000 lbs of boat hard aground and she would not
move, tried kedging her off and heeling her even further all to no
avail. May have tried a little harder if we did not have Sea Tow

Sounds like you did the right thing, especially if the situation was going
to get worse. Nothing wrong with ST.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

"Capri" wrote in message
oups.com...

Was there no way to free yourself?

Capt

We tried but with 13,000 lbs of boat hard aground and she would not
move, tried kedging her off and heeling her even further all to no
avail. May have tried a little harder if we did not have Sea Tow

"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?

The first time I ran aground it was in the Patuxent under sail with my
daughter #1 and SIL aboard. My SIL had just made a fool of himself by
asking why we didn't have our boat in covered storage, so he was happy
that he could go to work and tell everyone that his MIL ran aground.

The second time I did it, we'd been in Indian Creek for a couple of
days weathered in, and I temporarily forgot that the red was supposed
to be on the left going down river, and tried to pass the red at the
end of the sandbar on the right. The boat kind of stood on her nose,
and our guest in the saloon fell and hit her head.


grandma Rosalie

Capri wrote:
snip

Anyone else have any good grounding tales?


The only time I ran aground with me at the helm..was on a friends Viking
28 sailboat. There is a narrow channel between a point on the mainland
and an island that is fun to pass through. You can only sail it on
occasion when the wind is directly out of the north (run south) or vice
versa. The predominant winds are southwest in the summer so the island
quickly blocks the wind and we usually 'motor sail' through the narrow
passage.
The previous week, on our first time through on the Viking, conditions
were perfect. We sailed right through and could almost touch the people
on the banks. Following week, our skipper had a gang of people aboard
and wanted to impress them. I warned him that the winds were different
(night on our nose) for the way we were approaching (south to north).
He insisted that we try, so I tacked as far east & west as
possible...going inside a large red buoy on the theory that it was for
larger fishing vessels.
Next thing...bang/crash...looked overboard and all I could see were hugh
boulders everywhere. What a time...the ladies were on the edge of
getting panicky so we had everyone on the port rail and pointed the bow
west. The wind was from the north so we hauled the main sheet in snug.
This allowed us to heel over and bounce over boulder after boulder until
we cleared the minefield. We immediately took the boat back to the yacht
club and used the lift/slings to haul it out, hang it over the dock and
inspect for damage. Luckily, it was minor.
From that point on..the area was known as 'Donnie's rock'.
The next year, another crew member put us on a sandbar in the same area,
but we were able to power off.

In article .com,
"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?

I agree "when" is correct. My first time was in Cos Cob's harbor (CT),
in the middle of the channel waiting for the bridge to go up on my first
boat for the first sail. I was livid that I had to wait for the tide to
come up and hope I got lifted enough.

So, the first thing is to know the conditions which requires a chart and
clock. I knew the bottom was muck and the tide was low and coming in.
Two hours later, after fouling the air with unkind things about those
responsible for maintaining the Cos Cob markers and dredging, I returned
to the dock.

If one knows the tides cannot help (there are none or grounding was at
high), one has to call for help. If one is on rock (or if one has
grounded at speed), one has to use the time waiting to make sure there
is no damage to the hull (or if a sail boat to the joint between keel
and hull).

harlan

--
To respond, obviously drop the "nospan"?

All you people must sail only in deep water cuz I seem to run aground
almost every time I go sailing. Of course, this part of the Gulf is
very shallow and channel markers have no relation to reality.
Fortunately, all of the bottoms here are either oyster bars or sand.
I've spent a tide cycle or two aground. If you can get on the bar, you
can get off without help.

wrote:
All you people must sail only in deep water cuz I seem to run aground
almost every time I go sailing. Of course, this part of the Gulf is
very shallow and channel markers have no relation to reality.
Fortunately, all of the bottoms here are either oyster bars or sand.
I've spent a tide cycle or two aground. If you can get on the bar, you
can get off without help.

Yep...2nd largest natural harbour in the world.
Plus the two main bays I sail in have water up to 200 feet deep and all
are well marked.
You have to be careless, dumb or just plain unlucky to run aground.
After saying all that...most people do it at some point.

In article .com,
wrote:

All you people must sail only in deep water cuz I seem to run aground
almost every time I go sailing. Of course, this part of the Gulf is
very shallow and channel markers have no relation to reality.
Fortunately, all of the bottoms here are either oyster bars or sand.
I've spent a tide cycle or two aground. If you can get on the bar, you
can get off without help.

Reread the post. I did say first time. And only time in the middle of a
channel.

But you are right. One strategy I try to use is to avoid sailing where I
can get in trouble.

harlan

--
To respond, obviously drop the "nospan"?