On Tue, 28 Aug 2007 17:50:40 -0400, HK wrote:

I watched a cruising trawler pushed onto the underwater sandbars of St.
Augustine inlet one fine summer day about 12 years ago. There was a
strong southerly wind, breaking surf in the inlet and an incoming tide.
The boat was hard aground, but I don't believe it suffered any serious
damage. Two power cruisers pulled it loose, and it putted along on its way.

Inlets can be nasty, no question.

Woods Hole has got many different dimensions to it however: Ferrocious
currents, confusing buoy layout, nasty rocks right in the middle of a
channel fork, small boats fishing in the middle of the maelstrom,
split second decisions to be made, large commercial traffic to be
dodged, etc. It's not a good place to be in poor visibility but there
is also a fair amount of fog in the area.

The shipyards around there, particularly in New Bedford/Fairhaven,
make a good living patching up the ensuing wrecks. No one is immune
it seems. Last time we were in New Bedford there was a 120 ft mega
yacht side by side with a 40 something steel hulled sail boat. Both
had a big gash in the side.