Oops!

Greetings,
Mr. Art. Agreed. Open eyes. I'm NOT a magenta line cruiser. I DO use the magenta line as a very rough guide as to where the channel might be. Charts are always on deck and used as an adjunct to electronics. The Admiral, after decades of telling me where to go, is the navigator. She uses a Post-It note flag on the chart to denote where we are so I can quickly glance and get an overview. Post it Arrow Printed Flags 12 Sign Here Assorted Colors 30 Flags Per Pad Pack Of 4 Pads by Office Depot Easily moved in a timely fashion.
In this particular circumstance it appeared a buoy tender barge had haphazardly dumped their load just to confuse. There were a sh*tload of markers. If ever in doubt, I idle through areas with a close eye on the sonar and two close eyes on surroundings. As I said before, poop occurs.

RT Firefly said:

Greetings,
Mr. Art. Agreed. Open eyes. I'm NOT a magenta line cruiser. I DO use the magenta line as a very rough guide as to where the channel might be. Charts are always on deck and used as an adjunct to electronics. The Admiral, after decades of telling me where to go, is the navigator. She uses a Post-It note flag on the chart to denote where we are so I can quickly glance and get an overview. Post it Arrow Printed Flags 12 Sign Here Assorted Colors 30 Flags Per Pad Pack Of 4 Pads by Office Depot Easily moved in a timely fashion.
In this particular circumstance it appeared a buoy tender barge had haphazardly dumped their load just to confuse. There were a sh*tload of markers. If ever in doubt, I idle through areas with a close eye on the sonar and two close eyes on surroundings. As I said before, poop occurs.

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Don't get me wrong RT

I was meaning to praise you for this in your post: "A larger cruiser in the 70' range approached from the south. We backed well off the channel and carefully observed what route he used and after he passed, we were successful in our passage."

First time I ventured deep into SF Bay Delta from SF Bay itself: It was a stop at friend’s island we were going to visit before taking our (then new to us) slip at a Delta marina. Being a careful soul regarding depths and obstructions I was on flybridge keeping eyes open and creeping off the relatively deep slough into a little bay at front of his island. Suddenly depth sounder alarm went off; I looked at readings and saw where seconds before it read 15’... it then read 2’. I have the alarm set to sound off at 3’ which still gives us approx 2’ under props due to where the sounder’s sender is located. Anyway – wind was blowing pretty good and pushing us into even more shallow water. I immediately hit low rpm reverse and due to wind had to increase reverse throttle on one engine to back out straight. Delta base is dark silted-mud; water around boat quickly began looking like chocolate pudding. Needless to say, as tide was already fairly low and still out going, we did not visit his island with our Tolly tri cabin boat.

Due to that experience and the fact I quickly learned there are too many sunken obstructions/snags in Delta waters, especially inside islands’ small bays (e.g. old tree trunks/branches, old outboard motors, concrete blocks and the like used for moorings, as well as other natural or un thoughtfully discarded manmade “prop-benders”) I do NOT take our Tolly into party island shallow bays – at all! We visit friends and islands in our tow behind, out board runabout while our Tolly-Boat rests peacefully on its hook in certified deep waters.

An item regarding “Delta-Times” on the deep sloughs that is pretty phenomenal: Sloughs generally range from 20’ to 35’ deep. Main rivers which sloughs spider web in between are quite deep and carry commercial cargo ships / freighters to Sacramento and other ports from the Pacific. All together there is 1,100 miles of Delta water ways. That said; even minor sized sloughs are still plenty deep (20’ +/-). Most sloughs (small or large) stay deep nearly up to the very edge of tule filled shores (often there is drop off in depth from 0’ to 20’ in just 20’ distance from shore, i.e. 12/12 pitch). So... I often ground the nose of our Tolly on edge of a slough in location of tules or at a clear location. While nose of boat is grounded at our rear in 34’ distance water is seldom less than 15’ deep for diving and swimming. I’ve a light weight aluminum anchor with just line attached for throwing it like a cowboy off the bow and snugging us to shore for time desired. When ready to move on we simply back off, stow lightweight anchor and all is bliss!

Picture shows our Tolly nosed in at 0’ depth with some 20’ depth to rear for swimming and other fun activities. Damn I love being nearly anywhere on/around/in the water and with fun boats! Ain’t life grand!! It is important we enjoy every minute we have... cause, like a flash it/we can suddenly evaporate! Which... it/we are sure to do via the simple, unstoppable means of “cosmic” eventuality.

Happy Boating Daze! - Art

FF said:

>Reverse thrust of the big-boat would provide MANY times the power of little Sea Ray.<

Perhaps the capt knew that reverse thrust moves as much sand or mud as water ,
and chose not to create an island under the hull.

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Gooood thinken, Fred! Ya jus mite hav somen there!

We'll just neva kno, now will we??!!

To lern mo - Someone could call dat boat's Captain and further em-bare-ass he by asken WTF was he doen after runnen that BIG Expensive Yacht aground; ... To the point where he b needen a little dink sized Sea Ray for reverse pull??

Matter O' Fact... WTF was he doen to hit groung that solidly in the first place??!!

Go very slow in narrow/shallow/confined areas, keep eyes wide open and have spotters distributed on a boat that size, WATCH the depth sounder closely, be ready to alter course in an instant, be ready at slow speed to go into full reverse. Just a few ways to help "stay off ground"!

Happy Floaten Boaten Daze - Art

FF said:

>Reverse thrust of the big-boat would provide MANY times the power of little Sea Ray.<

Perhaps the capt knew that reverse thrust moves as much sand or mud as water ,
and chose not to create an island under the hull.

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It really doesn't create an island. In fact it can dig a big hole. The sand and mud tends to blow out the sides of the hull not pile up under it.

More than likely he/she was more concerned about damaging the props. And using the bow thruster was not a bad idea. It could help break the bow free or move it over to deeper water. It's certainly worth a try.

Capt.Bill11 said:

It really doesn't create an island. In fact it can dig a big hole. The sand and mud tends to blow out the sides of the hull not pile up under it.

More than likely he/she was more concerned about damaging the props. And using the bow thruster was not a bad idea. It could help break the bow free or move it over to deeper water. It's certainly worth a try.

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Piece of line with weight attached would have told if there was water enough to try reverse (ya know, old-school tests and stuff like that - lol). With length of that boat... as its nose was aground, chances are there was still plenty depth to rear at props. Unless he hit ground at excessive speed; or the shallow area was nearly a dead flat bottom underwater. But, if that were true the little Sea Ray would not be much help - unless of course tide was rising??

Art said:

To lern mo - Someone could call dat boat's Captain and further em-bare-ass he by asken WTF was he doen after runnen that BIG Expensive Yacht aground; ... To the point where he b needen a little dink sized Sea Ray for reverse pull??

Matter O' Fact... WTF was he doen to hit groung that solidly in the first place??!!

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"further em-bare-ass he"!? Seriously?

Unless you are just trying to be funny, holier than thou people like you should leave the rest of us less than perfect people alone when we are in the middle of an honest human mistake. We have enough going on without dealing with stupid questions asked only in an attempt to "em-bare-ass" us while feeding your apparently staving ego.

Then again, like I said, maybe you just have an odd sense of humor to go with your odd writing style.

Capt.Bill11 said:

"further em-bare-ass he"!? Seriously?

Unless you are just trying to be funny, holier than thou people like you should leave the rest of us less than perfect people alone when we are in the middle of an honest human mistake. We have enough going on without dealing with stupid questions asked only in an attempt to "em-bare-ass" us while feeding your apparently staving ego.

Then again, like I said, maybe you just have an odd sense of humor to go with your odd writing style.

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Calm down Capt. Bill or you become the a-hole here.

Art said:

Piece of line with weight attached would have told if there was water enough to try reverse (ya know, old-school tests and stuff like that - lol).

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Old school line and a weight works fine to tell you what the depth is right under you but it doesn't tell you much about what's lurking out from that area. And since many times you have to wiggle a boat off you never know what might be to the sides of you or what you might suck up off the bottom while horsing it off with the engines. But it's certainly worth a try if you're careful and understand the potential damage you could do.

Not sure if you can be to conservative in those situations though.

Capt.Bill11 said:

"further em-bare-ass he"!? Seriously?

Unless you are just trying to be funny, holier than thou people like you should leave the rest of us less than perfect people alone when we are in the middle of an honest human mistake. We have enough going on without dealing with stupid questions asked only in an attempt to "em-bare-ass" us while feeding your apparently staving ego.

Then again, like I said, maybe you just have an odd sense of humor to go with your odd writing style.

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Capt.Bill - Wrong side of bed today?

Sorry, I don't mean to assault your or anyone else’s sensibilities. Don’t get too uptight on what I post. I highlighted in your post what is true and correct about me. I b funnen.. most of the time in posts I place. But, beware... much of what I fun about is spot-on!

I often need to be on my computer by 4 AM or earlier in response to business dealings. TF is simply a valve to let my mind wander while working. BTW – my mind seldom stops working!

You or anyone else can poke fun at me too, or you can say what you like about me. I’ve a very thick IRISH Skin! And, simply love to debate!

Happy Boating Daze! - Art

obthomas said:

Calm down Capt. Bill or you become the a-hole here.

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Yeah you're right, what was I thinking. Purposely trying to further embarrass some one when they are in the middle of an already embarrassing situation is a perfectly reasonable thing to suggest.

Although not a perfect science, the best odds of not running aground is to follow a decent size sailboat. Oops, I can't believe I said that.

hmason said:

Although not a perfect science, the best odds of not running aground is to follow a decent size sailboat. Oops, I can't believe I said that.

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Best odds is to rent a slip at a very deep marina and never move the boat.

The captain could have asked all the fat people to go tot he stern so it raises the bow......just say'n. Seems to work on tiny boats.

Capt.Bill11 said:

Yeah you're right, what was I thinking. Purposely trying to further embarrass some one when they are in the middle of an already embarrassing situation is a perfectly reasonable thing to suggest.

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Sooo, tell me Capt.Bill - You know if the captain of the grounded boat is on TF? He may be - but I doubt it! Anyway... sht happens - in more ways than one!

Rambler said:

The captain could have asked all the fat people to go tot he stern so it raises the bow......just say'n. Seems to work on tiny boats.

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Greetings,
The logical progression from post #'s 42 and 43 is not to get a boat at all. NOT HAPPENING! I'll take my chances. I also forgot, I had a soft grounding going north somewhere around Daytona. That time I was NOT paying attention. The boat simply slowed to a stop.

Art said:

Sooo, tell me Capt.Bill - You know if the captain of the grounded boat is on TF? He may be - but I doubt it! Anyway... sht happens - in more ways than one!

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I have no idea if he/she is on TF. The suggestion was to "call" them. I took that to mean on the radio at the time it was happening. Perhaps I misread it and you meant on the phone after the fact. Not call them out in TF.

"Capt.Bill - Wrong side of bed today?"

No

"Sorry, I don't mean to assault your"

You didn't. I'm just not a big fan of kicking people when they are down. Or in the middle of kicking themselves.

"beware... much of what I fun about is spot-on!"

Anything is possible.

" BTW – my mind seldom stops working!"

Well that is obvious.

"You or anyone else can poke fun at me too, or you can say what you like about me."

Same here.

" simply love to debate!"

I've been told I fall into that category too.

Capt.Bill11 said:

"Capt.Bill - Wrong side of bed today?"

No

"Sorry, I don't mean to assault your"

You didn't. I'm just not a big fan of kicking people when they are down. Or in the middle of kicking themselves.

"beware... much of what I fun about is spot-on!"

Anything is possible.

" BTW – my mind seldom stops working!"

Well that is obvious.

"You or anyone else can poke fun at me too, or you can say what you like about me."

Same here.

" simply love to debate!"

I've been told I fall into that category too.

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- Have Good Day! - Art

The only thing that comes close to surprising me so far in this thread is folks thinking it odd for the SeaRay being able to pull him free. Tow boats are similar in size, obviously better equipped and with more horsepower.

Physics in action is fun to watch.

CPseudonym said:

The only thing that comes close to surprising me so far in this thread is folks thinking it odd for the SeaRay being able to pull him free. Tow boats are similar in size, obviously better equipped and with more horsepower.

Physics in action is fun to watch.

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I've seen 13 foot Rib's pull 40' boats before. In fact once saw someone do it on their own boat. Very soft grounding but they didn't want to risk props. So, they used their crane, put their Rib in the water behind their boat, hooked up a tow line and gently eased it off. They started engines and reversed boat once they'd moved about 10 feet.

There was talk about using his thrusters to move, but any boat has much more power than them. If he's on soft enough doesn't take much to pull. If it's a hard deep grounding, then not even the tow boats have a chance.

Oh and please don't remind me of physics. Thought I was over that when I completed my course in college.

I had a hard sand grounding a few years ago. I hit the thruster think I could wiggle off no dice the thruster was in the air! I ran aground in an area well known to me and I ignored my watch, my wife! 2 props and a shaft latter after a long tow and I'll never ignore my watch again. Hard sand can be almost as damaging as concrete.
Bill

CPseudonym said:

The only thing that comes close to surprising me so far in this thread is folks thinking it odd for the SeaRay being able to pull him free.

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Surprising to me also, as nobody even knows the size of the boat! OP never mentioned.

WATCH the depth sounder closely

What dept sounder?

Nothing beats a nice stiff 2 inch or so pole , with 1 ft stripes painted on .

Really helps finding where the drop off might be , so where to try for.

IF kedging off its nice to know you are heading for deeper water.

Nsail said:

Surprising to me also, as nobody even knows the size of the boat! OP never mentioned.

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It appears to be a 68' Ocean Alexander MY.

Northern Spy said:

It appears to be a 68' Ocean Alexander MY.

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I saw that you posted that before, but where did that info come from? Did I miss something?

Capt.Bill11 said:

Yeah you're right, what was I thinking. Purposely trying to further embarrass some one when they are in the middle of an already embarrassing situation is a perfectly reasonable thing to suggest.

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Especially when they go out of their way to make it tough to read. More trouble than its worth.

Nsail said:

I saw that you posted that before, but where did that info come from? Did I miss something?

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I just looked at the picture provided. I may be wrong.

Northern Spy said:

I just looked at the picture provided. I may be wrong.

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A picture doesn't even show up on my system. Now I understand. And I'll bet you're right as I don't think you've ever been wrong about anything you've ever posted (that's a compliment, I'm not being sarcastic), unlike many other posters (myself included) that seem to be full of it from time to time.

P.S. You even know that hypocrite is spelled with an "e"!. Funny as hell! (OTDE visitors will know what that means)