ben2go
Guru
I've never been in command of a large boat, 30+ feet. I have been grounded twice. Once was just stupid and once was painful.
The stupid one was my inattention to lake details the second one was sort of the same reason. You know, water has a habit of draining out of those things.
There was a narrow section in the lake which happened to also be shallow. What grows in shallow water, vegetation. I knew it was there. Crossed over it dozens of times. The water level in the lake had dropped about 6 to 8 inches overnight. As soon as I started over the area, running along about 12mph, the OB bogged and died. I fouled the prop with lake veggies. I'm in roughly 5 feet of water and I am 5'8". I whiz the mushroom back toward deeper water and pulled the rode. For an hour and a half I did this. The lake closes promptly at 8 pm. Then the gate is shut and locked. Any cars in the lot are towed. My luck happened at about 6pm.
So now I find myself in deeper water, prop fouled tight, and I can't make headway on clearing it. I hand paddle toward shore, hop out into waist-deep water, and walk the boat around the roughest part of the shoreline. Why you may ask, because the smoother cleaner side is many miles around to the ramp instead of maybe a mile. The water was from ankle deep to chest deep. I get to the ramp, it's after 8pm. The lake launch ramp attendant was standing there with another guy. I tie off the boat to the dock to load. No surprise I'm the last one there. I head up the ramp and these two are staring at me and grinning. I'm pretty wizzed at myself as well as proud I could get myself out of a bad situation.
On my way up the ramp, the attendant yells over to me," We didn't think you'd make it back tonight. I was going to leave the gate open for you."
My smarty elec retort," How did you know I was even trying to get back?"
The other guy," I watched the whole show from the other side of the lake."
I was a young hothead, so I didn't ask. Instead, I said," Ya could lent a hand ya know."
I loaded up and went home a sad soggy mess. I'm glad I was in the ole working truck.
The painful situation was a few years earlier where I pretty much did the same as the other situation. We were running along some shallows in a trihull all weekend being wreckless teens. We came tight around a point at about 30mph. The water level was down about a foot. Done it many times but the water level reared it's head. The trihull saved us. We ran hard aground in mud at a left leaning angle facing up the bank because the rear swung around. Everyone was thrown forward. Luckily, those in the bow were sitting down. A few minor bruises later, we were out of the boat and pushed it off. The shape of the point kept the I/O in deep enough water to prevent damage. The right side was buried in mud about a half foot deep. The left I believe kept us from doing a barrel roll and ending upside down as it was against the bottom until we all unloaded. That was enough to float the stern higher and help break out the bow. The boat suffered some paint scuffs but overall everything was ok. Needless to say, it was a couple years before I skippered another boat other than my J-boats.
The stupid one was my inattention to lake details the second one was sort of the same reason. You know, water has a habit of draining out of those things.
There was a narrow section in the lake which happened to also be shallow. What grows in shallow water, vegetation. I knew it was there. Crossed over it dozens of times. The water level in the lake had dropped about 6 to 8 inches overnight. As soon as I started over the area, running along about 12mph, the OB bogged and died. I fouled the prop with lake veggies. I'm in roughly 5 feet of water and I am 5'8". I whiz the mushroom back toward deeper water and pulled the rode. For an hour and a half I did this. The lake closes promptly at 8 pm. Then the gate is shut and locked. Any cars in the lot are towed. My luck happened at about 6pm.
So now I find myself in deeper water, prop fouled tight, and I can't make headway on clearing it. I hand paddle toward shore, hop out into waist-deep water, and walk the boat around the roughest part of the shoreline. Why you may ask, because the smoother cleaner side is many miles around to the ramp instead of maybe a mile. The water was from ankle deep to chest deep. I get to the ramp, it's after 8pm. The lake launch ramp attendant was standing there with another guy. I tie off the boat to the dock to load. No surprise I'm the last one there. I head up the ramp and these two are staring at me and grinning. I'm pretty wizzed at myself as well as proud I could get myself out of a bad situation.
On my way up the ramp, the attendant yells over to me," We didn't think you'd make it back tonight. I was going to leave the gate open for you."
My smarty elec retort," How did you know I was even trying to get back?"
The other guy," I watched the whole show from the other side of the lake."
I was a young hothead, so I didn't ask. Instead, I said," Ya could lent a hand ya know."
I loaded up and went home a sad soggy mess. I'm glad I was in the ole working truck.
The painful situation was a few years earlier where I pretty much did the same as the other situation. We were running along some shallows in a trihull all weekend being wreckless teens. We came tight around a point at about 30mph. The water level was down about a foot. Done it many times but the water level reared it's head. The trihull saved us. We ran hard aground in mud at a left leaning angle facing up the bank because the rear swung around. Everyone was thrown forward. Luckily, those in the bow were sitting down. A few minor bruises later, we were out of the boat and pushed it off. The shape of the point kept the I/O in deep enough water to prevent damage. The right side was buried in mud about a half foot deep. The left I believe kept us from doing a barrel roll and ending upside down as it was against the bottom until we all unloaded. That was enough to float the stern higher and help break out the bow. The boat suffered some paint scuffs but overall everything was ok. Needless to say, it was a couple years before I skippered another boat other than my J-boats.
