I ended up in the mud!

AusCan said:

It a good idea to keep extra water under the hull on a falling tide, and leave the skinny water exploring until there's a rising tide. That way you can just sit and wait until you are lifted off the bottom with little risk of (additional) damage.

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But be prepared to put out a kedge if waves or wind push one toward shallower water.

Benthic2 said:

Why not just drop the stern anchor on your approach ?

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Traffic and other reasons.

I move 33 Hunter from GA to FL with very little experience in sailboats. I drop the anchor in 5ft of water thinking that was enough. Did not paid attention to tides. @ hr latter I roll of the bunk - sitting in the mud. 5 hr of horror and when tide come back- float away. I am used to 1 foot of tide, but ICW have 5-6 feet. I did not know that before - lesson learn.

in GA it can be 8 to 9 feet on a regular basis, sometimes more if environmentals kick in.

and yes I know thats still no big deal compared to some places, spent over 2 years living in Alaska.....pays to research new places all the way down to dangerous critters.

I lived in Myrtle Beach for a few years when I was in The Air Force. We used to go all through those mud flats as fast as we could in my little 15’ tri-hull. If you slowed down at all you were sitting stuck in the mud. Cleaned my prop so many times in that mud![emoji23][emoji23]

You are not a captain until you go aground.

Using a cell phone to navigate is fine, if your not exposing passengers or other vessels to potentially dangerous situations.
Ask a USCG person for a sobering answer.

Had 1500 to1800 Passengers a day/ night.
USCG Capt.
Get navigate maps with paper back ups. Please study them on each trip.
But best to you on your cruising.

Jbear said:

I lived in Myrtle Beach for a few years when I was in The Air Force. We used to go all through those mud flats as fast as we could in my little 15’ tri-hull. If you slowed down at all you were sitting stuck in the mud. Cleaned my prop so many times in that mud![emoji23][emoji23]

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Funny you said that. The next evening at anchor we were swimming and I was feeling the props and rudders, checking for damage. Fortunately they felt fine, but man were they clean!

Capt Richard A. said:

You are not a captain until you go aground.

Using a cell phone to navigate is fine, if your not exposing passengers or other vessels to potentially dangerous situations.
Ask a USCG person for a sobering answer.

Had 1500 to1800 Passengers a day/ night.
USCG Capt.
Get navigate maps with paper back ups. Please study them on each trip.
But best to you on your cruising.

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It was all my fault. My cell phone and aquamaps correctly showed the shallow area, I just stopped looking at it and focused on getting behind a sailboat. Lesson learned for sure!

Steve91T said:

It was all my fault. My cell phone and aquamaps correctly showed the shallow area, I just stopped looking at it and focused on getting behind a sailboat. Lesson learned for sure!

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You didn't notice a trend with your depth sounder?

OldDan1943 said:

You didn't notice a trend with your depth sounder?

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I think there was a shelf. I was in plenty of water. When the alarm went off (goes off at 5’) I was already in less than 3’ which quickly went down to less than 2’.

What type of sail boat draws 2-3 ft of water?

It would appear you got out of the channel.
I got suckered in when I tried to venture into a private channel. I forgot, in a private channel the channel markers are reversed. At the time, I maintained just enough speed to maintain steerage... I felt the side of the private channel, confused, I backed out and went another way.

Steve91T, it is in the nature of TF to second guess and armchair captain each in every situation. We are also very fond of telling others what they “should” do.

As most of us have mentioned, we all have or will touch bottom at some point. I really appreciate posts like your that allow us the opportunity to learn from others experiences (mistakes or not).

Back when I was a general aviation pilot I received the NASA-ASRS bulletins. I was (still is?) a program that allowed aviation personnel, both commercial and private, to voluntarily report incidents that could have impacted safety. The concept to was to learn from others experience. Over the 40 years the program has resulted in real changes in the aviation industry.

I see posts like yours in the same vein. They open my eyes to potential problems in piloting, navigation, or mechanics that I may not be aware of otherwise.

OldDan1943 said:

What type of sail boat draws 2-3 ft of water?

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My sailboat was a 24-foot Bluewater Blackwatch cutter with a 2-foot fixed keel. Managed to go aground twice!

markpierce said:

My sailboat was a 24-foot Bluewater Blackwatch cutter with a 2-foot fixed keel. Managed to go aground twice!

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I guess it is safe to say, we all go aground at least once in life.

wkearney99 said:

Have you tried using a snubber on the anchor rode, with an offset to one side or the other? That can help tame the yawing a bit.

Our old boat would do that a lot, made worse by waves slapping hard under the chines. During one night of really noisy conditions I took a pair of kids floating noodles, ran a line through them (knotted to keep them in place) and tied them like a chin strap under the bow chines. Worked pretty well for a 3-in-the-morning hack to try to get some sleep! Learned about offsetting the anchor a bit after that.

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I’ll have to try that. Thank you!

OldDan1943 said:

What type of sail boat draws 2-3 ft of water?

It would appear you got out of the channel.
I got suckered in when I tried to venture into a private channel. I forgot, in a private channel the channel markers are reversed. At the time, I maintained just enough speed to maintain steerage... I felt the side of the private channel, confused, I backed out and went another way.

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That’s not what I said. Look at post #23. The sailboat was in deep water, I just cut the corner when entering. That’s where it’s super shallow a long ways out.

Capt Richard A. said:

You are not a captain until you go aground.

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Not true... 10 years and I haven't touched one.

Tom.B said:

Not true... 10 years and I haven't touched one.

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10 years means your %age-positive for occurrence potential is getting higher every day aboard!

Steve91T said:

That’s not what I said. Look at post #23. The sailboat was in deep water, I just cut the corner when entering. That’s where it’s super shallow a long ways out.

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Ah, cutting the corner. Guess you wont do that again.

I have always tried to extricate myself from grounding situations, yes plural. Sailed for yrs with a 5ft draft and in the waterway, stuff happens. The more times you do the drill the easier it can be, there are times when dropping the dinghy and setting a kedge prevents further damage to the vessel. There are places where help may be a long ways away, waiting in the Bahamas for a rescue could become quite stressful. Just like MOB drills it's just another skill set that could prove to be really useful someday.

running gear can be everything in grounding situations....its not ALWAYS advised to do anything right away or until you are sure damage is unlikely.

obviously different boats unground more easily than others.

Art said:

10 years means your %age-positive for occurrence potential is getting higher every day aboard!

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Not true. Statistics doesn't work that way. His odds haven't increased for any given day or year.

FoxtrotCharlie said:

Red boat, yellow boat - heck, the insurance is cheap - buy both!

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:lol:
Yes, if you can't remember stuff very well like me.

BandB said:

I think you did absolutely the right thing. That's why you have tow membership and by using a professional you reduced the probable damage and your stress. Yes, you could have done this or that and probably avoided, but for what reason other than pride. One the lake we'd often see boats with problems and ask if they were ok, and so calmly they'd say "fine, just relaxing while we wait for Boat US or Sea Tow." Amazing how much stress and panic was reduced. You'd see boats being towed and those in the boat were happily enjoying it like they were out for a Sunday ride.

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BandB I could not agree more. Big Pass in Sarasota should be renamed prop job pass along with a few other spots in our area. To have the smarts to have towing service and then in those situations to just wait for them is spot on.

BandB said:

Not true. Statistics doesn't work that way. His odds haven't increased for any given day or year.

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Sorry BB - But that's BS! Regarding culmination [see definition at post bottom] chances of anything happening given repeated attempts or chances taken.

If you drive once on the highway the chances are much less [rather than an ongoing period of highway driving] for an accident to eventually occur than if you, lets say, drive for a decade on the highway. Same as with boating and having some unwanted thing [grounding in this case] happening over a long period of repeat use time compared to a one-out time of boat use


If you do take it as a "new life" of driving on highway or going out in boat every single time you do so, and reset the %age-chance clock... then yes... the %age-chance begins all over again, each day. However the %age-chance mounts when you take all days into account. Again - "Culmination"

It is a lifetime of use [not one time of use] to which I apply my statement that %age-chance for a certain type of accident increases.

Happy Culminated/Long-Term %age-Chance Daze - Art


the highest or climactic point of something, especially as attained after a long time





MATH - WHAT DOES PERCENT CHANCE MEAN?

I think the odds do change and not in our favor. Our auto insurance for example, why does it make a jump when we reach a certain age, even though we have have not had an accident, not our fault. The expressed reason is because our reaction time increases and that's with a good set of brakes too.

OldDan1943 said:

I think the odds do change and not in our favor. Our auto insurance for example, why does it make a jump when we reach a certain age, even though we have have not had an accident, not our fault. The expressed reason is because our reaction time increases and that's with a good set of brakes too.

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No, the odds for any given day do not change. The cumulative odds do change. The statement Art made was that the odds for occurrence changed each day. The odds for occurrence on a day don't change, cumulative does.

BandB said:

No, the odds for any given day do not change. The cumulative odds do change. The statement Art made was that the odds for occurrence changed each day. The odds for occurrence on a day don't change, cumulative does.

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Using cumulative base... then your odds today on something repetitively done [day after day] are greater each new day than the odds were yesterday. Again, if you clear the odds %age board each and every day, then the odds do start again at "0" for each separate day.

All this translates to is if you play the lottery play the SAME numbers every time ,

you have a better (still microscopic) chance of winning

I was thinking of this very thread this weekend as I was sitting on the wrong side of a marker aground. Well, my first thought was complete confusion. "How the !@#$% am I aground in the middle of the channel!!" Obviously, I wasn't.

I was coming down the river from my marina. The same river, marina and markers I've travelled at night for many, many trips. The upper portion is all day marks. The red triangle was missing from the piling when heading down river. I heard a small 'gonk', to which I said "What the heck was that". No sooner, the boat silently slowed to a stop and I looked and I was in 2.4 feet of water. (Probably a bit less than 3.4 since the transducer is under water and there is no offset set on the display).

I realize my mistake and, and realize I have 1 more hour of a falling tide.

I quickly moved 400lbs of lead ballast from the bilge up to the bow, plus 2 coolers and the admiral. I launched the dinghy and tried to pull us off, but no luck. One of the folks in my marina passed and offered to tow us off. I then headed for an emegency haul and inspection.

I sanded about 3 feet of paint off of the keel and put a ding about half the size of a pinky finger, fingernail in one blad of the prop. Spun the shaft which remained true and the rudder was fine. After we re-launched, I went slowly through the rpm's up to redline and didn't feel any vibrations. I got LUCKY.

This was on our 22nd anniversary (Friday) and we were headed to Block Island, RI for the first trip of the year. Thankfully I didn't completely ruin our anniversary or our trip.