I ended up in the mud!

Since this thread is also about two boats. I'll add another. I hailed Boat US (Technically I hailed Vessel Assist, which I thought was what Boat US named their towing division), who never responded. Seatow responded and told me to try channel 8 rather than 16. I called 'vessel assist' on 8. No answer. Seatow responded saying "I don't know why he's not answering, I just spoke with him". Seatow gave me the tow operators phone number directly. I called him on his phone. He then said "Where are you from, because Vessel Assist is a West Coast thing". OK, so now I'm starting to wonder. Seatow knew what I meant. This guy could hear me and know what I meant, but was playing a semantics game with me. "BOAT US" tells me he can't get there for 45 - 60 minutes.

Along comes my friend 5 minutes later and offers to tug me off. I accept and within a minute, I'm free. I call "Boat US" to advise that I'm off. I then get a very condescending lecture over VHF. He then tells me he's only 2 minutes away from me. (Information which would have been helpful since 5-10 minutes early he was 45 - 60 minutes out. He tells me I need to stop and sign paperwork. I agree.

I stop, he pulls up and I sign. He then berates me for the next 5 minutes about how he's been sitting out there for 4 days with no calls. IT's not fair that he had to call another guy in to cover multiple calls at the same time and I wasted his time, blah, blah, blah.

I've been a BOAT US customer for 11 years. I'm considering whether to I should switch to yellow.

"I quickly moved 400 lbs of lead ballast from the bilge up to the bow"

Man that's impressive. I'm off to the gym.

hmason said:

"I quickly moved 400 lbs of lead ballast from the bilge up to the bow"

Man that's impressive. I'm off to the gym.

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Depending on how sharp of a grade the shoals are... it just may be the bow that grounded most solidly. Best to take a sounding with long pole like a boat hook or so, before figuring where to move weight to alter the canter of boat in water for possiably backing out or getting towed out. Potential of placing 400 ++ lbs. in wrong end = lots o' work for negative benefit! Just sayen...

Art said:

Depending on how sharp of a grade the shoals are... it just may be the bow that grounded most solidly. Best to take a sounding with long pole like a boat hook or so, before figuring where to move weight to alter the canter of boat in water for possiably backing out or getting towed out. Potential of placing 400 ++ lbs. in wrong end = lots o' work for negative benefit! Just sayen...

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The keel at the stern is the deepest and I could see that my bow was moving from side to side, so I knew it was the stern that was hung, not the bow.

After hauling for inspection, I confirmed the only sanded paint was the sternmost 3 feet of the keel.

Just for general consumption and not an aground posted.....

Often the easiest method iis to check your waterline to see which end is stuck....sometimes easier from another vessel than from onboard...but usually you can tell...

Sounds easy but often the skipper is rattled enough by being aground that small things get overlooked.

psneeld said:

Just for general consumption and not an aground posted.....

Often the easiest method iis to check your waterline to see which end is stuck....sometimes easier from another vessel than from onboard...but usually you can tell...

Sounds easy but often the skipper is rattled enough by being aground that small things get overlooked.

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Task #1 is to Assess the situation. Now, if you're in a dangerous position, you move fast. However, most of the time you have the opportunity to study things carefully. Launching the dinghy does two things for you. It allows you to check all around and it reduces weight. Don't make things worse than they already are.

In places where the tidal range is 4 or more feet and falling in the middle 3 hours of the tide......generally you dont have but about 20 minutes till no matter what you do...you are waiting for the returning tide.

Even calling assistance towers unless less than 20 minutes away, is pretty iffy to get you off.

Once a tower spends more than about 15 minutes pulling, they better be really using prop wash to dig you out. Pulling often just builds a sand bar between you and deeper water.

I have seen less experienced captains build a bar that just lengthens the time you are aground.

Shrew said:

The keel at the stern is the deepest and I could see that my bow was moving from side to side, so I knew it was the stern that was hung, not the bow.

After hauling for inspection, I confirmed the only sanded paint was the sternmost 3 feet of the keel.

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I see you had it handled! My post was just suggestion.

Remember, when entering a private channel, the buoys are reversed. On the initial approach into a private channel, coast and hunt for the channel banks. Once you find them, in relationship to the nav aids, you should be able to more forward with confidence.

I end up scratching my head when on the ICW and cross or have a navigable river cross (on the way to the ocean) or join into the ICW channel. There is, for me, more than a moment of confusion. I just go slow and keep an eye on the ICW nav/buoys and charts. If you are very lucky, you can follow a boat through. LOL

Every private channel I can remember in the US is red right returning when entering marinas or private lagoons.


Some non USCG marked channels not leading to marinas but waterways where the direction away from the ocean may be debateble, could seem to be marked opposite.


Where channels cross the ICW, it's the yellow marks on ATON that become primary to staying on the ICW.

psneeld said:

For new guys.....make sure you call the right towing service, calling the wrong one can be expensive. (Both names used in OP)

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WOW Good eye. I had to read it twice - thought I was experiencing early senility. LOL

Todd

Todd2 said:

WOW Good eye. I had to read it twice - thought I was experiencing early senility. LOL

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That's a mistake you don't make twice. I avoid this by calling the number on the card in my wallet, the one that has an active membership date on it.

Parked ours last week in the mud at full speed trying out a new to us route.
Surprised us obviously as we were inside the channel and in an apparently recently dredged to -2.5 LAT area.
Rising tide so not a drama and we dug a new channel out in reverse, launched the tender, ran around and sounded out the area and decided to abort that route, backtrack several miles and go down a known passage.

Simi 60 said:

Parked ours last week in the mud at full speed trying out a new to us route.
Surprised us obviously as we were inside the channel and in an apparently recently dredged to -2.5 LAT area.
Rising tide so not a drama and we dug a new channel out in reverse, launched the tender, ran around and sounded out the area and decided to abort that route, backtrack several miles and go down a known passage.

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"Parked ours last week in the mud at full speed" Full Speed??? Really?

My first year I was aground only a couple of times in the ICW. BoatUS saved me. I just called them on my cell, that way no added confusion.

I almost went aground in the middle of Magdalena Bay (larger than San Francisco Bay). And there was no one around.
I was at the edge of my nav charts since we were looking for a place to anchor to wait out 40+ knot winds. by going really slowly, well as slow as we can go with headway, 4 kts, I was able to back out.

I wrote a bit about it here, but it was over shadowed by the disaster with the dingy.
http://dauntlessatsea.com/2018/07/14/the-dingy-fiasco-part-2/

Art said:

"Parked ours last week in the mud at full speed" Full Speed??? Really?

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Our usual cruise speed of 7.5 to 8 knots.

Simi 60 said:

Our usual cruise speed of 7.5 to 8 knots.

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Yea...but!! 7.5 to 8 knts is really moving for the hvy lbs of your craft to "hit" ground. Must have been soft stuff. Didn't depth finder warn ya; shoal cliff appear suddenly? Glad it all came out OK!

Art said:

Yea...but!! 7.5 to 8 knts is really moving for the hvy lbs of your craft to "hit" ground. Must have been soft stuff. Didn't depth finder warn ya; shoal cliff appear suddenly? Glad it all came out OK!

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We were doing 6 knots just clicked into gear at around 800rpm, fair bit of current.
Trying to get some temp in the oil had us up to 1050 rpm

Yeah, mud was soft and we were churning up plenty.
Like I said, in a channel that had supposedly been dredged in Jan 2019
Had 4ft under the keel, 3ft alarm went off and I knocked her out of gear but by then we were stopped.

Well protected prop paid for itself.


https://mobile.dredgingtoday.com/2019/01/03/canaipa-passage-dredging-project-wrapped-up/

Simi 60 said:

We were doing 6 knots just clicked into gear at around 800rpm, fair bit of current.
Trying to get some temp in the oil had us up to 1050 rpm

Yeah, mud was soft and we were churning up plenty.
Like I said, in a channel that had supposedly been dredged in Jan 2019
Had 4ft under the keel, 3ft alarm went off and I knocked her out of gear but by then we were stopped.

Well protected prop paid for itself.


https://mobile.dredgingtoday.com/2019/01/03/canaipa-passage-dredging-project-wrapped-up/

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Thus... the nemesis [that really makes me pay attention (and that bothers me - to an extent] regarding twins on our boat... i.e. props are loose as a goose for any type grounding that might/could occur. Danger, Danger Will Robinson!

So... While cruising at just below hull speed [7knots +/-]... for economy purposes and to enjoy scenery from the bridge: I keep 5' under keel [tiny keel between two naked props - lol] as alarm on DF. When that goes off [meaning 8' actual water depth] I immediately throttle back to idle and pay very close attention. If it gets down to 3' under keel I feel it's time to virtually hold in place and figure which way to go/what to do.

When cruising on full plane [16 to 17 knots] I put alarm at 10' under keel. Meaning 13' actual water depth. When that goes off I immediately throttle back to hull speed or below and watch the DF closely.

I've captained protected prop single screw full keel boats and twins with naked props. With twins a whole different amount of a-hole pucker when grounding is at all considered possibility. With twins I'm paranoid and careful as all get out. With full keel single... careful still, but with not quite as much a-hole pucker paranoia!

Old post! I’ve learned a lot since getting stuck that first time. Been stuck two more times now in my current boat, both while trying to anchor. Once was my fault, the other was the chart was wrong by a lot. My depth finder has been unreliable and I didn’t believe it. I’ve always been told do not reverse, that’s when damage is done. So I just call boat us and I was yanked out in 30 minutes. And both times were by the same dude within 2 months....that was embarrassing.

I did learn that red and yellow tow boats are very different, so I’ve been careful to call the right one.

Highest priority in selecting my boat: keel-protected propeller and rudder.

Steve91T said:

Old post! I’ve learned a lot since getting stuck that first time. Been stuck two more times now in my current boat, both while trying to anchor. Once was my fault, the other was the chart was wrong by a lot. My depth finder has been unreliable and I didn’t believe it. I’ve always been told do not reverse, that’s when damage is done. So I just call boat us and I was yanked out in 30 minutes. And both times were by the same dude within 2 months....that was embarrassing.

I did learn that red and yellow tow boats are very different, so I’ve been careful to call the right one.

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Wifey B: On the lake you boat on and we use to boat on, I was talking one day to the tow captain and he had been called to the same boat three times on one day. Once was fuel and the gauges did have an issue. Other two times were soft groundings, once while running at speed, the other time while anchored and swimming and anchor didn't hold and it drifted. He said the family was very appreciative and tipped well and really nice people, just having a tough day, but they were still in a good mood and joking the third time was that they hadn't seen him in a while and missed him. They turned into seasoned boaters and never needed him again.