Beached boat on oak island

[rgranger]

So my family is doing Christmas on oak island and this morning I wake up to see a large mast on the beach. Naturally I had to go see…

I go talk with the guy. He tells me he lost his main.

The tide was coming in so I ask if he wants me to help him set a kedge. He asks me “what’s a kedge”. I explain. He tells me that had to cut his anchor line because “it was too rough to work on” and he decided it was time to head into shore. He then tells me that “I spent from 4:00Am to 6:00AM pulling her as high as I could on the beach”. “ now I just have to wait for high tide”. This is a 30’ boat with an inboard diesel…

there were too many unanswered questions so I offered him a coffee and the use of our head and walked on. I said if he wanted help pushing off at high tide, let me know.

 

[Sailm8]

Sounds fishy stolen boat?

 

[BigEasy]

Definitely unusual. What’s the tidal height, at high tide, there? Would guess that The draft on that boat is 4 to 5 ft.

 

[rgranger]

The sails were rotten, The chain plates gapped and covers in silicone…. This was not a well cared for boat. If you are going to steal a boat…
Why was he sailing at night in a fog? In a boat with no electronics and possibly a motor that did not work.
Why cut your own anchor line?

And what is going to be better once the tide comes in. BTW: high tide is 3:00pm so he will have at best, 2 hours to get to a harbor… if we can get him off the beach…and if the info be shared is correct, he would be running on jib alone.

 

[rgranger]

Definitely unusual. What’s the tidal height, at high tide, there? Would guess that The draft on that boat is 4 to 5 ft.

Yup. Tide chart shows next high at 4.5’. And the guy spent two hours dragging it up as high as he could

 

[BigEasy]

Yup. Tide chart shows next high at 4.5’. And the guy spent two hours dragging it up as high as he could

Please keep us posted on the outcome; going to be interesting when the tide comes in. I doubt if this guy is going to be able to refloat the boat without lots of help! From the sound of it, I doubt if he has a Sea Tow membership.

 

[Calif. Ted]

Careful, it took a chain of poor decisions to get him there and the chain seems likely to continue for his recovery efforts, stay back and keep your fingers and toes clear. Some people just can't be helped.

 

[shemandr]

He would be safer on the beach.
We've had these situations In New Suffolk Harbor due to storms. Once that boat is on the beach for a while and the keel sinks in the sand, the solution is a chain saw, a bobcat and a dumpster.
Some local guys pulled one off the beach and re-moored it. It sank within 24 hours.

 

[PaulK]

No thief is going to spend hours on a beached stolen boat, trying to get it higher up out of the water. Maybe he figured that by going up to the top of the island he'd be able to slide down into the water on the other side. Looks like getting off is going to triple his $500 cost-per-outing. He's going to have to go out sailing a lot more times to get back to where he started on that score.

 

[Will Gilmore]

The sails were rotten, The chain plates gapped and covers in silicone…. This was not a well cared for boat. If you are going to steal a boat…
Why was he sailing at night in a fog? In a boat with no electronics and possibly a motor that did not work.
Why cut your own anchor line?

He's not a thief. He lost his anchor and ran aground in the fog because he doesn't know what he's doing and is too embarrassed to admit it. So, he basically is acting like he had a reason to do what he did.

-Will

 

[Ralph Johnstone]

He would be safer on the beach.

............................................ permanently .

 

[rgranger]

So l learned more. His gooseneck failed. At some point he lost all of his anchor chain (?????). And this is me filling in the blanks… after he panicked and the adrenaline wore off he made a series of wrong decisions and decided to head for shore.
High tide was at 1600 today. A large crowd was present. About 8 beefy guys got it turned around and were on a bow line pulling. While the owner sat in the cockpit and wiggled the tiller. At some point, someone with a clew (clue)took the main halyard to port and laid the boat sown on its side. They made some progress before the tide started to work against them. Tow boat US showed up at 3:30 and finished it off
.

 

[dlochner]

At some point he lost all of his anchor chain (?????).

If you have an all chain rode and if the bitter end is not well secured, it takes less than a minute for 150' of chain to fall from the chain locker to the bottom. Even if the bitter end is secured, once the chain is down trying to get it back up without a good windlass is a challenge, even with a windlass it may not be easy depending on how much pressure is on the chain.

As Capt. Ron once said, "if its going to happen, its going to happen out there." Looks like it did.

 

[BigEasy]

All's well that ends well!
Guess that the local law enforcement / beach patrol called Sea Tow to get the boat removed.
That's going to be some "sea story" one day after a few drinks for embellishment!

 

[shemandr]

"My friends the Sea was angry that day ..."

 

[rgranger]

Here are a few more pics

 

[Will Gilmore]

"My friends the Sea was angry that day ..."

You remember what happened to Kris Kristofferson when he fell from grace with the Sea?

Don't make the Sea angry .

-Will

 

[justsomeguy]

Here are a few more pics

They must have gotten the boom sorted out while beached. Good ending.

 

[rgranger]

They must have gotten the boom sorted out while beached. Good ending.

Yes
He Jerry rigged something

 

[shemandr]

You remember what happened to Kris Kristofferson when he fell from grace with the Sea?

I don't. But I remember what he did before. You're life, you're choice. I'm OK with his.