Define lightly aground:

TomY

Alden Forum Moderator
Jun 22, 2004
2,758
Alden 38' Challenger yawl Rockport Harbor
2E8119BA-3E39-450E-BB87-EDE039606747.jpeg

Lightly aground. Who knows what “ultimate gunk holing” is while anchored inside inner blue hill harbor?
 
May 25, 2012
4,333
john alden caravelle 42 sturgeon bay, wis
Tom, got married on the shore of blue hill harbor 40 years ago. ate lobster at the reception, $3.00 each for big ones back then down on the dock. dad kept aeolus in bucks harbor for 3 seasons. he rented a huge summer house ,on the shore of blue hill, for those 3 years, mom insisted. aeolus has been back on the lakes ever since.

debutants, what can you do :)
 
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Oct 19, 2017
7,733
O'Day 19 Littleton, NH
$3.00 each for big ones back then down on the dock.
My mom got four big lobster in Vinalhave for a dockside haircut. The lobsterman was going to a dance.

This was 1976
How much was a haircut worth back then? Whatever it was, the lobsterman didn't get a deal and it's a good thing there are no mirrors on the docks in Vinalhaven. :doh:

-Will (Dragonfly)
 

TomY

Alden Forum Moderator
Jun 22, 2004
2,758
Alden 38' Challenger yawl Rockport Harbor
My mom got four big lobster in Vinalhave for a dockside haircut. The lobsterman was going to a dance. This was 1976 How much was a haircut worth back then? Whatever it was, the lobsterman didn't get a deal and it's a good thing there are no mirrors on the docks in Vinalhaven. :doh: -Will (Dragonfly)
My mom got four big lobster in Vinalhave for a dockside haircut. The lobsterman was going to a dance.

This was 1976
How much was a haircut worth back then? Whatever it was, the lobsterman didn't get a deal and it's a good thing there are no mirrors on the docks in Vinalhaven. :doh:

-Will (Dragonfly)
Market demand nil, we’ve seen retail $ as low as 5.50 a pound(fishermen getting 1/2). Heaping quarts of blueberries, 7.00
 
Sep 25, 2018
258
Catalina Capri 22 Capri EXPO 14.2 1282 Stony Point
Ran aground entering my marina during a very low tide. Wing keel. I wiggled it back turning the outboard back and forth releasing the keel. In mud. Had to wait for 2 hours to get enough water to get to my dock. Went for another sail while the power guys just sat in the mud. I only draw 2.8 feet.
 
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senang

.
Oct 21, 2009
304
hunter 38 Monaco
Ran aground when running circles waiting for my turn to enter harbour after a regatta. Kept an eye on the new to md charter boat depth meter. It said 16, turned out it was the wind speed. Soft mud, increased rpm and made a 180 turn, came free. That was a soft grounding, but crew did notice it.
 
Sep 8, 2020
48
Merit 22 Honker Bay
I have a lot of experience running aground. My previous boats were fixed keel boats and Suisun bay where I mainly sail has a lot of thin water.

The good thing is that there are no rocks. Mostly soft mud and some sand bars. I always made sure I had food and water to make it more comfortable waiting for higher tide. Can't sleep though. I'd often get listed far enough there was no place level enough to lay down.

A friend ran his Islander 32 aground after max low in the channel leading to the marina. He went to bed to sleep it out and slept through high tide nd woke up aground again.

I drew 4 1/2 feet and figured if I had 5 feet of water I was fine. But sometimes not.
 
Oct 26, 2008
6,045
Catalina 320 Barnegat, NJ
In one season with our new boat, I've had 2 soft groundings and one hard. All 3 were in Oyster Creek channel and luckily it is all forgiving sand. The 2 soft groundings were actually in the channel. I was just a little too far over because boats were anchored in my preferred path … fishing. I gave them an earful both times as I got off on my own. The last time, we were headed bay-bound from an ocean sail (buddy-boating with @Ward H ) and I had passed Ward while in the channel, hurrying along to get home. We were approaching the end of the channel and my eyes were fixated on the Barnegat Inlet fixed marker, which is just beyond the entrance/exit to the channel and right in front of me. I had autopilot on and throttle set for six knots, with current pushing us to 7 SOG when I simply missed those last 2 red markers that mark a sandbar that hooks left. I should have been hooking to port, too! I glided right up on top of the sandbar before I could even react to the throttle & pilot. Sue called on the radio to tell Ward not to follow us!

They waved as they went by. I wasn't having any luck getting off the sand bar, but Tow Boats was right behind us and we got a tow off from the friendly operator soon enough. He was a sailor and we chatted for awhile. He was trying to tell me not to be too embarrassed, but I was. I told him I had been through this location without touching bottom at least 50 times! The draft on Thunderbird is almost 1' shallower than Andante, though!

The wing keel made it difficult to get off on our own because going forward over the shallows was out of the question. I did manage to spin around though, with help from the current, but once pointed in the right direction, I wasn't moving, even though the current made it look like I was.
 
Oct 10, 2019
114
Signet 20 0 Ithaca
Fishing fleet in Alma, NB, Canada on the Bay of Fundy.

They deploy welded stainless tube frames under the bilges while the keel appears to just rest on the mud, though it appears to be pretty firm bottom in the harbor.

Wonder why it's more efficient than running with bilge keels, or bilge feet if you will, but obviously some advantage to this scheme or they wouldn't do it that way...

I have bilge keels on a finger lake, go figure!
IMG_20190820_213922098.jpg
 
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Tom J

.
Sep 30, 2008
2,301
Catalina 310 Quincy, MA
Lightly aground when you attempt to motor up the ICW from Marco Island to Naples, FL during a norther. Naturally, the norther pushes all the water out of the ICW, so you run aground in mud and sand nine times. Fortunately, deploying the genny would heel Andante and get us going again.:banghead: