Define lightly aground:

TomY

Alden Forum Moderator
Jun 22, 2004
2,758
Alden 38' Challenger yawl Rockport Harbor
A2478FDA-8F16-498A-9138-1456282956BF.png


Gentle swaying port to starboard as opposed to hard thumping. I.e. hard aground.
 
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Likes: Captain W
Jan 19, 2010
1,169
Catalina 34 Casco Bay
Easing through a known shallow a barely headway speed and hoping you don't feel that gentle contact like beaching a power boat...Yup, you've stopped...Reverse and back out the way you came in...that's " LIGHTLY AGROUND"
 
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Likes: TomY
Jan 11, 2014
11,323
Sabre 362 113 Fair Haven, NY
Lightly aground: the keel is touching bottom and the mast is still vertical. The boat can be broken free by simply shifting crew weight and heeling the boat.

Once we were sailing in a narrow shipping channel. As we came to the edge of the channel, we tacked and as boat came upright during the tack the keel hit the bottom and the boat stopped. The crew ran to the bow and the boat slid in to deeper water. We were lightly aground.
 
May 25, 2012
4,333
john alden caravelle 42 sturgeon bay, wis
dave, i like that. 'mast is still vertical, can be sailed off the ground'

tom, are there pictures?
 
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DArcy

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Feb 11, 2017
1,691
Islander Freeport 36 Ottawa
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this one not so much
I like that he is still hiking, shows optimism.
It seems I have a tradition of going "lightly aground" the first time I sail a new to me boat. Both times were when I wasn't at the helm, although still completely my fault for not providing sufficient instruction. The last boat was 22 years ago and was a bounce and go under sail. This time we were coasting in neutral and I was on the bow preparing to drop the anchor when I called back for depth and the response was 3.5 feet. oops. It was so slow I hadn't felt the keel touch the sand. A little reverse and we found a more suitable location to drop the hook. This was a lunch stop so I hadn't done the normal survey of the area for swing room.
 

MitchM

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Jan 20, 2005
1,011
Nauticat 321 pilothouse 32 Erie PA
'lightly aground:' hit a sandbar that 'wasn't there last time.' crew went out on boom end in a bosn chair, winds took us off. crew was not pleased, but captn was. crew was rewarded with beer.
 

WayneH

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Jan 22, 2008
1,039
Tartan 37 287 Pensacola, FL
It's full dark with the sunrise about an hour away. Motoring at idle to get to the GICW at the Mermentau River. I'm on the bow with a spotlight trying to find the buoy so we can turn when the helmsperson calls out, "The GPS has gone nuts!" You know the GPS does that if you're not moving. We had missed the channel and gone aground in the ooze so softly that no one knew we were aground until then. Reverse with prop walk, forward with a bit of throttle and we're off. Just another "adventure."
 
Jan 19, 2010
12,362
Hobie 16 & Rhodes 22 Skeeter Charleston
Definitions.... ?
Let’s see:tongue:

a light grounding is what happens on a charter boat and you are able to break free without calling for help:poke:

a hard grounding is any grounding in your own boat that requires repairs or painting :rolleyes:
 
Feb 11, 2017
19
Rosborough 246 Upper Chesapeake
Don't know if this qualifies. If it does its about as light as you can get. Years ago we were tacking the Rhodes 22 up the mouth of the Chester River taking advantage of her shallow draft and sailing in close to shore in a nice breeze. All of a sudden we slowed way down. Looked behind us and saw a trail of mud. Time to come about, my husband said. Pulled the centerboard a bit and we did.
 
Oct 19, 2017
7,733
O'Day 19 Littleton, NH
Once we were sailing in a narrow shipping channel. As we came to the edge of the channel, we tacked and as boat came upright during the tack the keel hit the bottom and the boat stopped. The crew ran to the bow and the boat slid in to deeper water. We were lightly aground.
Sp you think the boat coming upright in the middle of a tack, dropped the keel enough to touch bottom?

I would define "lightly aground" as that grounding condition in which the captain can mitigate the sense of embarrassment by arguing that, "it wasn't that bad", "could have happened to anyone", "we got ourselves off, didn't we?" As opposed to that condition where a call for a tug or other assistance or visible evidence/damages, makes the grounding an obvious problem for the seaman. A hard grounding is that condition that, at least internally, calls into question the skills of the sailor.

I've never experienced a hard grounding :liar:

-Will (Dragonfly)
 
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Dec 31, 2016
319
Beneteau Oceanis 351 Charlottetown
Lightly aground: the keel is touching bottom and the mast is still vertical. The boat can be broken free by simply shifting crew weight and heeling the boat.

Once we were sailing in a narrow shipping channel. As we came to the edge of the channel, we tacked and as boat came upright during the tack the keel hit the bottom and the boat stopped. The crew ran to the bow and the boat slid in to deeper water. We were lightly aground.
Sometimes you can free it by shifting weight and heeling, but not if you have a wing keel. My boat in 2017, parked it on a reef, kedged it out
 

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Feb 6, 1998
11,667
Canadian Sailcraft 36T Casco Bay, ME
This happened last night, in Falmouth, Maine, to my friend Michelle's boat. The name says it all. This is how she landed, on a shore strewn with solid granite. She was found perched this way this morning after her mooring pendant wrapped the mooring chain and chafed through. They popped some stands under her and they now have the airbags inflated to float her off when the time comes in. While she does have some damage from sailing through the mooring field unattended, she should live to sail again.