A friend of mine who had made the ICW trips dozens of times as a delivery skipper said to me, “Roger, if you get all the way to Florida without running aground, I’ll know you are a liar.” Well, I would really like to be a liar so I have risen to the challenge and paid especially close attention to my navigation. I made it through another state without the keel touching it but, damn it, I thought I could get more than .3 miles into Georgia without breaking my streak.
There were extenuating circumstances though. I had just entered the Elba Island Cut off the Savanna River and crossed the border into Georgia when I saw a very large vessel, for this waterway, coming the other way with a Coast Guard escort vessel in front. Normally, I would have done a “U” turn back into the main channel but a catamaran which had been exhibiting some somewhat tentative and uncertain behavior was right behind me and Lee and Lynn close behind him. Trying to get this whole parade turned around in a narrow channel seemed more hazardous than carrying on. Besides, I could clearly get my 4’-3” draft into water that the behemoth coming towards me could never reach.
I moved over out of the channel line, slightly to starboard of the next red marker watching the depth sounder closely. I slowed and got down to eight feet trying to feel my way along the contour of that depth. The Coast Guard boat accelerated ahead however, and clearly established by “hull language” that there was no way I was going to pass between them and their charge. I was aiming for a very close port to port passing with the boys (and girls) in blue when the numbers on the depth sounder suddenly went 8,7,6, the depth alarm went off, 5, 4, and I felt the drag of that feeling I haven’t felt for thousands of miles now.
The boat didn’t stop. I put on power and plowed about a 6 inch deep furrow in the mud of Georgia as I turned back towards the channel. The Coast Guard, seeing the boat hesitate and trim slightly by the head, realized that I had gone the extra mile and more in making room for what turned out to be a Casino Boat, and moved out into the channel enough to let me get back into five and six feet of water.
I was a bit surprised because I was moving away from the end of Elba Island and the water should have been getting deeper but it must have been one of those humps. After all, I had moved out of the channel. I squeezed past the USCG boat and moved back into the edge of the channel where there was plenty of room to pass the Casino boat. Oddly enough, this whole thing took place without any Security or other calls on the radio.
Does this count? Well, I can no longer say that the keel hasn’t touched. However, I would never have been that far over if the Coast Guard (who aren’t seamen, after all) hadn’t moved into a position to block me from following the channel contour. If not for their aggressive maneuver towards me, I would have just hugged the edge of the channel instead of trying to get entirely out of it.
I think I will modify my definition of running around. Keel contact was a pretty high standard which I am proud to have upheld for well over 3000 miles. Henceforth, “Running Aground” will mean having forward progress interrupted and only re-established by the intervention of TowboatUS, SeaTow, laying out anchors, or waiting for a rising tide. My boat never stopped, just slowed slightly. As far as I am concerned, I am still a liar.
There were extenuating circumstances though. I had just entered the Elba Island Cut off the Savanna River and crossed the border into Georgia when I saw a very large vessel, for this waterway, coming the other way with a Coast Guard escort vessel in front. Normally, I would have done a “U” turn back into the main channel but a catamaran which had been exhibiting some somewhat tentative and uncertain behavior was right behind me and Lee and Lynn close behind him. Trying to get this whole parade turned around in a narrow channel seemed more hazardous than carrying on. Besides, I could clearly get my 4’-3” draft into water that the behemoth coming towards me could never reach.
I moved over out of the channel line, slightly to starboard of the next red marker watching the depth sounder closely. I slowed and got down to eight feet trying to feel my way along the contour of that depth. The Coast Guard boat accelerated ahead however, and clearly established by “hull language” that there was no way I was going to pass between them and their charge. I was aiming for a very close port to port passing with the boys (and girls) in blue when the numbers on the depth sounder suddenly went 8,7,6, the depth alarm went off, 5, 4, and I felt the drag of that feeling I haven’t felt for thousands of miles now.
The boat didn’t stop. I put on power and plowed about a 6 inch deep furrow in the mud of Georgia as I turned back towards the channel. The Coast Guard, seeing the boat hesitate and trim slightly by the head, realized that I had gone the extra mile and more in making room for what turned out to be a Casino Boat, and moved out into the channel enough to let me get back into five and six feet of water.
I was a bit surprised because I was moving away from the end of Elba Island and the water should have been getting deeper but it must have been one of those humps. After all, I had moved out of the channel. I squeezed past the USCG boat and moved back into the edge of the channel where there was plenty of room to pass the Casino boat. Oddly enough, this whole thing took place without any Security or other calls on the radio.
Does this count? Well, I can no longer say that the keel hasn’t touched. However, I would never have been that far over if the Coast Guard (who aren’t seamen, after all) hadn’t moved into a position to block me from following the channel contour. If not for their aggressive maneuver towards me, I would have just hugged the edge of the channel instead of trying to get entirely out of it.
I think I will modify my definition of running around. Keel contact was a pretty high standard which I am proud to have upheld for well over 3000 miles. Henceforth, “Running Aground” will mean having forward progress interrupted and only re-established by the intervention of TowboatUS, SeaTow, laying out anchors, or waiting for a rising tide. My boat never stopped, just slowed slightly. As far as I am concerned, I am still a liar.
