I'm interested in your opinions/experiences on how to get out of goundings, before calling a towing company. I have read that some people pass the main halyard to another boat to be towed, does that mean that the tow boat will tilt the sailboat so the keel comes off the bottom? Thanks in advance
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JPF
Un-grounding..
Exactamundo... Another boat pulling on the halyard heels the boat and raises the keel of the mud. Be careful who does this for you. Easy does it! I have gotten of the mud by having the crew lean out while hanging onto the stays. I once sat on the end of the boom, and swung it out to get more leverage. The end of the boom was supported by the main halyard and I was tethered to the halyard by a short line for safety. Not the safest practice, but it worked.
Exactamundo... Another boat pulling on the halyard heels the boat and raises the keel of the mud. Be careful who does this for you. Easy does it! I have gotten of the mud by having the crew lean out while hanging onto the stays. I once sat on the end of the boom, and swung it out to get more leverage. The end of the boom was supported by the main halyard and I was tethered to the halyard by a short line for safety. Not the safest practice, but it worked.
Kedging
Ozana: This is a procedure that is know as Kedging. Traditionally it is done by taking your dingy into deeper water with the halyard and the anchor. You would tie your anchor line to the halyard and crank on the winch to release your keel from the bottom. There is no reason why you could not attach your halyard to a line and attach it to another boat. The obvious will occur if you are not very careful by using a boats engine to move your boat off of a shoal.
Ozana: This is a procedure that is know as Kedging. Traditionally it is done by taking your dingy into deeper water with the halyard and the anchor. You would tie your anchor line to the halyard and crank on the winch to release your keel from the bottom. There is no reason why you could not attach your halyard to a line and attach it to another boat. The obvious will occur if you are not very careful by using a boats engine to move your boat off of a shoal.
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Allen Schweitzer
Lots of options...
I recently went aground in soft mud & had to wait to float off at high tide, but there are a number of different ways, here are a few: 1. Have a boat pull on your halyard to tilt the boat & reduce draft; 2. Take an anchor in a dinghy as far off as your rode will allow & use the winches to pull yourself off; 3. Use the motor; 4. Use the sails to heel the boat & reduce draft (careful you don't sail your boat further ashore!) 5. Call a tow company. Anyone want to add one?
I recently went aground in soft mud & had to wait to float off at high tide, but there are a number of different ways, here are a few: 1. Have a boat pull on your halyard to tilt the boat & reduce draft; 2. Take an anchor in a dinghy as far off as your rode will allow & use the winches to pull yourself off; 3. Use the motor; 4. Use the sails to heel the boat & reduce draft (careful you don't sail your boat further ashore!) 5. Call a tow company. Anyone want to add one?
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Bill
If you are close to shore .................
when you run aground (you can do that here in the NW)I guess you could wrap your anchor line around a tree (alligator for you Florida folks) and then hook your halyard to it and start winching, your keel would hopefully point towards deeper water when you heel over. The trick would be paying out the line to maintain the heel at the same time you motor in reverse. We used a tree and winch to get jeeps unstuck a lot and jeeps do get stuck.
when you run aground (you can do that here in the NW)I guess you could wrap your anchor line around a tree (alligator for you Florida folks) and then hook your halyard to it and start winching, your keel would hopefully point towards deeper water when you heel over. The trick would be paying out the line to maintain the heel at the same time you motor in reverse. We used a tree and winch to get jeeps unstuck a lot and jeeps do get stuck.
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Roland
If you have a wing keel...
do not try heeling. You risk breaking your keel from the hull. I have seen this done. Waiting it out with a wing keel is also risky. If the water goes out and the boat lays over you also risk breaking the keel. Another strategy for most boats is to get everyone on the bow. This should raise the stern thereby raising the aft end of the keel - generally the deepest part. If you can't get off ground easily and safely and the tide is going out and you have the time, as long as you are not on rocks, this is the perfect time to do some bottom cleaning. At least one side. Remember, there are only 3 kinds of sailors: those who are aground, those who are about to go aground, and those who never leave the dock. However, I wouldn't classify the last type as sailors, only boat owners. -Roland s/v Fraulein II
do not try heeling. You risk breaking your keel from the hull. I have seen this done. Waiting it out with a wing keel is also risky. If the water goes out and the boat lays over you also risk breaking the keel. Another strategy for most boats is to get everyone on the bow. This should raise the stern thereby raising the aft end of the keel - generally the deepest part. If you can't get off ground easily and safely and the tide is going out and you have the time, as long as you are not on rocks, this is the perfect time to do some bottom cleaning. At least one side. Remember, there are only 3 kinds of sailors: those who are aground, those who are about to go aground, and those who never leave the dock. However, I wouldn't classify the last type as sailors, only boat owners. -Roland s/v Fraulein II
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David
Aground
Good suggestions Allen. Also, depending on the situation you can wait for the tide to rise. BTW, to kedge means to use an anchor line not a halyard.
Good suggestions Allen. Also, depending on the situation you can wait for the tide to rise. BTW, to kedge means to use an anchor line not a halyard.
Actually an ignorant Power Boater works too.
Actually we have had some ignorant Power Boater go blasting by us when we were aground. Anticipating that they were going to throw up a 3+ ft. wake, we started the engine and turned the wheel hard over. When their wake lifted us we were free again. We wanted to thank them but they flew by us too fast!
Actually we have had some ignorant Power Boater go blasting by us when we were aground. Anticipating that they were going to throw up a 3+ ft. wake, we started the engine and turned the wheel hard over. When their wake lifted us we were free again. We wanted to thank them but they flew by us too fast!
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Tom
Raise the centerboard!
One of the benefits of a trailerable, water ballasted, center board boat is you have "adjustable draft". I've also pumped out ballast to float the boat higher to get on the trailer at a shallow ramp. Fair winds, Tom
One of the benefits of a trailerable, water ballasted, center board boat is you have "adjustable draft". I've also pumped out ballast to float the boat higher to get on the trailer at a shallow ramp. Fair winds, Tom
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Geof Tillotson
Way back when
You would start by lightening the boat, first off, everyone unnessecary to getting it off the bottom overboard into the boats or onto shore, then the cannonballs and other heavy objects, followed by the cannons, and if you were really stuck you might start your water over the side. Finishing up with your ballast. All the time kedging (warping) off as best as possible. If this didn't work, sometimes you just waited for the next moon tide. Then, with the advent of steam, many things changed. Geof s/v Day-O
You would start by lightening the boat, first off, everyone unnessecary to getting it off the bottom overboard into the boats or onto shore, then the cannonballs and other heavy objects, followed by the cannons, and if you were really stuck you might start your water over the side. Finishing up with your ballast. All the time kedging (warping) off as best as possible. If this didn't work, sometimes you just waited for the next moon tide. Then, with the advent of steam, many things changed. Geof s/v Day-O
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Doug Rodrigues
I'm in love.......
Geeze, after reading all these comments, I think I'm falling in love with my swing keel!!
Geeze, after reading all these comments, I think I'm falling in love with my swing keel!!
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Bill
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RANDY PRICE
BEEN GROUNDED ALOT
DEPENDS ON THE SIZE OF THE BOAT AND TYPE OF GROUNDING. MY CATALINA 27 I COULD HANG OFF THE BOOM AND SWING IT OUT TO THE SIDE. ON A BENETUE 38 WE DID THE HALYARD TRICK. ON MY HUNTER 336 I HAVE TURNED BROADSIDE TO THE WIND UNDER FULL SAIL AND LEANED ENOUGH TO MOTOR OUT. I HAVE ALSO HAD TO USE PLAN B- TAKE A NAP AND WAIT FOR THE TIDE.
DEPENDS ON THE SIZE OF THE BOAT AND TYPE OF GROUNDING. MY CATALINA 27 I COULD HANG OFF THE BOOM AND SWING IT OUT TO THE SIDE. ON A BENETUE 38 WE DID THE HALYARD TRICK. ON MY HUNTER 336 I HAVE TURNED BROADSIDE TO THE WIND UNDER FULL SAIL AND LEANED ENOUGH TO MOTOR OUT. I HAVE ALSO HAD TO USE PLAN B- TAKE A NAP AND WAIT FOR THE TIDE.
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Peter Brennan
Arrange it so
you only go aground on a rising tide. Failing that, have a swing keel. Oure first boat (Dawson 26) had a swing keel and we often ran aground. Just crank it up. However, the experiences made us rabid and careful chartists so that our present boat seldom runs aground. Then we are thankful for the gimballed stove on which to set our drinks as we wait for the tide to come back.
you only go aground on a rising tide. Failing that, have a swing keel. Oure first boat (Dawson 26) had a swing keel and we often ran aground. Just crank it up. However, the experiences made us rabid and careful chartists so that our present boat seldom runs aground. Then we are thankful for the gimballed stove on which to set our drinks as we wait for the tide to come back.
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Garry
Centerboard Groundings
I just thought I'd send along my remembrance of a friend's grounding in the Gulf south of Talahassee. The boat grounded with the board down. It immediately swung up into the wind, spilled the wind and came vertical bending the board. To get off my friend winched the bent board up into the trunk where it could not be lowered without yarding the boat and prying the board out. It was too damaged to keep so he had to make another centerboard and install it. A grounding in a centerboarder may do more damage than in a fin keeler.
I just thought I'd send along my remembrance of a friend's grounding in the Gulf south of Talahassee. The boat grounded with the board down. It immediately swung up into the wind, spilled the wind and came vertical bending the board. To get off my friend winched the bent board up into the trunk where it could not be lowered without yarding the boat and prying the board out. It was too damaged to keep so he had to make another centerboard and install it. A grounding in a centerboarder may do more damage than in a fin keeler.
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