Happens to be the best of us.

[Don s/v Tellico]

Coal freighter aground in the Ches Bay. Hard to imagine how you could gound a ship in that channel as deep as it is and well marked, etc. But as they say, there are only 2 types of boaters...those who have run aground and those who haven't done it yet.

 

[Bill Ogilvie]

I'm of the first category

Another version of that goes: Those who run aground and say they do and those who run aground but don't talk about it. I ran aground on Sunday in the main fairway of my marina. I used the tide table published in the local paper, not realizing it was just fiction. The paper said low tide would be 5:03 PM. Assuming that was SF Gate, I added 1:42, making low tide at my marina to be 6:45. When I arrived an hour after that my boat stopped about 40 feet from my berth. The partyers off my port side told me the tide book said the low tide was really at 5:44; so I was just after it. I contacted the paper and was told their tide tables were for Ocean Beach. On checking the Ocean Beach tides on the NOAA website, I found they didn't agree either. So, if you run aground, blame the local newspaper.

 

[Liam]

Newspapers

Believeing just about anything in a newspaper is a mistake.I have worked in the print publishing industry for a many years.The acuracy rate is extremely low.Most articles that are not taken from national wire service stories are written by minimum wage interns and editors very seldom proof what those interns are writing.Anyone who thinks that newspapers are anything more than "entertainment" will frequently be mislead or misinformed.

 

[Brian D]

While at Long Beach...

Last Saturday (3/3), the wife and I were having lunch and we could see the Queen Mary. Directly in line between the QM and me was a sailboat about 1/2 mile away. It wasn't moving. Its mainsail was up, but it just wasn't moving. We had determined that the boat went aground.When I got home, I looked at the charts of Long Beach next to the QM. The water depth was about 4 feet. I just had to laugh.

 

[Brian D]

Caguy...

I noticed that the channel wasn't very well marked. But there were a lot of boats going in and out of that channel without problems. As for me, I haven't gone around yet with my current boat. If I did I would not hesitate to mention it. I mean, if I mentioned (and I have) falling off the docks then saying I've gone aground should not be a big deal. but I know that I will one day. Just waiting for it to happen.

 

[Cactus Jack]

Sheesh!

The wife and I owned a Catalina 22 in the mid-seventies, and had our share of groundings. It was such a light boat, we usually could just sail off after raising the board, or hop off the boat and push away. Two years ago, we bought a used Catalina 25. We were powering away from the dock where the previous owner had kept her, and hadn't gotten even a half mile when we ran aground! This was with the board all the way up, and being a considerably heavier boat, she was a little harder to get free.There, I've confessed it.

 

[caguy]

What is a good alarm depth for the sounder?

I have my sounder set for 20' that was the default it came with. Much of the harbor is 18 to 20 and the alarm is always going off such that I tune it out. What is a good depth to set the alarm at for a Mac25 so that you will have enough time to react?I also am concerned that the old transponder was mounted through hull just in front of the keel. My new sounder is mounted on the bottom of the transom.

 

[Ross]

The bottom shoals gently here so I set mine

for six feet. I need about four and a half. I get some false alarms from rafts of grass and other vegatation but those are transient. They are really funny when we are at anchor and the rafts drift past the depth sounder.

 

[Shippy]

Draft plus 2 ft

For me, I like the draft of teh boat plus 2 ft. On my last boat that equated toi an alarm setting of 6 ft, on the new boat that equal 7 ft.

 

[tom]

Running Aground is Easy to Do

On the gulf coast there is a lot of thin water. The good news is that the bottom is usually mud or sand. I'd be a lot more careful if I sailed where the bottom was harder. The depth alarm setting depends upon your home waters. We sailed in a mountain lake where we set it at 50'. There were places in that lake where the bottom was vertical..well at least for a 200'. We literally could be reading over 100' with the bow touching shore. But in Mobile bay the average depth is about 12' a couple of miles from shore and 12' deep. Getting in and out of Dog River there are areas of 6-8' which is OK but the 4' bumps can get you. 8' alarm depth for Mobile Bay. Out in the Gulf 30' is a good depth for the alarm that way you know if you are getting a little too close.  I usually run aground while trying to get into a smaller anchorage. Ingram's Bayou is a great anchorage but it is shallow around the opening into the bayou. Weeks Bay is deep on the inside but has a broad shallow entrance. I need 4.5' and the entrance to Weeks Runs at about 4' at low tide.

 

[tcbro]

Chesapeake especially low

The strong NW winds over the past 2 weeks have blown a lot of water out of the bay. This makes the low tides considerably lower than normal. I'm sure this contributed to the issue with the coal freighter. A freinds Bayfield 36 was sitting in the mud balancing on her dock lines last week.Toms/v Orions Child

 

[Benny]

What caught my eye.

The first line indicating the the USCG working hard to free the vessel. Just imagine it is your boat that ran aground, they would not assit you unless there was a danger of loss of life or limb. What sets a commercial freighter apart. A blocked channel can be cleared by a commercial salvage company at the owners expense. Is this reporter so missinformed to print news like these or I'm I missing something?

 

[Ross]

The water levels on the bay are normal now

but that bulk carrier was off course when it went aground. They have off loaded some of the cargo and refloated the ship. Divers must now inspect the vessel.

 

[RAD]

Very common

On the Great South Bay after a northerly blow to find all the water in the canals at low low conditions and boats are sitting on there keels at low tide,a couple years back it was low most of the winter and into spring and I was thinking what if it don't come back then what