Run aground procedure

[dscribner]

Last year we ran aground. My son couldn't get the anchor to set and the motor picked that time to hiccup. Of all the luck! Fortunately we have a shoal keel so a few minutes of back breaking work, and we were out of the gravel and back into the harbor, the long, narrrow harbor. We found a place futher in, set the anchor in mud and had a great night's stay.

My question is this: Could I have just tied a line to the halyard, jumped on shore and leaned into it? That would heel the boat, raise the keel and float her free . . . I think. I can't see why 180 lbs pulling on the top of the mast could compromise anything.

Second time out, we moored on Sebago Lake. It was quite windy with lots of chop. In the morning, we left the camp to take her out only to find the mooring gone. The shackel had unscrewed and set her adrift. Fortunately, she hit the beach, just around the corner and dug into about 8 inches of sand. I think this would have worked here too.

 

[MrBee]

I have heard of people using their Halyard and pulling from the top of the mast with a dingy so I would think it would take the pull.

 

[DougM]

If you're not hard aground, its possible to swing out on the boom. That should give you a reasonable lever arm. (Assuming your boom is 10 feet long, and you are 180 puunds. If you are at the end of the boom and swung out perpendicular to the mast, you would hypothetically be providing 1800 foot pounds of torque) That could heel the boat enough to get it off the bottom.

Your idea of using the halyard would work too if you could get far enough away form the boat to begin to heel it.

It seems inevitible that one will go aground somewhere sooner or later.

Another means is to take the anchor line out on a dinghy, assuming you have one, and drop the anchor, setting it in deeper water. Then you can possibly kedge off.

 

[David in Sandusky]

The mast can surely take it!

Just add up the tension on your capstays. On our 27 footer, that is about 2,000 pounds, plus another 1,800 on the lowers. So your 180 pounds is small potatoes.

Hanging on the halyard is one technique that may work. Our try when aground in Erie bay was to hang the boatswain's chair from the end of the boom, and put my 280 pounds out over the water. It didn't work, though. Plan B was to call for a tow. When he got there, it turned out to be the fellow from the slip next to where we had stayed at the Wolverine Marina in Erie. Lot's of friendly jests, but I was sure embarrassed, since I wasn't using my nice new plotting GPS, and the whole exercise cost us an hour of good wind when crossing Lake Erie to Long Point!

 

[zeehag]

lol always use seizing wire on yer shackles on a mooring or anywhere--is a beeeyotch to have to go find whatever ye used to have on the mooring ...or anchor....goooodluck.....not familiar with your type of keel so i donot know what to do other than swing boom and hang on....gooodluck!!

 

[bffatcat]

Aground

There are several methods of getting free. from kedging off to bouncing up and down on the bow with the engine running to rowing a line tied to a halyard out to a power boat and heeling over until the power boat breaks you free. but sometimes you just gotta wait for the tide if you`re on salt water that is.

 

[Ross]

I have a full keel and when I have run aground I can usually power off in reverse. A few times i have had to put the helm had over and run full throttle forward for 3-4 seconds first left and then reverse and the right and then reverse. it wiggles the boat from side to side enough to loosen it. Sometimes just hanging onto the shrouds and leaning way out is enough. I should add that I have a big slow turning prop that probably helps. 10 HP on a 13 inch 3 blade prop is a lot more thrust than 10 hp on a 9 inch prop.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Whenever you pull sideways on a halyard, it threatens to move the line out of the sheave. Do with extreme caution.

 

[sailingdog]

It really depends on the boat. Heeling a wing keel just makes things worse.

Stu's point about the lateral loading on a halyard is a good one... but your spinnaker halyard is often on a block, rather than an internal sheave and can often deal with loads in directions other than straight up and down.

Rowing or walking out a kedge anchor is always an option.

For me, the easiest option is usually hopping off the boat and then turning the boat by hand and pushing her into deeper water...but my board up draft is only 16"... so that's not an option most boats have.

 

[sailaway78]

What works for me

I basically use Ross's method, usually but not always with success. Forward and reverse, with wheel movements to turn the boat slightly. If not too hard aground, this works for me most of the time. Some way to heel the boat over will work also, but not if you have a wing keel. When all else fails, have your BoatUS/Towboat card handy. The always works.

 

[Ross]

Re: What works for me

I think that wing keels look a lot like bruce anchors.

 

[cephius (Dave)]

We went aground in a Bahama's charter. That is exactly what the charter rescue boat did. Pulled my halyard abeam to roll the boat and reduce the draft. They pulled us into the deeper part of the channel.

When we turned the boat in the debriefer's comment was "If you didn't go aground in the Bahamas you weren't trying."

 

[Ross]

Consider how far the boat will heel in the wind. The shrouds take all of the strain. The halyard is probably strong enough to lft the boat so you could heel the boat onto her beam ends and drag her sideways if need be.

 

[Paul Brinkley]

My son and I ran aground last year because we were looking at the shore instead of how close we were to it. My son was steering and got upset. I just laughed at him, handed him a coil of line, and told him to walk over and tie it to a piling about 70 feet away (further offshore). He was surprised that he could do that and not get his shorts wet. I ran the line around a stern cleat, took a couple of wraps around a winch, and for the first time since I've had the boat, actually used the winch handle. I cranked us righr back out into water deep enough to motor away; no problem. -Paul

 

[Roy10289]

So for someone with a wing keel, what would be the best advice to get off a soft grounding?

 

[dscribner]

Thanks, I'll store these away for next time . . . not that there will BE a next time! After all, we're SEASONED sailors now, with a whole season behind us!

I hadn't though about the halyard/seive dilemma. I installed a length of yatch braid that goes from a SS thru bolted ring near the mast head down to the base of the mast. We use this just for stepping it. I could easily use this line and it wouldn't affect anything.

One of the responses (I can't get back now to check the name, sorry) said that he didn't recognize my keel type. I've added a photo that might be of interest to some. We actually stand about 12" inside the keel. This gives the boat 6'-0 of head room, in theory anyway.

 

[Rick D]

So for someone with a wing keel, what would be the best advice to get off a soft grounding?

What I did in San Diego (in front of friends and half the world on the 4th of July, of course.... ) was to set out my Fortress stern anchor about 100' out about 20 degrees off the angle in which I entered and then crank in on the winch until it was as tight as it would dare go, then try reverse while pushing on a dink. Took about three bumps to get off. Mind you, this was a falling tide, so fast was the order, and I got help from a couple of guys in a dinghy who had just run aground in the same place the weekend before. I should say we were only doing about two knots when we grounded. Not a common issue in deep SoCal.

 

[Benny]

Roy, first thing to do is to check whether you are in an incoming or outgoing tide. In a soft grounding you should be able to turn the boat around by spinning it on the keel. We find that it helps getting all the weigh of crew back on the stern. Power up and steer back and forth to wiggle the keel. Give the engine a rest between tries as not to overheat it. If you have an escape downwind the sails will help but you do not want any significant heel with a wing keel. We sail in thin water here in wrong coast of florida and are used to groundings. Unlimited tow insurance comes in handy but more often than not we wiggle ourselves out. Don't be to proud to hail a powerboat to give you a quick pull. On a hard grounding don't mess around and call a tow boat.

 

[sailingdog]

If you can reverse immediately, before the keel gets too deeply stuck, you can sometimes just back out. If you are too well stuck, then trying to get the boat turned around and powering out is something to try. However, I'd warn you to be careful, since most wing keel boats have a spade rudder, and if the bottom is shallow enough, you may damage the spade rudder.

Also, keep in mind that the cooling water intake will often suck up debris and such stirred up by the prop and keel... which can be bad for the impeller.

Kedging off with a stern anchor is probably the safest way to get the boat off a soft grounding. If you're in a rising tide situation, rowing a kedge out and waiting for the tide to lift you free is probably a good choice.

So for someone with a wing keel, what would be the best advice to get off a soft grounding?

 

[Don12364]

Seems to me that with a 25' boat, pulling on a halyard will surely heel her many degrees and certainly reduce her draught.
Unfortunately it will also pull her closer to the shore so making your predicament worse.

I once saw our former Prime Minister (Ted Heath) and crew using two spinnaker poles to punt Morning Cloud off the mud. He wasn't proud and it worked!

We were delighted to see him stuck as we were a competitor in the same race.