I have recently gone from a 21' boat with a swing keel to a 31' Catalina with a winged shoal draft keel. While no one plans to run aground I am planning for how to free my boat should that day come to pass. The wing on my Catalina is very near the bottom of the keel and as such it could make it difficult to free the boat by heeling it over to one side or the other. Is this correct? Is my best plan to deploy an anchor astern and winch my boat backwards off the rocks? How would the plan change if I was aground on mud or sand? Are there other options to consider? Gary
Running Aground
- Thread starter GKuffner
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Probably your best choice
My h23 has a shoal draft wing-keel, and my (thankfully) limited experience in getting it free after a grounding is that pulling backwards is the best practial choice. I suppose that if you can heel it over far enough to lift the wings clear that would work also. However, it would seem to require a lot more heel that a non-wing keel, and might risk damage to either the keel or the keel-hull joint. Maybe someone else has other experience and ideas. I would like to add them to my list. Jim Kolstoe, h23 Kara's Boo
My h23 has a shoal draft wing-keel, and my (thankfully) limited experience in getting it free after a grounding is that pulling backwards is the best practial choice. I suppose that if you can heel it over far enough to lift the wings clear that would work also. However, it would seem to require a lot more heel that a non-wing keel, and might risk damage to either the keel or the keel-hull joint. Maybe someone else has other experience and ideas. I would like to add them to my list. Jim Kolstoe, h23 Kara's Boo
Have you noticed how much a wing keel
resembles a Bruce anchor?. I have been aground quite a few times and backing off always seems to work best. Full astern and walk around on the boat to loosen the hold of the bottom on the keel,center the rudder. And hope that the tide is at flood. If it is at ebb just sit tight for the next few hours until you can float off.
resembles a Bruce anchor?. I have been aground quite a few times and backing off always seems to work best. Full astern and walk around on the boat to loosen the hold of the bottom on the keel,center the rudder. And hope that the tide is at flood. If it is at ebb just sit tight for the next few hours until you can float off.
Full Back
My boats wing keel has a downward slope so back full is the best choice and that story about the being shaped like and anchor is dead wrong. The wing does not dig in if you hit plus the boat only needs four feet of water.
My boats wing keel has a downward slope so back full is the best choice and that story about the being shaped like and anchor is dead wrong. The wing does not dig in if you hit plus the boat only needs four feet of water.
Back out
I also have a wing keel and a 5' draft. The best method is, as other have said, to back out. This works best if you try to do so as soon as possible, while the boat is still rocking. I've also found that a quick 180 works. Make sure you take advantage of the wakes from other boats passing buy. I've been fairly well stuck a couple of times and made good use of passing power boats. Wait for their wake to lift you and then apply enough power to break yourself loose. Best to do so on their first wake, it's normally the biggest. You may end up bumping a bit but it usually works. One last word of caution. If you're stuck in sand or small gravel be mindful that you could suck some of it up into your raw water intake and chew up your impeller. Not usually a problem unless you're really hitting the power and churning up the water in an attempt to break free. Mike
I also have a wing keel and a 5' draft. The best method is, as other have said, to back out. This works best if you try to do so as soon as possible, while the boat is still rocking. I've also found that a quick 180 works. Make sure you take advantage of the wakes from other boats passing buy. I've been fairly well stuck a couple of times and made good use of passing power boats. Wait for their wake to lift you and then apply enough power to break yourself loose. Best to do so on their first wake, it's normally the biggest. You may end up bumping a bit but it usually works. One last word of caution. If you're stuck in sand or small gravel be mindful that you could suck some of it up into your raw water intake and chew up your impeller. Not usually a problem unless you're really hitting the power and churning up the water in an attempt to break free. Mike
Deploy a kedge anchor if you can't otherwise get off
Since you will be backing out of your grounding spot the anchor should be deployed upwind of the stern so it's line does not get near your prop. Drop all sails and use the motor to back out while pulling on the kedge anchor line as others have suggested. No, I do not have a wing keel sailboat in my fleet, mostly centerboard boats so going forward or preferably turning while raising the board and heeling the boat all help in getting off a soft grounding. Not necessarily so with a winged keel.
Since you will be backing out of your grounding spot the anchor should be deployed upwind of the stern so it's line does not get near your prop. Drop all sails and use the motor to back out while pulling on the kedge anchor line as others have suggested. No, I do not have a wing keel sailboat in my fleet, mostly centerboard boats so going forward or preferably turning while raising the board and heeling the boat all help in getting off a soft grounding. Not necessarily so with a winged keel.
Wing keel or not heeling the boat is still the best and safest way
First you take a kedge anchor towards the easiest exit and set it. Then transfer the anchor rode to the spinnaker halyard if you have one or to the main or jib halyard if you don't. You then heave it down by the halyard from the mast head and the keel with or without a wing will come off the bottom, and boat will slip toward the anchor. Using power on rocks or gravel will abrade the fiberglass if your keel is encapsulated and kedging off without heeling could be harmful if the line breaks Have fun and be safe Joe S
First you take a kedge anchor towards the easiest exit and set it. Then transfer the anchor rode to the spinnaker halyard if you have one or to the main or jib halyard if you don't. You then heave it down by the halyard from the mast head and the keel with or without a wing will come off the bottom, and boat will slip toward the anchor. Using power on rocks or gravel will abrade the fiberglass if your keel is encapsulated and kedging off without heeling could be harmful if the line breaks Have fun and be safe Joe S
Wing keel and grounding
I used to have an O'Day 272LE with a wing keel and ran it aground a few times in our narrow unmarked channel. I agree with the reverse as the best way off. If that failed, I found that it was very helpful to lead the anchor from the bow to stern and drop it overboard. Although everyone says never to throw an anchor, if you swing it a bit, you can get it a few feet off the stern quite quickly. Make sure it is outside all shrouds and lines. At that point the anchor line was about 35 feet from the bow roller, and since I ran aground in three feet of water, that meant I had a scope of roughly 5:1 (allowing for a couple of feet from the water surface to the bow roller. This would almost always allow me to drag off if the engine alone was not sufficient.
I used to have an O'Day 272LE with a wing keel and ran it aground a few times in our narrow unmarked channel. I agree with the reverse as the best way off. If that failed, I found that it was very helpful to lead the anchor from the bow to stern and drop it overboard. Although everyone says never to throw an anchor, if you swing it a bit, you can get it a few feet off the stern quite quickly. Make sure it is outside all shrouds and lines. At that point the anchor line was about 35 feet from the bow roller, and since I ran aground in three feet of water, that meant I had a scope of roughly 5:1 (allowing for a couple of feet from the water surface to the bow roller. This would almost always allow me to drag off if the engine alone was not sufficient.
Bring lots of line
I gunkhole in the Chesapeake Bay and there is hardly a sail I go on that I don't at least touch bottom. The best way is to pay attention and anticipate that you will be running aground so you are not going 5 knots when it happens. Then you just kiss the bottom and can back off easily without sturing up the water and sucking mud or sand into the raw water intake. If you happen to be arguing with the admeral and run aground at speed and backing off does not work you can use a kedge anchor to either pull yourself off astern (don't back over the anchor rode when you do get off) or careene the boat with the kedge attached to one of the lines going to the top of the mast. Caution: unless you are using a spinniker halyard you may pull the line off the pulley. I personaly have never had that problem but my wing keel seems to rotate out of the mud fairly far with not too much heeling of the boat. There is also the concept of the slope of the bottom. I've been on flatly sloping shoals and gotten an occasional bump. I imagine that the crabs are fearing for their lives when the keel comes along with only a few inches of clearance! A channel that has shoaled is a good example but there are vast expances of the Chesapeak that to sail around will take you all day and the quickest sailing takes you over them. If you know the shoal is a wide flat one then I tend to ignore the bumps and just try to steer toward the deeper shoal. You normaly can't back up and try a different place in channels as the channel restricts that. In those cases dredging a channel can work but never do it on a falling tide. On a steeply sloping shoal you will have no choice but to back up and go around. A sand bar or spit is a good example.
I gunkhole in the Chesapeake Bay and there is hardly a sail I go on that I don't at least touch bottom. The best way is to pay attention and anticipate that you will be running aground so you are not going 5 knots when it happens. Then you just kiss the bottom and can back off easily without sturing up the water and sucking mud or sand into the raw water intake. If you happen to be arguing with the admeral and run aground at speed and backing off does not work you can use a kedge anchor to either pull yourself off astern (don't back over the anchor rode when you do get off) or careene the boat with the kedge attached to one of the lines going to the top of the mast. Caution: unless you are using a spinniker halyard you may pull the line off the pulley. I personaly have never had that problem but my wing keel seems to rotate out of the mud fairly far with not too much heeling of the boat. There is also the concept of the slope of the bottom. I've been on flatly sloping shoals and gotten an occasional bump. I imagine that the crabs are fearing for their lives when the keel comes along with only a few inches of clearance! A channel that has shoaled is a good example but there are vast expances of the Chesapeak that to sail around will take you all day and the quickest sailing takes you over them. If you know the shoal is a wide flat one then I tend to ignore the bumps and just try to steer toward the deeper shoal. You normaly can't back up and try a different place in channels as the channel restricts that. In those cases dredging a channel can work but never do it on a falling tide. On a steeply sloping shoal you will have no choice but to back up and go around. A sand bar or spit is a good example.
When aground, careful when doing 180..
.. you don't often know what's beneath the wave. Doing a 180deg turn on keel may present your rudder to underwater rocks. That's what happen when I ran aground on a hidden & uncharted breakwater. My wing keel rode up the rocks, then a gust came and blows my boat 180deg around pivoting on the keel and I power forward to get free, just then a small wave came and my rudder bump the rock as the boat sail off. Broke the rudder tube mount at deck level. Lucky, had it break at hull bottom, I would have lost my boat.
.. you don't often know what's beneath the wave. Doing a 180deg turn on keel may present your rudder to underwater rocks. That's what happen when I ran aground on a hidden & uncharted breakwater. My wing keel rode up the rocks, then a gust came and blows my boat 180deg around pivoting on the keel and I power forward to get free, just then a small wave came and my rudder bump the rock as the boat sail off. Broke the rudder tube mount at deck level. Lucky, had it break at hull bottom, I would have lost my boat.
Ken is correct
Doing a 180 turn could screw you into the bottom. Typically the boat runs aground only 1-2 feet. Drop the sails immediately and motor backward. Voila!
Doing a 180 turn could screw you into the bottom. Typically the boat runs aground only 1-2 feet. Drop the sails immediately and motor backward. Voila!
Aground
Catalina's wing keel is very wide, with the wing on the bottom. It would be almost impossible to try to heel the boat if that big flat wing is sitting on the bottom. Backing off is the best option.
Catalina's wing keel is very wide, with the wing on the bottom. It would be almost impossible to try to heel the boat if that big flat wing is sitting on the bottom. Backing off is the best option.
I agree about backing off, plus....
...immediately send the admiral to the bow. While she's up there, which will lift the keel wings up, she can't tell you how dumb you were to run aground and, hopefully she can return shortly to tell you how smart you were to get her unstuck so quickly.
...immediately send the admiral to the bow. While she's up there, which will lift the keel wings up, she can't tell you how dumb you were to run aground and, hopefully she can return shortly to tell you how smart you were to get her unstuck so quickly.
Just don't mention that the Admirals WEIGHT floated your
boat free! That could make for a loooooong voyage.
boat free! That could make for a loooooong voyage.
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