The last vestages of Allison appeared to have blown most of the water out of the northern Chesapeake bay this weekend. We had exteamly low tides with 22-25 knots blowing out of the north Sunday morning. Rollers were just at the entrance of our northward facing marina channel. I unwisely motoring out through our jetty making about 2 knots. A series of waves dropped me momentarily on the sandy bottom. Two light taps on my shoal keel and I suspect the third final light tap on the rudder. These were not violent groundings, I just kissed the bottom. After the third hit the helm became very stiff but retained its full range of motion. However, too much resistance for the ST4000 autohelm. It felt as if a wheel lock was fully applied to the steering system. After checking below to make sure that I was not taking on water, and that my rudder tube did not appear cracked, I dove below to inspect the rudder, no apparent bends, cracks, distortions. The upper trailing edge of the rudder cleared the hull with plenty of room over its entire range of motion. No apparent decrease in the Rudder-Hull gap. I continued to sail for about 5 hours. No problems except the continued resistance. Once the tide came back in and I got back into harbor I trickled some graphite based "Lock-Ease" down between the rudder shaft and the the fiberglass rudder tube and under the upper bushing in the stern lazerette. Turned the wheel back and forth a couple of dozen times. The upper bushing started to squeek, than became quite, and than helm slowly loosed up. Resistance is now back to normal. Autohelm can now turn the wheel smoothly. Question. What is the potential that I did some serious damage to the shaft, the tube or the lower bushing. Should I have the boat lifted now and the rudder pulled so the shaft and bushings can be inspected? Since I will not leave the bay this summer, could I defer this until the boat is lifted later this fall? Or..., should I just not worry about it? Your advice appreciated, Thanks 1895 H31, Yesterday's Dream