A Little 1930's Classic Yacht Information
If you have ever run aground in a sailboat, you are not alone. When I was a beginning sailor, I sailed my 16' sailboat around the Gulf Islands in British Columbia. Unlike the classic yacht shown here, my boat had a fin keel which projected down to a short and narrow bottom. One very foggy day, I anchored in a small bay, happy to be safe after a harrowing trip trying to find my way in an unfamiliar place. As I entered the bay, it was quite full of other boats including a couple of classic yacht types. The fact that there were so many other boats didn't suit me at all. I was hoping to have the place all to myself and muttered salty words under my breath.
It was difficult to see around the bay due to the fog but I could see that all the prime anchoring locations had been taken except for one lovely little spot near the beach, tucked away from the incoming swell behind a small finger of land. I looked on the chart and could see that it was rather shallow there but with a little boat, you can go where the big boys can't! So, I putted in and dropped my hook, went below and lit the stove for some water for tea. After cleaning up on deck, I settled in for the what I expected would be a pleasant evening at anchor. My mistake was not checking the tide tables to make sure that there was sufficient water at low tide even for my little boat. I made an assumption without checking the facts.
You guessed it. I was fast asleep while the tide went out and uncharacteristically, I slept right through the night. Usually I am a light sleeper while at anchor. Maybe I'm a light sleeper at anchor NOW because of the episode I'm telling you about. As a good sailor, before turning out the lights, I had tidied up the cabin and stowed anything that could come adrift in rough seas. When I woke up in the early morning, I felt rested and at peace. What could be better than this? As I opened my eyes, the first thing I noticed was that I was now resting not on the floor of the boat but on the side of the hull. Call me slow but it really took me a few moments to realize what was going on. The boat was very still. Usually you could feel her bobbing at the anchor. When I realized that I was looking at the sky outside the porthole instead of some land or water, I realized that the boat was on the bottom and was heeled hard over. I was almost too embarrassed to stick my head out of the hatch to see what kind of damage there might be. Fortunately, when I did look out, the fog was so thick that I couldn't see any other boats and even better, they couldn't see me.
You know the old saying, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. After I jumped over the side and took a look at my predicament, I realized that there was no damage and this was a prime opportunity to scrub the bottom without having to pay for a haul-out! The fact that I was behind a finger of land had protected my boat from any bumping as the water went out and would protect me as the tide returned. Out came the brushes and buckets. I actually had to walk a ways to get some water for scrubbing! The good news was that I had anchored in a particularly sandy spot and had missed some good sized rocks that were now the only witnesses to my boobery. Later in the morning, the tide returned and filled in around the freshly scrubbed bottom, standing us up. Before the fog had lifted, we were back on our feet, looking better than the night before. A classic yacht would have not had this problem, it would have settled down nicely on it's bottom as opposed to heeling over so dramatically.
Lesson learned.
Cost: one bruised ego.
Cheap lesson.
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