# The run aground poll



## Bene505 (Jul 31, 2008)

Here's quick poll on running aground. Please be honest when you answer.

Regards,
Brad


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## aa3jy (Jul 23, 2006)

An old saying...you've never been to the Chesapeake(or lied) if one hasn't run aground at least once...


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## PBzeer (Nov 11, 2002)

Not only have I run aground ... I've done it on purpose.


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## killarney_sailor (May 4, 2006)

Some people say long distance cruising is about fixing your boat in exotic places. This is very true. It is also true that it about running aground in exotic places (or at least trying not to run aground, but not always being successful).


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## JimMcGee (Jun 23, 2005)

On Barnegat Bay if you have four feet of water under your keel you're in deep water ! :laugher

The good news is it's usually a bump on soft sand not a hard grounding.


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## TQA (Apr 4, 2009)

I have sailed the Bahamas Turks and Caicos ICW Chesapeake and the Potomac. 

Off course I have run aground, sometimes under sail, sometimes under power and sometimes when at anchor.


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## PaulinVictoria (Aug 23, 2009)

Not yet. *crosses fingers, toes, anything else that will cross*. Here, aground usually means at best you have hit a large rock causing damage, or you are hard aground on a rocky shore.


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## joyinPNW (Jan 7, 2013)

I should say, my husband ran aground! I pointed out the shoal to him well in advance but as we got closer it "looked" ok to him despite what the depth sounder (and charts) indicated, lol. I was down below quickly grabbing some food and when I felt the large bump and came up, he got the stink eye! But, we were in a race and the others that sailed by us haven't let us forget it! We have our badge of shame...


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## rbrasi (Mar 21, 2011)

I think the fact that I have yet to do so is indicative of something I'm not doing right. I don't have a depth finder, so I play it safe. Probably too safe. I bounce harbor to harbor and never anchor. That will change this season, I hope. Not the running aground thing, the anchoring one!


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## CarbonSink62 (Sep 29, 2011)

I live in the Granite State!

Thunk!


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## TQA (Apr 4, 2009)

Even the pros get it wrong.

OOPS I am on a reef!

MAJOR OOPS I am on a reef that is shown on the charts!

MAJOR OOPS WITH KNOBS ON I am on a reef that is shown on the charts, AND I am on the wrong side of the channel markers!


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## smurphny (Feb 20, 2009)

I have run aground on hard and soft bottoms, in the fog at night, and in so-called "channels". Have always managed to kedge off without calling for a tow. When poking around slowly, when you might run up on an uncharted/questionable bar, it helps to have a light anchor (I have a small Danforth) to quickly throw out as far as you can in the appropriate direction to get a quick bite and pull off.


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## kenr74 (Oct 13, 2012)

The first time I ever put my boat in the water, I ran aground almost before leaving the dock. I got it off the trailer, parked the truck, got in the boat, and put the outboard in reverse. The outboard mount was not low enough in the water, so the motor could hardly move the boat. As I revved the engine, I managed to get a boat length back form the dock, and the crosswind took over, and blew me aground into the harbor wall. I had to jump in the water and drag the boat back to the dock. It was a proud moment. That said, setting the bar that low has made all of my subsequent sailing excursions seem like rousing successes.


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## CalebD (Jan 11, 2008)

Well, does hitting a floating object that is attached to the ground count? 
If so, then I have run aground on your boat.

If you haven't run aground yet then you are not taking enough chances.


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## Frogwatch (Jan 22, 2011)

Sailin in the Gulf of Mexico, If I don't run aground at least once when I'm out sailing, it means I'm not trying hard enough to have fun.


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## ottos (Aug 12, 2008)

Every time I sail my Hobie!


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## MarkofSeaLife (Nov 7, 2010)

This poll is crap because I have done the ICW. 

Talking about mud larks... 

Who built that channel and then half filled it in? 

Did they know I was coming? 


But at least I got myself off all 4 times :laugher



Mark


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## Silverstreak01 (Oct 13, 2009)

aa3jy said:


> An old saying...you've never been to the Chesapeake(or lied) if one hasn't run aground at least once...


Yep, been there and done that :laugher:laugher


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## zeehag (Nov 16, 2008)

ye aint been around if ye aint been aground.

when yer aground ye wont drag anchor


i always park my 6 ft 6 deep draft sail boat in 5 ft of water. no problem.....it will float a couple times a day harder to steal it that way.....

rodlmffao...

we touched ha ha ha ha ha bottom in my uncles boat when i was 8 or so...and some few times thereafter...... get out the lead line seehow much water we have....


every so often moving around here i touch bottom, until i was anchored in about 5 and half feet water with my deep keel...lol i am 6´6 draft. stands up proud and tall on her keel, as she is designed to do . 
.


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## Omatako (Sep 14, 2003)

More like I've had the ground come up at me. Anchored in water that was too shallow for the tidal range and ended up on the hard.

Nearly lost two fingers in the process.

But I have not yet sailed a boat onto the ground and got it stuck.


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## chef2sail (Nov 27, 2007)

The ground moved in my way.....I swear it did:laugher


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## Classic30 (Aug 29, 2007)

Omatako said:


> But I have not yet sailed a boat onto the ground and got it stuck.


Then you don't know what you're missing!!! All those shoal anchorages and shallow river entrances you could be exploring.. 

I've not run aground on my own boat.. yet... ..but I've run other people's boats aground, so I guess that counts. Hey, I even ran the Womboat aground once (he claims twice, but I'm sticking with once).. Poor 'ol Fuzzy - I can still remember the look on his face. 

Having said that, I do fully subscribe to the Don Bamford quote: _"Only two sailors in my experience never ran aground: one never left port and the other was an atrocious liar.."_


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## pinayreefer (Mar 18, 2011)

I've run aground and scraped the barnacles off the nose of the keel where I'd run aground and scraped the bottom paint off. 
I bought a boat and the former owner watched me sail away from his dock, expecting me to run aground on a shallows in the channel, but I avoided the one where he was watching. It was the three others that I plowed after I got out of eyesight that were bad. And the one where the boat nearly laid over on it's side outside the channel but I managed to get off before the Sea-Tow people decided to answer my call! Note to self, "The Captain should never show fear, no matter how close he thinks he is to losing the ship" It has a negative effect on morale of the crew.


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## 06HarleyUltra (Oct 27, 2011)

Oh, heck ya!!
After reading the above posts and saying..yup did that one, and that one, and that one too!! 
Up too and including launching the boat off the trailer, and promptly getting it stuck. 
You certainly learn new and exciting skills with this method


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## blutoyz (Oct 28, 2012)

Just like with a bike...Those that have hit the ground and those that will

We all just hope it is soft and on a rising tide...:laugher


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## Roadking Larry (Apr 30, 2013)

Never in a sail boat but I was periphally involved in a grounding incident in the channel on approach to Charleston on a nuke submarine.


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## travlin-easy (Dec 24, 2010)

Ironically, I've been boating in the Chesapeake Bay for more than a half century and only run aground once. Ran aground three times in the ICW, though.

Gary


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## blt2ski (May 5, 2005)

No,

But I had a lighthouse hit me!!!!! see HERE

Marty

if you believe this, and that I have not run EVERY boat aground at least once that I have owned, some on purpose......I have an ACTIVE volcano in SW Washington state, USA I can sell you.....CHEEP!! or is that CHEAP!


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## mr_f (Oct 29, 2011)

I am not aground at this moment.


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## Mechsmith (Jun 7, 2009)

Last time I had the keel off I installed a "sled runner" on the bottom of it. That probably tells you enough!


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## billyruffn (Sep 21, 2004)

Does bouncing off a rock count?


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## Group9 (Oct 3, 2010)

A lot, but not as much as I used to when I first started sailing. 

The first year I had a sailboat (3.5' draft and a full keel), I think I ran it aground about every other time I took it out. Thankfully, I'm a little better than that now.


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## ltgoshen (Jan 5, 2009)

The third time the East Coast Lady was taken out, my sailing partner drove it up on a sand bar that. I had purchased the BoutUs unlimited so it was no problem. it was the last hour ov the imcoming tide. if he would have been patince he would have floated off. So, realy I have not been aground yet but the Lady has.


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## doug1957 (Dec 13, 2011)

I ran ours aground about 2 minutes after taking the helm for the first time. Repeated a few more times that first year. Soft mud thank goodness.


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## blutoyz (Oct 28, 2012)

Roadking Larry said:


> Never in a sail boat but I was periphally involved in a grounding incident in the channel on approach to Charleston on a nuke submarine.


Ouch!!!!

Someone lost their job on that one I am sure

(former DOOW/Control room sup here)


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## deltaten (Oct 10, 2012)

I berth and sail in some pretty skinny water. Usually, two hours out of each tide cycle, I'll be "aground" 
Due to this challenging feature, I tend to mind the tides carefully.. Thinking I I had it timed right one morning, I ended up softly aground, directly in front of my dock, in the "channel"! Only hadda wait a few minutes. due to forethough on leaving on a rising tide 
Did haft a wait to park the boat one day coming in bit late, too.. There's a little 'bump' in the groove I've worn in the bottom of the slip, and I hung up on it coming in. Once again; wait a while, stow the gear, flake the sails and THEN shift the boat to position,
There *was* thatone time last season when in supposedly plenty of water, that we sorta bounced across asand bar next to the channnel Only slowed us a bit! 
Luv me sum mud!

Oh! SeaTow Gold is damm'd near mandatory up here. Hope to never need it, tho..


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## downeast450 (Jan 16, 2008)

Which boat? Ha! Haven't hit anything with the Islander, yet!. We use the cb in the catboat as a depth gauge. When we feel it bouncing off the bottom we know it is time to alter course.

Down


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## RainDog (Jun 9, 2009)

I more interesting poll would be how many times have you run aground

>20
10-20
5-10
2-4
Once
Never

I wonder how many people would be in the >10 group. I am at a proud 8 currently. Should hit 10 soon!


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## hillenme (Oct 11, 2012)

Here in Chicago all my groundings on my boat or others have been in the harbors. The lake was so low last year we hit in the middle of a mooring field. We obviously have no tides to worry about but a bad seiche can take level down a foot.


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## Classic30 (Aug 29, 2007)

RainDog said:


> I more interesting poll would be how many times have you run aground
> 
> >20
> 10-20
> ...


I figure that once disaster minimisation and recovery becomes a reflex reaction, it doesn't really matter.

It then becomes a bit like asking "How many times have you accidentally gybed?" - more than once really is too often..


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## RainDog (Jun 9, 2009)

Classic30 said:


> I figure that once disaster minimisation and recovery becomes a reflex reaction, it doesn't really matter.
> 
> It then becomes a bit like asking "How many times have you accidentally gybed?" - more than once really is too often..


To some extent what I am asking is what is it like where you sail. Where I sail, running aground is part of normal operations. Running aground smack dab in the middle of a dredged channel that had 12' of water yesterday is not uncommon.


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## obelisk (May 23, 2008)

I have run aground in some of the most beautiful places in the world!


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## Puddin'_Tain (Feb 14, 2014)

I've never run aground. I've run amud and asand a few times. I even ran aconcrete once. But never aground.


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## blutoyz (Oct 28, 2012)

Glad to see that many of us have a similar attention span....

This was a landslide...


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## zeehag (Nov 16, 2008)

lol i do npt gybe, per my uncles orders and we were punished in creatively sailing manner for each infraction.... we were gooood...gybing hurts our old boats..... we come about like gentlemen.

and we run aground regularly so i cannot remember exactly how many times since age 7 i have run aground..lol...almost hit a small bridge once in lost angeles in holiday harbor, wilmington,,,,,in a 25 ft coronado..lol


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## Letrappes (Apr 30, 2010)

I've had a lot of fun running aground. One great one was a rather windy day with full sails up. I start thinking about tacking before getting in shallow water. Get the wheel turned over and start undoing the Genoa sheet. When the boat comes upright it stops suddenly. Took a bit with the motor but finally backed about a hundred yards to get into deeper water. 

It doesn't bother me much around where I sail as it's all thick muck I the bottom. The only time it did was last November with a fresh bottom job I found the shallow spot leading away from the boatyard. Not happy about that one.


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## chip (Oct 23, 2008)

The only working depth finder on my boat is the 550 pound piece of iron that I affectionately call my swing keel. 

I have a feeling I'm in for a rude awakening if/when I get a big boy boat, where I won't be able to reduce my draft by 3' with a crank, because I drag my current boat along the bottom more often than I care to admit.


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## blt2ski (May 5, 2005)

RainDog said:


> I more interesting poll would be how many times have you run aground
> 
> >20
> 10-20
> ...


Ye forgot one answer.......

I've run out of finners and toes counting!

Oh, was on a barge that ran aground......did I mention it was ON purpose! I was in the dumptruck on said barge. only way to get the dumptruck OFF the barge.......come to think of it, the barge was grounded on a boat ramp when I loaded too........hmmmmmmmmmm

I also hear there is a YC in London that has a free membership.........you just have to go aground in a rather large public way to get your invite! LOLOLOL

Marty


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## Minnewaska (Feb 21, 2010)

The last time I ran aground, wait, I mean the first time, wait, I mean the only time, wait.........what are we talking about?

Well, a few years ago I had my daughter and 7 of her teenage girlfriends aboard. We anchored so they could go swimming, which really means they go floating on rafts and swim noodles out of ear shot of the boat, so they can all talk, while my wife and I make lunch. 

Later, I pull the anchor with an offshore breeze, so we're pointed toward shore. I think I will just swing her around, rather than back away. I still recall watching the depth sounder go from 10,9,8,7...... bump....... in a split second. Nothing quite like 8 teenage girls as witnesses. Backed right off, but I wonder if I made facebook?


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## engineer_sailor (Aug 27, 2011)

We were getting ready to raft up with another boat on a creek in the Chesapeake. The other boat was looking for a good spot to drop the hook and we were following. They turned and we delayed the turn to give them room to set. It's blowing 25knts and we are watching them anchor and planning our approach instead of watching the depth gauge. Before we knew it we were aground. It was clear that our 18hp two cylinder diesel wasn't going to get us out. After a few expletives, I started thinking clearly and unfurled the headsail. The brisk gusty breeze gave us enough heel to break free. It was embarrassing to run aground while family members watched from the other boat, but my wife and I did receive lots of kudos after the razzing for our use of the sails to quickly get back underway. One thing to love about sailing is the need to be resourceful and the many ways to solve the problems.


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## SloopJonB (Jun 6, 2011)

I've never run aground - really!

I've hit rocks 3 times and rubbed bottom twice in 40 years but never been stuck or needed a tow.

So far.


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## Pegu club (Jun 10, 2012)

Me and the Mrs hit rocks in narragansit bay just when we thought we were all that and a bag of chips.... 

Is that technically running aground...?


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## RainDog (Jun 9, 2009)

Pegu club said:


> Me and the Mrs hit rocks in narragansit bay just when we thought we were all that and a bag of chips....
> 
> Is that technically running aground...?


Heck yes. If you hit the ground, it is running aground. Use the oh **** test. If you think "oh ****", you ran aground.


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## mgiguere (May 22, 2004)

We're aground right now in front of Skippers Pier in Deal, MD. S&S Apache 37 Draw 6 ft and came in just after high tide. Luckily the wind is blowing hard from the south. Should free us in the am so we can leave. A regular occurrence here on the Chesapeake Bay.


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## pkloop (Oct 19, 2011)

I ran aground coming up the channel on the way to a haul out/bottom painting job. Inattentive me turned on the wrong side of the marker and drove right up onto the bar..

I radioed the yard who quickly dispatched a powerboat to pull me off so I could get to the lift..lift operator on a tight schedule (and cranky in general anyway) was oh so nice when I finally got there..

So..yeah


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## RainDog (Jun 9, 2009)

I ran aground smack dab in the middle of the ICW on two separate occasions. I wondered how it could be that the dredged ICW channel just disappears until I hear the tug boat operators talking about how they will just "plow" the channel back. I guess they are self-regulating.


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## pkloop (Oct 19, 2011)

blutoyz said:


> Just like with a bike...Those that have hit the ground and those that will


Yup..did this one too.


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## willyd (Feb 22, 2008)

I think the poll is too judgemental, too black & white. What it should say is,

When you ran aground, why did it happen:


 asleep?
 drunk?
 showing off?
 bad/wrong/no charts?
 texting at the helm?
 tired of moving/depressed?
 depth sounder broken? (mine once beeped AFTER I got to the bow to release the anchor to kedge off)
 forced onto sandbar by inconsiderate bare-chested fascists in motorboats?
 busy gawking at at bikini-clad girls accompanying above pseudo-mariners?
 all of the above?
 other?


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## Group9 (Oct 3, 2010)

willyd said:


> I think the poll is too judgemental, too black & white. What it should say is,
> 
> When you ran aground, why did it happen:
> 
> ...


My most spectacular grounding was sailing by a barrier island on the sound side, full of boats and people, thinking how cool I looked, going by on a beam reach, when I ran up on a sand bar that I have been knowing about all my life, and had even been flounder fishing on the year before.


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## SloopJonB (Jun 6, 2011)

Pegu club said:


> Me and the Mrs hit rocks in narragansit bay just when we thought we were all that and a bag of chips....
> 
> Is that technically running aground...?


Nope - that's hitting bottom.

Running aground is when you either have to be towed off or wait for the tide. 

At least IMHO.


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## SloopJonB (Jun 6, 2011)

RainDog said:


> Heck yes. If you hit the ground, it is running aground. Use the oh **** test. If you think "oh ****", you ran aground.


The "Oh S**t" test is not proof - I use it when I bump a dock too hard, when an anchor drags, when I find the fenders still dangling an hour into the sail.....

Running aground is when you jump off the boat and start scrubbing the bottom - "I meant to do that".


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## Bene505 (Jul 31, 2008)

*OP ruling, since there seems to be confusion...*

OP ruling, since there seems to be confusion...

For the purposes of this thread, running aground is when the lower part of the boat hits the bottom. Hitting a submerged log doesn't count. (Or a buoy, Caleb.)

Even the slightest brush on a sand bottom can remove your bottom paint, leading to barnacles.

Extra credit for size of audience. Extra credit for kedging off.

Regards,
Brad

If you disagree, please check to see if you are in denial.


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## RainDog (Jun 9, 2009)

SloopJonB said:


> The "Oh S**t" test is not proof - I use it when I bump a dock too hard, when an anchor drags, when I find the fenders still dangling an hour into the sail.....
> 
> Running aground is when you jump off the boat and start scrubbing the bottom - "I meant to do that".


Then I guess I have not run aground. I will try harder.


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## PalmettoSailor (Mar 7, 2006)

I started to write that I had never sailed aground, but but that's no longer true. I have motored aground in most of the silly ways you do such things, missing a mark, finding shoaling in the marked channel, poking around a gunk hole trying to find a place to drop anchor, etc. Last year I very nearly ran myself aground motoring at full bore in a place that would have been in full view of nearly every person in the "Sailing Capital" of Annapolis. That would have been quite embarrassing and given the speed I had on would in all likelihood have been the first grounding I couldn't self extricate from.

As to sailing aground, I did that on Chancellor Point in sight of the finish line at last years Gov Cup. Those that are familiar will recognize we were barely moving in that morning wind shut down, when we got too aggressive and tried to cut inside a boat ahead. There just wasn't quite enough room. Since we were barely moving we were able to use a kedge to spin the boat and pull ourselves back into sailable water and finish the race. We did loose a place or two on account of it.


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## findrichard (Jan 16, 2014)

Three times sailing up the ICW and all three before I go to the Chesapeake. Tow Boat US was the best insurance I ever bought. I don't leave home without it.


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## tweitz (Apr 5, 2007)

More than once. Or twice. Or three times. But I am quite the expert on kedging off.


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## SHNOOL (Jun 7, 2007)

I've not done it yet, but most of my sailing is in a VERY DEEP lake (by comparison to such places as bays).

I even put in this year on a short dock to shore (probably 30 feet long), and tied up directly beside it and still had 2 feet of water below the keel (stupid steep ramp).

I really really really don't want to hit bottom on our lake either, it's ALL ROCK, stuff would break for sure.

I used to beach my 14 footer does that count? I've hit bottom with that centerboard more than I can count, including dead in the middle of Budd Lake, NJ... that lake is shallow as heck. My 14 foot centerboard though had a relatively deep board at 4'.

We regularly cleaned the bottom on both Barnegat, and the Chesapeake.


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## CharlzO (Nov 12, 2013)

Mine was the first time I took her out of the marina. I got out of the entrance, turned down the inlet to the lake, and made it maybe a hundred feet. Realized it felt like I was starting to slow down suddenly, so my first thought was "oh great, I busted the outboard somehow..." I was checking to see if the prop was still on, everything SEEMED normal, and then dawned on me that I wasn't rocking at all. The next words were "Seriously? Are you kidding me?". I felt like an idiot, even though I only accept 99% of the blame. There was so much mud and junk coming down from the lake, that it filled quite a bit on the bottom of the inlet. So much so that where there's normally 8-9 feet of depth, and I managed to hit mud with a near 5' draft.

I grabbed the anchor, heaved it out into the water, gave it a minute to touch, and muscled the bow around. I didn't even let it bruise my pride, since well, who on earth expected a 4 ft deposit of mud within a week of coming through? I just came through there the previous weekend! Rinsed off the mud from the deck after getting the anchor up, and went on my merry way. (this was about a month ago, I'll add. First boat, first voyage out after getting her to the marina, first grounding, first successful freeing of said grounded boat).


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## theonecalledtom (Jan 2, 2008)

Do I get credit for hanging off the end of my boom with my feet in an inflatable heeling the boat to get it off? Got really cool when the boat finally took off, suddenly doing five knots with my feet now dragging the inflatable beneath me.


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## Bene505 (Jul 31, 2008)

Bump


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## OPossumTX (Jul 12, 2011)

I have run a ground so much that I don't even care to think about it. I lost count years ago. Actually, it never occurred to me to count.

I have to negotiate a narrow channel getting my 25 footer out of and into my slip and if a norther blows the water out of the bay, I have been known to just sit in the slip, on the bottom and just list a bit. 

I have run down marked (sorry about that!) and unmarked crab traps, miscellaneous unknown debris, a number of sand bars, an oyster reef or two and to crown my indignity, I ran a trailer. 

Yes, I was sitting on the boat ramp with my little Galilee in the fading twilight trying to figure out why it just won't get on the trailer even though I was cranking the loading winch for all I was worth. Hint! When I lifted the center board, she slid home like she meant it!

But then, it is all quite understandable, 'cause what could a 'possum possibly know about boats?

Have FUN! (I do!)
O'


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## SloopJonB (Jun 6, 2011)

OPossumTX said:


> I was cranking the loading wench for all I was worth. Hint! When I lifted the center board, she slid home like she meant it!


Oh sweet Jayzuss I'm tempted. :laugher


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## scratchee (Mar 2, 2012)

I prefer to say, "My keel touched the bottom," because when I say that I ran aground, I know that non-sailors imagine my boat lying up on the beach like the SS Minnow.


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## Bene505 (Jul 31, 2008)

SloopJonB said:


> Oh sweet Jayzuss I'm tempted. :laugher


Glad you exercised restraint. Loaded wenches...

Regards,
Brad


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## sailak (Apr 15, 2007)

I find talk of "those that have and those that will" somewhat alarming. My sailing area is very deep with very steep shore in general. I've been within a boat length of the shore and still been in 40' of water so for me running aground means I have run into an island. 

That all changes in some of the glacial fjords we visit. On our last trip I very nearly touched bottom…depth from the sounder went from 40+' to 9' within about a boat length. I expected to touch, I sounded off with a hearty "Oh S*&%!" but we got lucky.


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## AlaskaMC (Aug 19, 2010)

sailak said:


> I've been within a boat length of the shore and still been in 40' of water


Heck man, be honest, up here being a boat length from shore in 40 feet is a great anchorage. 

I slept this weekend on 4 to 1 scope with my stern so close to shore depending on the wind direction that I could nearly touch it.

As far as running aground, we did it the day after we bought our boat.


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## Minnewaska (Feb 21, 2010)

I ran aground in my transient slip this past weekend. Keel buried at low tide. That count?


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## Bene505 (Jul 31, 2008)

Minnewaska said:


> I ran aground in my transient slip this past weekend. Keel buried at low tide. That count?


I believe it doesn't count since you weren't moving. You 'were' aground but you didn't 'run' aground. (However it's a legitimate grounding in terms of your bottom paint.)

Regards,
Brad


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## Sublime (Sep 11, 2010)

When I was learning how to load mine on the trailer, I did a doozy. I was bringing mine up to the trailer and missed. Instead of throwing her into reverse, I brought her about. The ass end swung towards shore, I heard a scrape and puckered. Then a BAM! and was thrown off my perch as Penelope came to a hault. 
I had stabbed the boat ramp nicely. I had no power after that even though the outboard still whirred. Busted that little rod that's supposed to bust so the prop and motor don't get damaged when it hits.
With about 10 lookie-loos on shore, I hopped off the boat into the water, worked it off the ramp and then tied a rope and dragged the thing to the trailer with a red face.


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## nolatom (Jun 29, 2005)

Can we just refer to it as "insufficient heeling"?

Then yes.


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## TropicCat (Oct 14, 2008)

I ran aground a year ago sailing a friends 27 Cape Dory. Took a lot of ribbing at the time as I honestly was surprised when we ran around when it shoaled in 4' of water. In my boat, if I run aground I can hop over the side and push off and don't even get my knees wet.


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## Group9 (Oct 3, 2010)

TropicCat said:


> I ran aground a year ago sailing a friends 27 Cape Dory. Took a lot of ribbing at the time as I honestly was surprised when we ran around when it shoaled in 4' of water. In my boat, if I run aground I can hop over the side and push off and don't even get my knees wet.


There is a sand bar in Orange Beach, AL that a friend of mine who lives there calls "[Group9] shoal." We were sailing side by side one day, he in his Hunter 30 and me in my Cape Dory 25D when he suddenly turned away. He was yelling at me and I didn't know what he was saying until I came up hard aground. 

Capd Dory's kind of stick where they hit on sand.


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