Lost My Virginity Last Sunday

[Hiracer]

Originally Posted by sarafina

Well if she is giving you an opportunity to suck it up again tonight that must mean she likes you ; -)

Over dinner conversation briefly touched on the possibility of getting a kayak for her too and storing it semi-permanently on the starboard side of the boat to counter balance mine on port side.

Walked the marina after dinner. In a light drizzle.

[Hiracer]

Originally Posted by Stillraining

I wont be so presumptuous to say I wont be that stupid again.

SR,

I said I hope . . . .

I know myself too well to say it will never happen again. All I can do is hope and pray, and focus a little better.

BTY, my depth finder was not working. It NEVER seems to work in this channel. Nor does the compass because there is a magnetic disturbance, as noted on the charts. I wonder if there is a connection. I can't image that there is. But the depth finder always goes out in this channel. Always. Very strange. (Ran into the mud flats east of Guemes Island.)

Is your boat in the water yet? Can we do Fourth of July together somewhere??? Sucia, maybe?

Probably gonna be at Sucia this weekend with one kid and his buddy. Need to get rid of some bad fuel in the outboard Friday before we take off. Rush, rush.

[DennisM]

Lost my virginity last summer during my first season of boat ownership. The friend I allowed to take the helm was "an experienced sailor," and initially he seemed to be watching the depth finder and the chart plotter quite closely.

So, I became engrossed in tweaking the sails. Fortunately, the Hudson River bottom is mostly mud. We were going slowly, and all I had to do was start the engine and back out, despite my wing keel (which is notorious for digging itself into the bottom like a CQR). Lesson learned.

[S/V_Surya]

I have run aground so many times I can not even count. All mostly mud or soft bottom. I remember being on SF bay near redwood city and hitting mud. I just tightened the sail and heeled as much as I could and plowed through it. Only once hit something hard ( submerged pile) on the chart ( my freind was at the helm). Had a big dent in lead keel but no other damage. Now I am in Cheasapeake bay and have hit bottom quite a bit. So far have not got stuck abel to mtot through it.

[witzgall]

If you were tacking to get out of the way from a tanker, and then ran aground, I guess you know that you won't be hit by the tanker.....

[Hiracer]

Originally Posted by witzgall

If you were tacking to get out of the way from a tanker, and then ran aground, I guess you know that you won't be hit by the tanker.....

The tanker and tug had already passed us. I saw it sneak up behind us, and knew we had to tack out of its way. I got that part right.

I was engrossed watching them maneuver around these series of islands that gave the tanker very little room. The margin for error was like zero. At least 2 knots of current and 15-20 knots of wind. And only one tug; usually they have two. It was scary watching, really.

Plus I was setting up to tack a line through the islands myself. Talking a mile-a-minute the whole time, of course. And like I said, the depth finder was on the blink.

Still, I screwed up. I'm the captain. I knew of the hazard and hit it anyhow. Pretty humbling experience, all in all. I am lucky that I picked mud to do it on. Was a good way the learn a really important and obvious lesson. I was in my home waters. But you can never, never let your guard down.

The gal on the boat had said earlier that day that, as Captain, I worry too much. I don't know; I think I didn't worry enough.

The other thing kind of interesting is how we had just talked about how I verbalize the hazards while I sail. I think out loud. This drives some people crazy (my ex, for example) and scares other people. But I noted to her that it just indicates systems are normal for me. When I'm quiet is when I'm actually stressed.

Sure enough, when we went aground, motor-mouth here shut up until the situation was fully assessed, sails were put down, attempt to motor out was aborted, and tide book consulted. During the lunch hiatus, I turned the motor mouth back on, laughing at my stupidity. Right after we hit, there was no panic, yelling or anything, just fully focused on the problem until the situation flattened out to normal. Which kind of perfectly proved my point about how I am not stressed when I'm verbalizing the hazards as I sail my merry way.

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by DennisM

despite my wing keel (which is notorious for digging itself into the bottom like a CQR).

LOL!

Like a CQR.

No wonder it was easy to become un-stuck!

Sorry. Just could not resist.

[DennisM]

LMAO! Good point. But I'm not willing to discuss my anchor-dragging incident last season.

[slomotion]

I don't count bumping and scraping when you don't come to a complete stop. And I kind of have mixed feelings about anchor dragging groundings because I don't think I should be held responsible for something which was clearly the anchor's fault. I am, however, inclined to take responsibility for groundings which occur at anchor when no dragging is involved. This happened to me the first day I owned a keel boat - something to do with the tide. Hey, who knew?

It was over 20 years before I ran aground again. I did it twice (others claim it was 3 times) when we went cruising in the Bahamas. Both were low speed under power while "feeling" our way into anchorages with me on the bow directing the helmsman. Upon further reflection, I'm not sure any of these were my fault. Every one of them involved defective ocean levels.

[Hiracer]

Originally Posted by slomotion

Upon further reflection, I'm not sure any of these were my fault. Every one of them involved defective ocean levels.

LOL!!

Gonna definitely use that.

[Bash]

Originally Posted by DennisM

We were going slowly, and all I had to do was start the engine and back out, despite my wing keel (which is notorious for digging itself into the bottom like a CQR).

Argh! My last boat had a winged keel, and it held fast better than any CQR I've ever used.

Of course, the first time I went aground in that boat I had the spinnaker full and drawing.

Never again would I buy a boat with a winged keel.

[Hiracer]

Originally Posted by Bash

Argh! My last boat had a winged keel, and it held fast better than any CQR I've ever used.

Of course, the first time I went aground in that boat I had the spinnaker full and drawing.

Never again would I buy a boat with a winged keel.

My boat used to have a vestigial winged keel, added by the builder as an inside joke. About ten inches on each side. I had it cut off the last time the boat was hauled precisely for the reasons you cite.

[MichaelC]

I know that the Puget Sound bottom loved my schooner's bottom, cause they kissed a lot. Hugged a few times. The day I sold her I took the prospective owner for a sail. We ran aground tacking out of the anchorage. When he jumped in beside me to push off, I knew the boat was sold. Tacked into Useless Bay once, not having read the charts [duh...]. I looked over the side and saw a long trail of sand/mud spinning out from under the keel. I tacked rather precipitously, bounced several times and back into shallow water. If you sail, you run aground from time to time. And that's all the hell there are to it.

[Hiracer]

Originally Posted by Hiracer

SR,
Is your boat in the water yet? Can we do Fourth of July together somewhere??? Sucia, maybe?

I forgot. Your boat is down south, right? Sucia is not gonna happen on a three-day weekend.

[Charlie]

Originally Posted by delmarrey

It's not the running a muck that's so bad but how fast you were going. And, the sea conditions if you get stuck.

I have a little piece of the keel that I keep on my desk About the size of half a golf ball. My keel faired about the same as the one in Del's picture.