Be careful in unfamiliar marinas

[Dr. D]

I am not pointing a finger at these guys, or laughing at them. This is a learning moment: In a new marina, learn the area before getting underway.

This morning there was a fire truck in the parking lot and two firemen on a sailboat with two other guys in a slip a ways in from mine. Odd, but OK. A while later I am walking back to the dock as I see the sailboat backing out of the slip, then turning up the fairway. Nice boat handling displayed.

The two firemen are walking up to their vehicle and I ask them if there was a problem. No, they say, they were just seeing a buddy take delivery of a new to him sailboat. Cool.

I keep walking down the dock to see how things were in the creek. The sailboat is moving at about 4 kts. It keeps going straight after the end of the dock which is odd as their is a shoal about 20 yards past the dock. In fact, at that distance there is a piling with a warning sign “SHOAL” on it. The sailboat keeps going straight then I hear “which side of that piling should we be on?” The sailboat does a quick 180 turn then stops having run aground. I ask if they want help from the marina office, which they do, so I locate a dock hand to help them. They get towed off the shoal.

I plan to sail to new areas this season. I will remember this lesson.