Groundings

[andy c]

I sometimes revel in others misfortune.Whenever I see a new picture of a beeched boat I always thank god it wasnt me.

Anybody here done it bad.

Ive touched the bottom of Christchurch harbour coming back in,and with the props on a falling tide ,on shafts with no keel to rest on.I was getting preeeetty worried.

[Huntsman]

andy c said:

I sometimes revel in others misfortune.Whenever I see a new picture of a beeched boat I always thank god it wasnt me.

Anybody here done it bad.

Ive touched the bottom of Christchurch harbour coming back in,and with the props on a falling tide ,on shafts with no keel to rest on.I was getting preeeetty worried.

What boat?

I never have, I did once see the bottom approaching pompey harbour at 20 knots, scared me a little, there was a bank I never knew about. Oops.

I've been well into Keyhaven at low water neaps and its pretty shallow, likewise no protection for my props!

Solent yacht racing many many times I've dug the keel in the mud.

[LD1Racing]

Grounded a couple of times in River Plate and the Amazon (kind of expected there), took about 20% of the starboard prop off in Victoria BC on a concrete breakwater a few years back, and last year bent 2 blades and snapped one on our port prop coming into FLIBS, grrrr.

[tank slapper]

It's only going aground if you do it on a falling tide, otherwise it's just touching bottom. I haven't ever got unintentionally stuck for a whole tide, but have grounded deliberately many times - bilge keels are very convenient when you want to change propeller anodes or give the bottom a quick scrub.

[Huntsman]

tank slapper said:

bilge keels are very convenient when you want to change propeller anodes or give the bottom a quick scrub.

But crap for sailing?

[tank slapper]

Huntsman said:

But crap for sailing?

That depends on the boat, and what you are doing. They sail well enough for coastal cruising, and plenty are used for longer trips. Typically they do lose a bit of up-wind performance compared to a fin-keeled version of the same boat, though not as much as you might expect. I think they get an unfair reputation based on a mixture of snobbery, ignorance, and probably a few poor designs of the past.

As ever, it is a matter of choosing the right boat for the job. For cruising on the east coast they are ideal due to the large number of shoal areas and drying moorings. For racing, or sailing from deep water 24-hour access harbours then obviously that isn't so much of a consideration.

[Huntsman]

tank slapper said:

Huntsman said:

But crap for sailing?

That depends on the boat, and what you are doing. They sail well enough for coastal cruising, and plenty are used for longer trips. Typically they do lose a bit of up-wind performance compared to a fin-keeled version of the same boat, though not as much as you might expect. I think they get an unfair reputation based on a mixture of snobbery, ignorance, and probably a few poor designs of the past.

As ever, it is a matter of choosing the right boat for the job. For cruising on the east coast they are ideal due to the large number of shoal areas and drying moorings. For racing, or sailing from deep water 24-hour access harbours then obviously that isn't so much of a consideration.

Ah, I can see the merit on the east coast.

[DJFish]

One of the most relaxing groundings was coming out of the Thames in a Heavenly Twins on a flood tide one autumn evening, boat on autopilot, sat on the front with my buddy tucking into a Fray Bentos pie with the lights of Southend twinkling away to port, albeit a little closer than they should've been.
Boat was pootling along, we ate pie.
Boat started to slow, we ate pie.
Boat stopped in the mud, we ate pie.
Boat eventually floated off just as we were licking the plates washing up.