Running Aground!  Sailing Techniques

By Sailor Cull   

In every sailor's life lurks the inevitability of an eventual
grounding. If you're a sailor and you haven't yet run aground,
chances are very good that one day you will.
WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU RUN AGROUND DON'T PANIC -- doing the wrong thing can put you on harder.
 
Now that you're on the bottom, take a minute to evaluate the
situation. Check the bilge to be sure that you haven't holed the
boat and aren't taking on water. What is the nature of the
bottom? If it's soft sand or grass, chances are good that the
boat is undamaged, and that if you need to motor or kedge off
you won't grind a hole in the boat. Your objective is to get
safely into deeper water.
 
Motoring off -- If you have a motor or engine your first
inclination will be to start it up and try to back out. This may
work, but be careful. In sandy or muddy bottoms you are likely
to suck sand up into the cooling system and render the motor
useless. A powerful engine in shallow water can actually push
sand from the stern to under the keel, making the situation
worse. If you're on rocks and you reverse hard, you may drag the
hull along the rocks and damage or even hole the boat.
 
Set out an anchor. One of the first things to do is to set out
an anchor to keep your boat from being pushed even farther onto
the shoal. If you have a dingy you can use it to carry out an
anchor. If you don't have a dingy, and if conditions are calm,
maybe someone wearing buoyant flotation gear can swim an anchor
out. Be aware that this is not an easy task and a person can
become totally exhausted very quickly. If your boat is a small
one, your anchor is also probably small enough and light enough
for you to be able to throw it far enough for it to work, but be
careful if you do this. You don't want to go overboard with it.
Keep as much tension on the anchor line as you can. This alone
may help free you up, especially if you have a rising tide, or
if passing boats create enough of a wake to raise you up
momentarily.
 
What is the state of the tide? If you've gone aground on a
rising tide, you may just be able to wait a couple of hours
until it rises enough to refloat the boat. If you've gone
aground on a falling tide, however, you need to get into deeper
water fast, or you may be stuck where you are for an entire tide
change. If this happens, and if the boat is likely to end up
lying on its side, close up hatches and companionways to keep it
from flooding. If you'd be better off lying on one side than on
the other, try to kedge off an anchor from what you want to be
the low side. You may also be able to control which side ends up
high by shifting crew and gear weight. Where is the deeper
water? It may seem obvious that deeper water lies behind you,
but it might be even deeper beside you. Of course it's not
directly in front of you -- if it were, you wouldn't have run
aground in the first place. To find where the deeper water is,
you have some options. If you have a lead line you can lower it
off the boat from all sides to get a measurement of the depth.
You can make a lead line by taking a light line and attaching a
weight to the end. You could also very quickly put a boat hook
or an oar in the water.
 
How do you get there? If you have a centerboard, raise it. This
will decrease the draft, possibly enough to free the boat. Can
you sail off? If you were sailing down wind when you ran
aground, harden up and try to go to windward. If you were
sailing close hauled, tack immediately and move crew weight to
leeward. If sailing off on a reach or downwind would put you
into deeper water, ease the sails and fall off toward the deeper
water. Move crew weight around to heel the boat in the direction
which is most likely to help it to slide off - this alone may
reduce the boat's draft enough to free her up. If this doesn't
work, drop sails, as the wind on the sails will continue to push
you harder onto the shallow water. Furl them out of the way. On
deck they will become a slippery liability.
 
Kedging off -- Once you've set an anchor in deeper water, you
may be able to winch it in and pull the boat off that way.
Again, moving crew weight around may help immeasurably. It may
help to rock the boat by shifting crew weight back and forth as
you winch in on the anchor.
 
Use a halyard -- If you know that heeling the boat in one
direction will help, hand a halyard to someone in a dingy who
can then carefully motor off the boat's beam and pull it over
farther. If you don't have a dingy, a crew member can grab a
halyard and swing out over the beam of the boat to try to
increase heel.
 
Get off and push - This technique is obviously only safe and
effective in very shallow water, and thus will only work with a
very shallow draft boat, such as a day sailor or a multihull.
Before getting in the water, be sure to put shoes on. Make sure
that the boat won't sail off without you, and that you have a
way to get back onto the boat.
 
Accept tow? As a last resort, if all other options have failed.
This may require a VHF call to a towing company. Be careful -- a
big powerful powerboat may be able to pull with more force than
the boat's equipment can handle--the boat's hull can be damaged.
The boat must have a cleat strong enough to take the strain of a
tow, which may be considerable. If there is no cleat strong
enough, consider tying off to the base of the mast. If the mast
is stepped through the deck it will take the strain, if it's
stepped on deck it may not. The line used as tow line also must
be strong enough to take the strain of towing -- if it breaks
under the strain of the pull of a tow boat, it will become a
lethal weapon.
 
When you may not want to refloat the boat -- if you have a hole
in the bottom you may be better off right where you are, at
least until you've been able to carry out enough of an emergency
repair to keep the boat from sinking.

I and my crew wish you the best in your sailing endeavors! Best to you, Sailor Cull _/)_

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