oilybilge
Well-Known Member
So that's why I went aground on Shotley Spit last summer.
Bloody Russians.
Bloody Russians.
E-Loran
- Thread starter 14K478
- Start date
14K478
Well-Known Member
Oh, well… Shotley Spit … a really devious shoal that, in my fifty five years of sailing around and over it, is never where you think it is!
Anyone can go aground on it. In full public view of everyone in the harbour from the crews of container ships on Trinity Terminal to walkers taking a constitutional promenade on the Shotley sea wall to the pilot boat and tug crews and of course everyone afloat for pleasure…and the harbour cam…
Michael Green in “The Art of Coarse Sailing” mentions “being seized by a hidden hand…” - Shotley Spit has hidden hands!
I have a very distinct memory of being at the helm of the Red Monster while the crew were all occupied in setting the mainsail… when I happened to glance at the echosounder… we had inches under the keel, a tide about to turn , and an engine that had lost interest owing to slime in the fuel…saying as little as possible in order not to spread alarm and despondency in the crew I spun the wheel and said that we would have more room on the other tack… I got away with it that time but this photo from the harbour cam records the event…
