Running Aground

[ThomasHome]

Having read an artical in one of the mags recently, I am curious to know if any one has damaged their boat badly by hitting the keel on something solid underwater at speed, or bouncing up and down, with the waves, on to the ground below.

I guess going aground its something many people have done but few tell, though I have to admit to being one of them, but I do have a good excuse!

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[Rob_Webb]

Have kissed the mud numerious times, usually harmelssly, but had potential nasty creeping into Bembridge late one night in a bilge keeler, misjudged the bottleneck entrance and went hard onto the sand - nerve-wracking 5 mins 'til I managed to pursuade volvo to wind up enough umph to overcome following wind and tide and swell to pull us back off - nasty few bumps on the sand which can feel as hard as concrete. Recently heard of another similar case (on sand) resulting in boat damaging hull between keels and needing major re-inforcement (whatever that involves in a GRP boat?).



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[Chris_Robb]

2 cases I know of:

MG 40 - hit a glancing blow at 3 knots off Helford river - OK for 2 years then bottom seen to be cracking up - sagging in its cradle - £25,000 insurance claim to put right.

Bavaria 40 bumped rock off southern Ireland at 5 knots. Needed major surgery on bottom.

Modern boats are not designed to take this type of punishment. as you say in a previous post - you get the boat that suits your type of sailing.

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[mick]

Buy a Sadler 26. Mine (bilge keels) broke its mooring in a storm last October and ended up on the beach (hard sand). She was pounded hard for over an hour before we got her off. The only damage was minor rudder stuff which was easily fixed. The great strong skeg helped, of course.

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[claymore]

Only 2 kinds of Sailor

on the West Coast.
Those who have hit rocks and those who haven't yet.
I naturally fall into the former category - you cannot avoid it if you have an enquiring mind!

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Claymore
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[Ancient_Mariner]

Not a bad experience but an interesting one going aground in calm conditions an hour before spring low bang on the transit into Beaulieu. Had interesting experience of similar draft boats creeping past at a distance of 10 meters with 1m clear under the keel. Apparently locals know about the problem - well I do now too! Can give coordinates of the offending mound if interested.

Larry

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[Gordonmc]

This is a subject which has lived in my nighmares since the late 70's, which is why I try and err on the side of caution.
Like most of the population of Girvan on the Clyde I watched as the local Watson class lifeboat was smashed up on the beach within a hundred yards of the harbour entrance.
She atempted to leave the harbour on a shout to a local fishing boat, but hit a sandbar on the way out on the dip of a trough. Smashed her sterngear and then drifted onto a sewer pipe which is what did for the hull.
No one was hurt but there was a full inquiry and the RNLI Secretary came in for some stick. The boat was a write off.
A salutory lesson.

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[Birdseye]

Interesting. A pal ran his Sadler 34 bilge aground on the sand banks off Clevedon in the Bristol channel. Put the anchor out in the wrong direction so when the tide came back in, his boat scribed a semi circle with the anchor at the centre, bouncing off the sand as it went. The "strong" Sadler skeg didnt survive the experience, nor the rudder and the bill was £3k some 10 years ago.

In my Prout cat I have run aground at least twice each year, and hit the rocks a few times. Sloppiness by any standard and the result of an attitude of mind that says "I dont draw very much and I cant fall over, and there should be enough water ......"

Anyway, no problems whatsoever with the boat - the only issue is that once you get a cat aground, you cant heel it to get off so you are there for a tide.

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[Peppermint]

We piled a 60ft racer onto a rocky reef in Norway at 7 knots. It was what the locals call "a soft reef" which I presume means its got a gradiant to the front but the impact was spectacular. The damage to the keel was a fist sized dent in the bulb but the real damage was to the mast. The spar kinked on the trailing edge abot four foot from the heel. Oh! and we bent a steering wheel. That gave one of the crew sore nuts.

We were lucky. A maxi, can't remember which one, hit a ledge near the Needles and, because the construction is Kevlar on a matrix the whole hull had to be
re-jigged



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