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Justin
Admiral

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502 Posts

Initially Posted - 06/19/2006 : 13:07:55

I had a great day sailing on the Chesapeake on Saturday and thought I'd share some great photos. Dave (Bubba) took these excellent photos in action. Thanks a lot Dave!

Here I am at the helm:

In those photos we were sailing around 4.5-5 knots. After the photo shoot, I tacked back home and cruised between 6-7.2 knots the entire way back! We were really cruising and with my one reef in the main and partially reefed genoa, it was a comfortable ride. Dave said his wind meter read 20-25 knot winds. When I was heading back to my marina cruising at hull speed, I was watching other sailboats heeling over so much without any reefs, but I was going just as fast more comfortably. I'm still getting the hang of sailing, but I had a great time Saturday.

I did have one scary moment though when I first headed out. I decided to go south on the West River before I headed north to the bay to wait for Dave. I set both sails and we were cruising over 6 knots for only a few minutes when suddenly I ran aground! I thought I was far enough from shore; the river is very wide in this one section. I was cruising in 12-15' depths when suddenly we hit and it was reading down to 3'. I immediately furled the headsail, pulled in the main, started up the outboard, and had my brother Chris raise the keel as I reversed out. My brother was alarmed that water was coming in. I continued to back out and I was thinking it's either water shooting through the cable hose from the engine's thrust or we some how got a leak from the grounding. I got us into deeper water and had my brother Brian take the helm as I went down below. I asked Chris about the water and sure enough it was only shooting out the hose. That was a relief, but I still checked the other compartments of the bilge for water and everything was fine. I then decided to sail slowly under the main sail only to wait for Dave to meet up. I checked out my charts and noticed that the river goes from 12’ to 2-3’ very suddenly and the shelf extends way out from the shore. I didn’t realize I was that close to it, especially when shore seemed so far. I’ve sailed down this river several times already, but now I know to really keep my distance.

When instances like that occur, it gets me wondering if I really want to be a boat owner. I love my boat, working on/restoring her, and usually enjoy the sailing. The rest of the day was great and I loved how we were cruising at hull speed so easily. It's just when the thought of what can happen, especially with a swing keel, it can be nerve racking. I plan to haul her out this fall and inspect and replace the keel hardware. With more sailing experience I will get more in tune to my boat's capabilities and become more comfortable I'm sure. Sometimes I think that a little power boat would be nice, but then again maybe that would be too boring because you would get to where ever so quickly, then be left with not much to do. Not to mention with rising gas prices, a powerboat could be costly driving from one place to another.

I’m looking forward to next weekend for more sailing and getting more work done.

Justin
Previous Owner of Sapphire Breeze - 1982 Catalina 25 SK/SR
My sail blog site: https://reveriesailing.com/

Edited by - on

Frank Hopper
Past Commodore

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Pitcairn Island
6776 Posts

Response Posted - 06/19/2006 : 13:16:40

Good job on a great day. It is really nice to see young people learning to love sailing. The ecstasy is worth anguish.
What tunes did you have with you? By the way, guy time is fine but I find sailing with a lady on board makes the day even better.

Edited by - on

Justin
Admiral

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502 Posts

Response Posted - 06/19/2006 : 13:43:02

I haven't installed the stereo system yet, so no tunes. That project will follow soon after I install a solar charging system. Yes, I definitely agree I need to take a lady (or make that plural) out on my boat.

The problem is I just need to meet some first. I'm working on it.

Edited by - on

Lightnup
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1016 Posts

Response Posted - 06/19/2006 : 14:30:50

Tell 'em you own a sailboat...chicks dig it. Or so I've been told.

On the "OMG, just think what could have happened" subject, you'll have far more good experiences than bad ones and things like groundings that seem scary at the time only serve to make you a better, more aware sailor. My first grounding (with this boat) happened on a stretch of river I've sailed over probably 75 times. And that was the problem. I'd gotten complacent, forgotten precisely where the "bump" was and didn't pay attention to the low-low tide that day. Oooops. Even had to remove the rudder to keep it from damaging the pintles, gudgeons or transom as it repeatedly banged on the river bottom. But, that taught me to pay more attention because I started thinking about "what could have happened."

Cool pics. Every time you go out, you'll learn stuff. I know I do. In about 50 years, I hope to know at least half of what Frank Hopper knows about sailing.

By the way, if you look at the pic in my signature, I was scared to death at the time and never would have been at that angle of heel if the experienced sailor who took the picture hadn't been calmly reassuring me that we were far from being in trouble. Sailing with more experienced folks will give you tons of confidence in what your boat (and you) can handle.

Good luck,

Steve

Edited by - Lightnup on 06/19/2006 14:41:19

djn
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1561 Posts

Response Posted - 06/19/2006 : 17:05:35

Looks like a great day Justin. I agree with Steve, what a great way to pick up the ladies. Cheers.

Edited by - on

Steve Milby
Past Commodore

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USA
5909 Posts

Response Posted - 06/19/2006 : 18:49:54

Justin, from the deck of a boat, water that is 1'deep looks about the same as water that is 50' deep, and often shallow water can extend far offshore. Get a good chart, and, until you're thoroughly familiar with the area, refer to the chart constantly. Also, when going in and out of the rivers, follow the green square and red triangular daymarks. Don't be tempted, by the fact that you have a swing keel, to take a shortcut, because when your keel is down, it's actually deeper than the fin keel. If you crank it up, and then run aground, you'll be aground in shallow water, which could present a bigger problem getting free, because you can't crank it up anymore to get free.

I've been crewing on some friends' boats out of Whitehall, and the channel out of there has a lot of turns that you have to follow carefully to get out the river into Annapolis harbor.

Edited by - on

djn
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1561 Posts

Response Posted - 06/19/2006 : 19:29:01

I just want to add to Steve's comments: the Garmin 170C chartplotter with chip for your area, is about the same price as one tow off the shallows. And besides that, it is a cool toy to play with. Cheers.

Edited by - on

Gloss
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1916 Posts

Response Posted - 06/19/2006 : 19:39:20

Way to hang in there Justin, went aground, got off, went sailing, had a great day, planning on doing it some more.
You are lucky you didn't go aground in the Florida Keys. Big time fines for that there.
I agree that you need to get good at reading charts. The good news, is that it isn't really that hard to do. I must admit that I do cheat at this, in that I own a Garmin 176C chartplotter. That and the paper charts, binaculars to find the bouys in the distance and before you know it you will know your home waters quite well.
You have already shown us that you are a smart captain in that you reefed early.
Please don't let one grounding get you down. Anybody who doesn't admit to it is, well, you know what.

One of my favorite dates is to go sailing, then anchor out, make some drinks in the blender, throw something on the magma grill, watch the sunset..................

That's when the chartplotter comes in handy, to help find your way back in the dark

Edited by - on

Tom Potter
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1913 Posts

Response Posted - 06/19/2006 : 19:53:50

Great pictures Justin, you look like an <s>old</s> "young" salt at the helm!

Edited by - Tom Potter on 06/19/2006 19:55:14

OLarryR
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3492 Posts

Response Posted - 06/19/2006 : 21:21:28

Justin,

After I ran aground soon after buying and sailing my boat last fall, I installed a fishfinder for the non-working depthfinder that came with the boat. Since that experience I have not had a problem. Besides studying the chart for where I will be sailing, I constantly check that fishfinder for depths and also to get a feel for how fast the bootom is coming up - It kind of shows the contour. Anyway...your recent experience is another one to add to your adventure book.

I took off today and went for a nice sail down the Potomac. Got caught by a thunder boomer on the way back. Started rainbing cats and dogs but i already had my hatch boards in place and had other things in order. Luckily...no lightning strikes that I could see near me but close. Then it let up. Sun came out for a little while. I casually made it back to my marina as I could see another storm approaching. I should have been timed for how fast I pulled into the slip and put everything away///but then had to close myself up inside the cabin as this storm was coming in for the kill. As I sat there in the cabin...it was a good time to look for leaks, consider where to put eventually a new switch panel and etc other things. Finally...after about 1 1/2 hrs, I made my escape.

Edited by - on

Frank Hopper
Past Commodore

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Pitcairn Island
6776 Posts

Response Posted - 06/19/2006 : 23:49:25

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Lightnup
 Tell 'em you own a sailboat...chicks dig it. Or so I've been told.

Cool pics. Every time you go out, you'll learn stuff. I know I do. In about 50 years, I hope to know at least half of what Frank Hopper knows about sailing.

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Pulease! You are going to get me laughed off my dock! And also notice you are closing on Master Marine Consultant yourself! We need a "tongue in cheek" face added to our emoticon library.

Edited by - on

Justin
Admiral

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502 Posts

Response Posted - 06/20/2006 : 07:47:23

Steve,
I’ve really noticed you cannot tell the depths of the water, especially the murky waters of the Chesapeake. I use my charts, but I had been down this river several times but did not realize this point extended out and changed so abrubtly. It opens up right after. Here is a print screen of a chart showing where I ran aground.

I came out the Rhode River (pts 1 & 2), set my sails around point 3 where depths were 12-15’ and you can see the shallow point that sticks out and suddenly goes to 2’. When we were out on the water, it seems like we were further out, but I must have just hit that tip around pt 5. My intention was to sail in the widened area after the point, but I decided to head out to the bay. I always follow the channel markers in and out of the rivers, but as you can see, there is no marker at this point. It’s deceiving because we seemed further out than what it seems the chart shows, probably because that is a large scale chart.
I also always keep the keel down until I get near my marina where I have a shallow slip.

Dennis,
Those chart plotters are very cool and handy. Dave has one and I’ve seen how helpful they are. I plan to buy one someday, but right now I have other projects with higher priorities. If I keep the keel down, running aground shouldn’t be much of a problem and it shouldn’t happen often. Once I begin to really explore the bay, I will want to have one at that time. As a back up for now, I do have my runner’s GPS that I can get my coordinates from and find myself on the charts.

Frank Gloss,
I understand how to read the charts, I just hadn’t reviewed that section in a while and after sailing the same route several times, I thought I knew what I was doing. I was wrong, but now I know to really keep my distance at that point. That was my first time using my main sail reef. When we got out to the West River and set sails, it was pretty windy, so I thought I would try it out. I figured it would be easier to reef it in the beginning rather than be out on the bay in higher winds and be trying to reef it at that time. Your date idea is great, similar to what I’ve thought of; I just don’t have the grill or 12V blender yet. Oh yeah, good point, the chart plotter would be handy in the dark.

Larry,
Must be nice to go sailing during the week!

I’m jealous. Too bad the Potomac wasn’t the Chesapeake! Imagine DC being right off the Chesapeake; that would be nice. Those were some big storms that came through yesterday afternoon/evening. Glad to hear you had a nice sail with no problems.

Edited by - on

OLarryR
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3492 Posts

Response Posted - 06/20/2006 : 12:11:54

Justin,

Even though there are a number of us semi-close by, we are still to far apart to really get our boats together. I think the Potomac is about 100 miles long. I debated moving my boat farther down the Potomac where it is much better sailing territory (wider) but have same dilemma concerning if i were to relocate it to the Chesapeake - it's farther from my house and I would wind up using it a lot less. Where it is now, I can pretty much go down to it every day of the work week. It's just 10 minutes down the road using local streets. Yesterday, I had to do something in the morning and so decided to take the whole day off and go sailing for most of it. Today....I'll be down there by 4pm.

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Bubba
Admiral

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USA
542 Posts

Response Posted - 06/20/2006 : 21:26:53

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">What tunes did you have with you?<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
"Hear the bells ring,
as the tight riggin' sings.
It's a son of a gun of a chorus"
-Jimmy Buffett

Edited by - on

Justin
Admiral

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502 Posts

Response Posted - 06/26/2006 : 10:04:22

I just uploaded to Google a video my brother Brian took with my camera from that weekend. Here it is:
[url="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2567881507260350467"]Video[/url]

Edited by - on

atgep
Master Marine Consultant

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1009 Posts

Response Posted - 06/26/2006 : 11:07:31

A chartplotter is handy and saved my A$$ when I nearly ran over a rocky bar. It was in a inlet with poor visual reference. I missed a marker and saw the 1 foot depth on the plotter

. I looked up and saw the water rippling on the shoal.

A quick 90 deg turn and all was well. Another 100 yards and I would have been shopping for another boat.

I now do not leave the dock without it powered up.

Tom.

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