A Bad Day…….

[DBthal]

Not for me, it was a beautiful day of sailing, right in the 8-12 knot sea breeze sweet spot.

As, I tacked up the bay, I saw this:

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I've mentioned before that the Maine coast is beautiful, but unforgiving if you're not paying attention. This is a big $$$ sailboat that looked about 50' long.   It's on a well charted granite ledge near low tide.

To add insult to injury, about 15 sailboats moored in my bay sailed out to take a look. I'm sure the Capt'n won't forget this day.

Dan

[Brian N.]

Ouch! Hopefully no damage and if the tide was low (assuming a good tidal range) she will refloat. I got caught on a sandbar in the river a couple of times, fortunately sand is soft and I was on the rising tide. Tidal range where I sail is about seven feet, so it did not take long to float off. Let us know the outcome if you know.

When I raced in the Ensign class, during one particular race, a few sailors took the "shore" side route hoping to gain  a tidal advantage. One boat followed the other and about 3 boats were grounded. But again, soft sand on a rising tide, so no real damage. Granite is not so forgiving.

[Captain Kidd]

What do they say? You've either grounded or you will.

I've bumped the bottom a few times but never got stuck. Th closest I ever came to serious trouble was shortly after I began sailing. I had a Kells 23' with about 2-1/2' draft. I "bravely" tackled the Chesapeake Bay after only a little experience on an inland lake. We launched and the wind was blowing like crazy. I was being very careful to follow the channel markers out to deeper water. With my lack of experience, I failed to allow for leeway. I was only watching the marker in front of me. Before I knew it, we were out of the channel and hitting bottom! I slammed the motor into reverse (we hadn't raised sail yet), pushed off the bottom with my boat hook and got back into the channel.

As hard as the wind was blowing, we could have been in some serious trouble. The wind blew and it stormed until the next day as a serious front passed through. We did get out into the bay and sailed for a short time but I lost my nerve and returned to the marina. And we lived to tell the story!

[tjspiel]

Was listening to the local public radio station last night and they were broadcasting an episode of "Hidden Brain"

This one was about self-compassion. The skipper is going to need some of that.

https://hiddenbrain.org/podcast/being-kind-to-yourself/

[DBthal]

This one was about self-compassion. The skipper is going to need some of that.

Yes.  All it takes is a couple minutes of distraction for things to go bad. The skipper was probably sorting things out after leaving the marina and getting ready to adjust sail.