Monday, November 29, 2010

Running Aground

Everyone told us it would happen and we even bought BoatUS towing insurance to be safe - but I don't think Scott and I really ever thought we'd actually run aground.  I mean, how hard is it to stay in a channel?  Well, apparently it's not that easy 'cause we did it.  The situation was incredibly confusing; the channel was not well marked and the tide was low.  All the stars aligned and we kissed the bottom.  And then we became well acquainted with her.  The soft, muddy, sink right into it bottom outside of McClellanville, SC.  A catamaran who was passing us also ran aground  - in the channel.  Luckily for them, the wake of a passing boat was enough to free them.  We were not so lucky.

Thank god for getting BoatUS towing insurance.  We paid $150 US for unlimited towing.  Our little grounding today would have put us back over $700 US dollars without it.  Phew.  As Scott said, "Well...at least we now know the insurance was worth it.  I would have hated to waste $150 bucks".  That Scott, always trying to get the best bang for our buck.

We are back on our way and headed to Charleston, SC where we'll drop off my brother.  He'll be composing a guest post of the last couple days with us.  You should be excited, not only is he hilarious - he's had some rather interesting...insights.

Lesson learned:  If there is a fork in the road (or waterway), and you accidentally go down the one less traveled by (i.e. poorly marked) - go back where you began (i.e top of the fork) before you change your mind and take the more traveled route.


Love,
Brittany & Scott

10 comments:

Skylark said...

Like they say, there are two types of sailors...ones that have ran aground and ones that will run aground. BoatUS membership was the best money you could have ever spent. You will not regret it...especially when you get to Georgia! Keep up the great posts!
Jim

Erick said...

Oh yeah been there. Unfortunately my first grounding was before I bought the insurance. $1,300 since we were hard aground on a rock and the towboat had to come a long way. I told them to throw $150 on top of it and give me the insurance. So very worth it.

Allen Tyson said...

Hey you two :- Glad you made it off the bottom. I'm going over to Submarine used parts store for some sonar for you guys.Insurance is always the right thing to carry.Vision II only hit bottom once south lake near the Promtory Point. Yous truly was not on board. True confession, my x -partner grounded,but didn't have the depth sounder on . DA H&K, Mr AJ

Brenda and David said...

Glad you made it off the bottom. Umm...you said it was a very low tide. Why didn't you just wait for the water to rise? I know it's embarrassing to just sit there, but, often better for the boat and bottom paint to float off rather than be towed.

Fair winds,

Windtraveler said...

@Brenda - yes, we thought about that...but we would have had to wait HOURS and that just wasn't going to work...plus, it was just soft silt so no scrapy scrapy. In addition, a tow was free and fast. In the future, yes - we'd wait it out. But we needed to get my brother to the airport in Charleston. :)

Laura and Hans said...

I read blog where a couple ran aground 3 times in one day in the Intracoastal! We motored a nightmarish 3 hours near McClellanville, in the dark because we had to weigh anchor after finding we'd sprung a big leak. At times our depth was reading less than 3 feet (we draw 2.5) and we just prayed we'd made make it to a marina. As for waiting for high tide in the Intracoastal, I wouldn't do it either especially as you could get trapped between draw bridges (who stop opening at 7PM) and with no available anchorage. We made it as far as Charleston where our girl is on the hard until after Christmas. Now that you'll be passing us up, I'll be anxious to see what lies ahead of us!

Brenda and David said...

Ah, pesky time schedules of visitors to the boat! That makes sense. Yep, 6 hours is a long time when you're in a hurry. Glad you had the tow insurance , we also carry the unlimited tow insurance, great thing to have. Regarding bridges and closures, yes, we've also had to wait over night near a bridge for it to open. In that case, with no anchorage at hand, we just anchored in the river while we waited adjacent the bridge. Other boats do the same. Good luck in the remaining part of your trip down the IWC :)

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