A forum member made the observation a little while ago that you're not a real sailor 'til you've run aground.
Well that happened to me yesterday in the Bay View area of Pittwater. Maybe I had cut the corner a tad fine
but there I was ..stuck. A call on my new VHF radio to Sydney Rescue told me they had no boats out but they
would give Bay View Marina a call to send out a work boat. No need for that. within two minutes I had calls
coming in from boats all over Pittwater saying they were on their way. Two rocked up immediately, an RIB that
hooked on to my bow but couldn't shift it and a gin palace with a bloke hanging off the bow with a rope. But,
just then, the local BOS in his Waterways boat charged in and in 30 seconds had hooked on and dragged us clear.
He did give me a stern look and say ' we do have marker bouys' and then took off. It was on a falling tide so
the longer I was there the worse it would have got. I was very impressed with the response and thanked all involved.
So the question is to those of you who get or have got grounded, is there a manouvre you use to get free or
is it always a 'tow off' situation. A rising tide would help of course.

Lots of tricks and depends on the boat and the bottom.

Spinnaker halyard and tell them not to go too hard!

Biggest thing is stay well in the deep water on a falling tide!!!
My dads boat is a long keel boat with no mast, so if she's stuck there's no hope!!
Mind you the big Gardner helps if you act quick!!

Select to expand quote

samsturdy said..
A forum member made the observation a little while ago that you're not a real sailor 'til you've run aground.
Well that happened to me yesterday in the Bay View area of Pittwater. Maybe I had cut the corner a tad fine
but there I was ..stuck. A call on my new VHF radio to Sydney Rescue told me they had no boats out but they
would give Bay View Marina a call to send out a work boat. No need for that. within two minutes I had calls
coming in from boats all over Pittwater saying they were on their way. Two rocked up immediately, an RIB that
hooked on to my bow but couldn't shift it and a gin palace with a bloke hanging off the bow with a rope. But,
just then, the local BOS in his Waterways boat charged in and in 30 seconds had hooked on and dragged us clear.
He did give me a stern look and say ' we do have marker bouys' and then took off. It was on a falling tide so
the longer I was there the worse it would have got. I was very impressed with the response and thanked all involved.
So the question is to those of you who get or have got grounded, is there a manouvre you use to get free or
is it always a 'tow off' situation. A rising tide would help of course.

whoever told you that was a prick. 30+ years on the water and only run aground on purpose with tinnies and dinghies, not once with a yacht when I was the skipper (few times as crew on other yachts). I came close once or twice, where within the navigational markers the water ended up shallower than listed on charts.
Anyway, what action I'd take would depend on the sonar read out. I would definitely try to chuck the gearbox into reverse and see if that helps. #2 would be what you did, use the radio (or call VMR or the Coastguard) #3 if no response, I'd get in the dinghy, leave the wife at the helm and try to assist with - pulling the stern/bow and see what gives a bit.

Twice now ?? 1st time waiting for Swansea bridge to open, strayed a little too Far East of the bridge onto the sand bar, doof!, everyone saw that one, and again in the Gold Coast Broadwater, actually with beacon to beacon open on my lap.....what's that green marker all the way over there? ....dooh!

Both times I was able to put the helm hard over and pivot on the keel and drive back out the way I went in.....1st was sand, 2nd was mud

id hate to hit rock

Tried to duck inside the marker Sam? No, running aground isn't the sign of a true sailor. Avoiding running aground through sound navigation is.

I have run aground each time I have headed north, 1st time in the Narrows behind Curtis and 2nd time near Russell Island. Both times in the marked channel. Both times got off by putting 2 x 20 litre buckets filled with water on the boom and extending the boom out towards the shallow water. Used the motor and gearbox to walk the boat around the keel and head back the way I came in.

Ended up on St. Kilda beach just up from St.Kilda Marina in my new Columbia 27 back in seventies . Motor stopped when coming up channel racing storm. Anchor would not hold. Family walked onto beach and about 20 fellow members turned the boat on the waves heeled over as a cruiser pulled her off .
These days run aground regularly in the Broardwater although not for a few months. Just drop sails ,raise keel and motor off.

A strategy I used in Southern Port Phillip. If you are by yourself on a rising tide but being blown on a sand bar, put your anchor in the dingy and row it our to deep water so you can kedge off as the water rises.

I normally just raise the offending daggerboard, and good to go. :)

Select to expand quote

samsturdy said..
A forum member made the observation a little while ago that you're not a real sailor 'til you've run aground.
Well that happened to me yesterday in the Bay View area of Pittwater. Maybe I had cut the corner a tad fine
but there I was ..stuck. A call on my new VHF radio to Sydney Rescue told me they had no boats out but they
would give Bay View Marina a call to send out a work boat. No need for that. within two minutes I had calls
coming in from boats all over Pittwater saying they were on their way. Two rocked up immediately, an RIB that
hooked on to my bow but couldn't shift it and a gin palace with a bloke hanging off the bow with a rope. But,
just then, the local BOS in his Waterways boat charged in and in 30 seconds had hooked on and dragged us clear.
He did give me a stern look and say ' we do have marker bouys' and then took off. It was on a falling tide so
the longer I was there the worse it would have got. I was very impressed with the response and thanked all involved.
So the question is to those of you who get or have got grounded, is there a manouvre you use to get free or
is it always a 'tow off' situation. A rising tide would help of course.

Of course it's always better to avoid and don't think it's any measure of being a true sailor, but depending on where you do your boating it can be par for the course. In my home cruising ground Western Port with a 3 metre tidal range and a lot of mudflats, shallow water and tricky channels I was told a variation on your advice by all the locals. There are only two types of sailors here - those that have run aground and those that will run aground! If you want to explore some of the harder to reach areas it's probably going to happen.
I ran aground trying to sneak up a very narrow channel into an anchorage hole through some drying mudbanks. Arrived at a tricky t junction to find a tinny anchored right in the intersection of the two channels fishing. Tried to get around him and ended up in the mud. Solution was pretty simple, waited for the tide to come in.
Anyway I'm in Pittwater for the first time today, you must have been on the radio right when I ducked ashore for supplies. It's shallower than I expected up the north end anyway. Under Barrenjoey Head right now, heading north in the morning so will unfortunately miss out on a seabreezers cruise this trip.

My trick is to lift the dagger board and then continue on with my day

It's only happened to me one time. I was too busy yelling at someone squatting on the club mooring at the basin and didn't notice I had drifted into sand.

I'm moored in a tidal estuary and I have run aground plenty of times. Several times when I was a fisherman and pre GPS. These were the embarrassing times after leaving the wharf in thick fog and run aground and just sit there. Wait for the sun to come up, have breakfast and see where we were and spy on the other fishing vessels and see where they ended up!
With my yacht I have bounced on bars when not allowing for the current that can carry you sideways onto the sand if your not paying attention. Always got away with these incidents by turning into the deep section and hardening up on the main to get a bit more heel. I have recovered my yacht twice after she came off the mooring and ended up high and dry. Run the anchor out into deep water and wait for the tide. Done this a few times with other peoples yachts as well. Haul down on the mast or just have people out on the extended boom to get some heel. If a yacht has just nudged a sand bank it is sometimes easier to just pull her back the way she went up, this will depend on the rear edge of the keel but with the boom out and some weight on it should do the job.

Select to expand quote

Futurecruiser said..

samsturdy said..
A forum member made the observation a little while ago that you're not a real sailor 'til you've run aground.
Well that happened to me yesterday in the Bay View area of Pittwater. Maybe I had cut the corner a tad fine
but there I was ..stuck. A call on my new VHF radio to Sydney Rescue told me they had no boats out but they
would give Bay View Marina a call to send out a work boat. No need for that. within two minutes I had calls
coming in from boats all over Pittwater saying they were on their way. Two rocked up immediately, an RIB that
hooked on to my bow but couldn't shift it and a gin palace with a bloke hanging off the bow with a rope. But,
just then, the local BOS in his Waterways boat charged in and in 30 seconds had hooked on and dragged us clear.
He did give me a stern look and say ' we do have marker bouys' and then took off. It was on a falling tide so
the longer I was there the worse it would have got. I was very impressed with the response and thanked all involved.
So the question is to those of you who get or have got grounded, is there a manouvre you use to get free or
is it always a 'tow off' situation. A rising tide would help of course.

Of course it's always better to avoid and don't think it's any measure of being a true sailor, but depending on where you do your boating it can be par for the course. In my home cruising ground Western Port with a 3 metre tidal range and a lot of mudflats, shallow water and tricky channels I was told a variation on your advice by all the locals. There are only two types of sailors here - those that have run aground and those that will run aground! If you want to explore some of the harder to reach areas it's probably going to happen.
I ran aground trying to sneak up a very narrow channel into an anchorage hole through some drying mudbanks. Arrived at a tricky t junction to find a tinny anchored right in the intersection of the two channels fishing. Tried to get around him and ended up in the mud. Solution was pretty simple, waited for the tide to come in.

While not on a yacht l can add Andersons inlet ( Venus Bay end in particular ) as another place to avoid like the plague,
12 ft tinny, middle of winter, icy cold, drizzly rain etc etc
stuck on mangrove mudflats 300 mts from the boat ramp, on the wrong side of the 'channel'

With my 18 yr old daughter.

There aren't many 12 ft tinnies with built in dunnies.
Had to wait for the tide to come back in.

Sorry ' bout that darl but l DID offer to pay for your therapy,

There's been no real need to bring it up at EVERY family function in the last 12 yrs or so,

Touched plenty of times, run aground plenty of times, several of those being in the middle of the leads into certain marinas in the north end of the bay. Fact of life and a never ending cycle where the dredges don't quite do what is advertised.

If it doesn't come off in reverse and you have another boat assisting, tie a long spare rope to one of your halyards and toss it to another boat, they heel you while you drive it off.
If you've both got good line handling skills, have a second line from your bow to the other boat, they heel you, you come off, they ease the halyard line and take you under tow on the bowline till your clear.
Can get messy with the second line if you're not confident, so don't try 2 unless you can ensure you won't foul your prop. Or theirs.

Thanks Shaggy and everybody. I hadn't given heeling the boat a thought, but of course now you've pointed it out
it makes perfect sense. I had tried to reverse out but no go and the RIB pulled the bow around but it still didn't budge, it
just didn't have the guts.
The nearest moored yacht was six foot away so I'm blowed if I know how they moor up without running aground, especially in a Northerly when you need to come up to your mooring from the South over the shallows.

Select to expand quote

samsturdy said..
Thanks Shaggy and everybody. I hadn't given heeling the boat a thought, but of course now you've pointed it out
it makes perfect sense. I had tried to reverse out but no go and the RIB pulled the bow around but it still didn't budge, it
just didn't have the guts.
The nearest moored yacht was six foot away so I'm blowed if I know how they moor up without running aground, especially in a Northerly when you need to come up to your mooring from the South over the shallows.

Its a lot better the second time.
I was testing my depth gauge.
Easier with my 1600 KG's.

Select to expand quote

shaggybaxter said..
If it doesn't come off in reverse and you have another boat assisting, tie a long spare rope to one of your halyards and toss it to another boat, they heel you while you drive it off.

We use this method to get in & out of Lake Macquarie in the Swansea Channel before the dredging!!

Not good when the gunwale is under water & you forget to close the sink outlets!!

This is not me but I was next in line :(

you will probs get a bit cocky on the flood , and have greater caution on the ebb

Select to expand quote

Lazzz said..

shaggybaxter said..
If it doesn't come off in reverse and you have another boat assisting, tie a long spare rope to one of your halyards and toss it to another boat, they heel you while you drive it off.

We use this method to get in & out of Lake Macquarie in the Swansea Channel before the dredging!!

Not good when the gunwale is under water & you forget to close the sink outlets!!

This is not me but I was next in line :(

That'll probably be me one day if I ever get the time, and the courage, to go out the channel.

Select to expand quote

valo said..

That'll probably be me one day if I ever get the time, and the courage, to go out the channel.

Should be OK now the dredge has been there for a while although I haven't been out for a while - might get a chance over Easter I hope.

It's a nice trip down the channel - give it a go 2 hrs after high tide one day down to the bridge & back.

Select to expand quote

samsturdy said..
A forum member made the observation a little while ago that you're not a real sailor 'til you've run aground.
Well that happened to me yesterday in the Bay View area of Pittwater. Maybe I had cut the corner a tad fine
but there I was ..stuck. A call on my new VHF radio to Sydney Rescue told me they had no boats out but they
would give Bay View Marina a call to send out a work boat. No need for that. within two minutes I had calls
coming in from boats all over Pittwater saying they were on their way. Two rocked up immediately, an RIB that
hooked on to my bow but couldn't shift it and a gin palace with a bloke hanging off the bow with a rope. But,
just then, the local BOS in his Waterways boat charged in and in 30 seconds had hooked on and dragged us clear.
He did give me a stern look and say ' we do have marker bouys' and then took off. It was on a falling tide so
the longer I was there the worse it would have got. I was very impressed with the response and thanked all involved.
So the question is to those of you who get or have got grounded, is there a manouvre you use to get free or
is it always a 'tow off' situation. A rising tide would help of course.

I think there is value in touching the bottom on a rising tide to check how the depth gauge has been set.
I have a draft of 1.2 metres but my alarm goes off at 1.3 metres.

A good strategy is to take a beer and a rod and just pretend you are fishing. Nobody will notice.

Select to expand quote

cazou34 said..
A good strategy is to take a beer and a rod and just pretend you are fishing. Nobody will notice.

Knowing my luck along would come a fisheries wanker wanting to see my licence.

Select to expand quote

UncleBob said..

cazou34 said..
A good strategy is to take a beer and a rod and just pretend you are fishing. Nobody will notice.

Knowing my luck along would come a fisheries wanker wanting to see my licence.

A couple of years ago in the Gosford channel, ran aground on a rising tide at the Woy Woy fork in the channel, no big deal run out the kedge an have lunch. Just about to sit down and enjoy the scenery and lunch, when not one but two rescue vessels charged up, VMR & maritime, we where happy to have our meal and float off but no we had to be jerked off by the 1st on the scene, right or wrong ! maybe should of thrown a fishin line in might of been able to persuade em we were OK ?

I went aground within the first hour of owning a fixed keel yacht on Brisbane Waters near Gosford, luckily the previous owner had given me the tip of "if you go aground, the first thing you do is hop over the side with a scraper and pretend you meant to do it!", which I did, that saved some embarrassment as their was a few people in a tinny fishing close by.
Went aground in The Great Sandy Straits last week, couldn't reverse off or heel the boat enough. It was 15 minutes before high tide, so had to work swiftly, we kedged out the sand anchor in the already inflated dinghy that was on the foredeck, and used the jib sheet winch to haul her off backwards.