The channels in and out of Sarasota harbor were too shallow for us to pass thru so we started up the ICW towards Longboat pass which showed plenty of depth for us to exit. The trip up was about 10 miles so we enjoyed the scenery and warm weather.
About ½ way on our little journey we ran aground in the center of the ICW and had to spin the boat and motor back towards a side to get going again. This was not the first time we had gotten stuck and by far not the worst.
Coming out of Dismal key we got stuck so badly we ended up using the dinghy tied to a halyard (one of the lines that pulls sails up to the top of the mast) to lean the boat over far enough to get the keel out of the sand so we could go. I had the 9.9 horsepower outboard at full throttle and the boat leaned about 25 degrees lifting the keel up by a foot or so. After it started to move I still kept pulling until we had a foot or two of water beneath the keel.
The ICW is supposed to be a minimum of 10 feet deep along this stretch but there is always drifting of sand and mud along the way. Federal funding to keep the ICW has been cut in the past few decades and they do the best they can to keep it safe, having us get stuck occasionally is lower on their priority list.
We got down to Longboat pass, hailed the bridge tender over our marine radio and he told us he would have it opened up right when we got there, which he did.
Bridge at Longboat Pass
We passed thru and we motored down the channel at about 7 knots to fight the 3 foot waves coming at us, following the buoys out about 3 miles to where we could turn north and head for Clearwater.
Julie turned north a few hundred yards past the last buoy in 20 feet of water and I went below. About 15 seconds later the boat slammed so hard I was thrown to my knees, we had run aground. I got up and ran back up top where Julie was throttling up the diesel to full power and trying to turn back to where we had come from.
At first we stayed put rising up and slamming on the hard sand bottom with each wave. At one point we were over so far that a large wave broke over our port aft (back left) quarter and splashed up into the raised cockpit.
I was getting pretty frightened at this point. Boats sink occasionally but I suspect more are swamped while being dragged sideways up on a beach or rocks. The 40 some foot boat that we saw on it’s side at Marco Island was swamped after it swung on it’s anchor into shallow water at high tide. When the tide went out, a difference of about 4 feet, it laid over so far that water came in the hatches and filled it up. It was totaled in virtually no wind or waves.
We were out in 3 foot waves and about 15 knots of wind, being pushed towards the beach. Fortunately we had not put our sails up yet which would have driven us on shore. Thankfully the 100 horsepower, inter-cooled, turbocharged Yanmar diesel screaming at full speed was able to push us towards deeper water. At first we only moved a foot or two at a time as we raised up on a wave, only to crash back down on the sand, but after about 30 seconds we were back in deeper water.
We both looked at the map and buoys and everything said we should have been in 25 feet of water but apparently a recent hurricane had move the shoal further out. Hurricanes and currents change the contour of sandy bottoms, especially near inlets, on a regular basis. Quite often maps and guide books warn of this. Usually, however, the Coast Guard, NOAA or maybe it’s the buoy police move them to prevent mariners from hitting obstructions.
We regrouped, pointed the boat north, still motoring and Julie insisted that something was wrong with the “feel” of the boat. I assured her all was well and told her that she was just a little shaken up from our grounding. It was then that both of us noticed that the shrouds that hold the mast up were all loose and that the mast was flopping around like crazy. This was not good at all.
I grabbed a couple of heavy dock lines and laced them around the shrouds from side to side to tighten them up. When I got done it looked like a spider had made a giant blue web at the base of the mast, but it was no longer flopping around.
We turned back around and headed for the drawbridge and the ICW where we could find an anchorage and assess the damage. We found a spot to anchor near a marina and restaurant about 3 miles from the draw bridge.
Drying Laundry While Waiting
I could only think of 3 reasons why the mast would have “shrunk” like it did. 1) The mast step collapsed. 2) The chain plates or tangs that the shrouds attach to at the deck pulled up. 3) The hull was damaged and the keel and mast step that sits on top of it had moved down. Julie thought that the mast might have been collapsing in on itself, I didn’t think that this was possible.
I spent 5 minutes with my head in the bilge (crawlspace) studying the mast step (cup that the base of the mast sits in) and the surrounding fiberglass to see if the mast step had collapsed, but could not see a sign of damage. Option 1, the mast step collapsing had been ruled out.
Next I looked at where the chain plates attached to the fiberglass bulkheads (supporting walls) inside the boat and found no sign of movement or damage. Had the chain plates pulled up there would have been dents where the washers on the back had been for the last 30 years, but as far as I could tell they hadn’t move 1/16th of an inch let alone the 1 inch or so the shrouds had loosened. Option 2, the chain plates pulling up had also been ruled out.
After we ran aground, one of the first things I did immediately after the mast was tied in place was go below and look in the bilge to see if we were taking on water. The fact that there was no water leaking into the boat indicated that the hull was intact. Once we were at anchor, I donned my snorkel gear and dove in. Visibility was not very good here so I ran my hands over the bottom of the keel and over the entire area where the keel met the hull top to bottom several feet “looking” for a crack or some sign of damage, there was nothing. This ruled out Option 3, meaning there was nothing wrong.
OK, something was definitely wrong. but I had not figured it out. I looked around for other clues and saw the stainless steel cable that runs from the mast step to the mast collar, which is bolted to the bottom of the deck. I put my hand on it and it seemed to be just as tight as it was previously, I asked Julie to feel it and she agreed with my observation.
I realized that if the mast step had moved down causing the rigging to slacken this cable would be incredibly tight, trying to pull the cabin top down 1 inch. This meant the mast step had not moved at all, which was a very good thing.
But something had moved and the only thing that I could think of was that the last time the mast was stepped something was in between the mast and the bottom of the step keeping it up until we hit bottom so hard. I really couldn’t think of what could have held it up, a piece of wood, some misplaced bolt, I didn’t know. What I did know was that the previous owners had done a lot of goofy things and this was probably just one more.
We tightened the rig up, did some other maintenance on the boat, had dinner and went to bed.
We awoke the next morning and the weather forecast had changed to crappy, so we decided to rest up do some shopping and do some more work on the boat.
We were anchored off of Anna Maria Island which turns out has a free trolley, so we hopped on board and went about 3 miles up where there was a grocery store, a hardware store and the ever popular West Marine. We got everything we needed and headed back to the boat via the trolley.
Since we were anchored we did not have shore power to charge the batteries so about 2:00 I tried to start the Westerbeke generator to charge everything up. When I flipped the start switch all I heard was a click, not the sound of the starter motor. I tried a few more times and still no starter, only a click.
As a kid I used to help my dad work on the family cars and back in the 60’s and 70’s starters were not near as reliable as they are nowadays, so I got to learn a fair amount about starters.
The fact that there was a click meant that the solenoid that pushes the starter gear in and closes the contacts to provide the starter motor with the 70 or so amps of current that it needs was working. The next thing to do was to check the power wire coming into the solenoid, it was fine, the wire going out to the motor wiggled easily and I realized that the wire was completely gone, only the insulation was left.
It was easy enough to fix this problem, it only took an hour to get to the hardware store to get a soldering iron and some heavy wire and another hour to completely disassemble the starter and solder the new wire in place.
The next morning we decided to take the ICW up another 9 miles or so into Tampa Bay and exit thru a shipping channel so there was no chance of running aground again. We motored across the bay and raised the new headsail and the mainsail when we got far enough out into the channel . With about 10 knots of wind and 2 foot seas we reached along at about 6 knots admiring our pretty new sail.
About 10 minutes later I raised the staysail and got my camera to take a couple of pictures of our baby with her full suit of sails slicing thru the water.
When I was done I put the camera below and came up to find Julie asking “Why are the shrouds loose again?”. I told her to spin into the wind and start the engine but only go fast enough to keep the boat pointed into the wind. While she did this I dropped the staysail and rolled up the main and genoa (headsail) reduce the strain on the mast and rigging. We turned around and headed back towards the protected waters of Tampa Bay.
Our Beautiful New Sails
2 comments:
Chuck:
What the heck happened?
And does everything look good aloft at the spreaders and mast tangs/attachment points? Something like a collapsed or bent spreader or a shroud that had somehow sawed in from the spreader tip would presumably be really obvious, as would something goofy happening with swages or turnbuckles. Pat
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