[Rhodes22-list] Grounded My Boat on a Sandbar

[Herb Parsons]

I'm surprised you were able to float off, if you here high and dry 
enough to be heeled over aground at 45 degrees.

My brother's Rhodes 22 had pulled off pretty easily the two times he ran 
it aground (much easer than my O'Day 25, I won't say how many times I've 
run that aground). Both times on Bill's boat, we just tied off the 
halyard where it attaches to the head of the sail, took the working end 
in the water as far out as we could wade, and pulled the mast down. It 
floated right off both times.

Tried that with my O'Day 25, and didn't have enough weight to bring it 
over. We ended up tying another line to the halyard, and doing it from 
another boat, the one time we used that method.

Another method that worked on the O'Day when it was just "slightly" 
aground in the mud might or might not work on the Rhodes., but when it 
happened it was a funny enough story that it bears retelling.

On the O'Day, the rudder draws a bit deeper than the trunk when the 
centerboard is up. Apparently, the spot I picked was just right for the 
trunk to clear, but not the rudder. So we were aground with the rudder 
stuck in the mud. Trying to use the motor to back up made a lot of muddy 
water, but not any progress.

Then a thought occurred to me. If I put weight on the bow, it would go 
lower, the rudder would go higher, and we'd be free before anyone saw us 
stuck.

Then, I almost pulled a Biden. My wife and I were alone on the boat, and 
I said "Honey, we need some weight forward, would you ...." And stopped 
myself.

"um... here, take the tiller, and I'll go to the bow, and see if that 
works."

It did. And I pulled my foot out soon enough that I didn't get in trouble.

Much.


David Culp wrote:
> After 3 years, I finally did it.  My lake is shallow in places and I know
> most of the spots.  The wind forecast was 10-20 mph with a cold front
> approaching but not forecast to arrive until the evening.  The wind at that
> time was only supposed to pickup from 15 to 25 mph.  10-20 is my perfect
> forecast for Rhodes sailing and a friend was going out in his boat and we
> agreed to meet down the lake about 6 miles from where I slip.
>
> We met up and were going to have a race as we sometimes do.  At the time, we
> were in a very narrow area and we were trying to sail into one of the bigger
> basins.  To expedite getting there, I was cutting across and just adjacent
> to one of those shallow areas.  As we rounded a bend in the lake, the front
> hit.
>
> We have a very sudden and dramatic wind change around to the north and my
> friend estimated that it was about 30 kts almost immediately.   At the time,
> I had full main and about 150% of the jib out.  Neither one of us could tack
> into it and my only option was a jibe toward the shallow area.  The result
> was that I ended up in the shallows and sliding up on a sandbar in about a
> foot and half of water.
>
> I had the board out at the time and I wasn't moving very fast.  Predictably,
> the boat just came to a smooth stop as the board retracted into the keel and
> then rolled over like a drunken whale to about 45 degrees.  I had gotten
> most of the sails in by then thank goodness.  The wind was blowing so hard
> at that point (we estimate between 30 and 40 mph), that I really thought the
> boat was going all the way over and so I secured everything and the just
> climbed up on the high side and sat there.
>
> My cellphone rings and my friend is asking "What are you going to do now"?
> I said " $#*t, I don't know what I am going to do"!  What can you do?  Have
> a drink I guess because surely nobody is going to come out on the lake and
> help in those conditions.  It's not like I can wait for high tide either.
> Fortunately, I didn't have to ponder my situation very long.
>
> The wind let up a little bit and I convinced myself that the keel was heavy
> enough that the boat wasn't going to broach.  I climbed down on the low
> side.  With all that wind pushing on the hull and just enough water; my
> weight on the low side floated the boat just enough to where it eased off
> the sandbar.  I used the motor to make a quick turn to get out of the
> shallow area.  A quick assessment showed nothing had been damaged except my
> pride and now all we had to figure out was how to make the 6 miles back
> home.
>
> Now the wind is still blowing about 25 kts at this point and is out of the
> north.  The waves are at least 2 feet or higher and I have never seen so
> many white caps on a lake.  It's a reach and then a run home, so I must get
> back on this "horse" and be a sailboat again.  On a b
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