Kedging: I think that's what I did after the first time we ran the Capri
aground while sailing downwind. It was an hour before a -0.6 low tide.
The chart showed 3 ft of water at this point at mean low tide. We have
a 2.5 ft draft. We figured all this out afterward. We were short an
inch or so of water and would lose more for the next hour. Because it
was on a downwind run, we had to drop all sail before even trying to
back off. Then noticed the rudder was also aground. Hoping to avoid
rudder damage, we removed the rudder. It took up so much space that we
wanted it in the cabin, not cluttering the cockpit, but it just prior
the diver's appointment so it was covered in green slime. So we had to
clean that off first. Finally, I started the Nissan 3.5, turned it
around 180, tried to back off by giving it throttle, but it kept dying.
Must assume it was hitting bottom, also.
So far we are just warming up, now to the kedging part. We got out the
anchor, chain, and rode, tied off the bitter end, and I "threw" the
anchor and chain off the stern about 50 feet. Suddenly it dawns on me,
"how far can THROW an anchor and 10' of chain?" It really went about
5'. We dragged it in, flukes covered with 50 lbs of mud and grass,
cleaned it off, and threw it again. 8 feet. Again and again, same
routine. My personal best was 20'. "This is kedging," I told my son.
The 1350 lb boat never moved. We just kept dragging up buckets of mud
and ooze.
Finally we cleaned up the anchor, put it away, put on every stitch of
clothing we had, turned on the running lights, and waited two hours,
that being an hour past low tide. Then we were able motor backwards,
get off the sandbar, into the channel and motor on in.
Lesson learned? Practice anchor and chain throwing (kedging). A
personal best of 20' leaves a lot of room for improvement. Any real
sailor can throw an anchor and chain a good 50 feet. More if you have a
bigger boat.
:)
Steve Barnes sailing a Capri 16, #74,
and saleing a Potter 14, #561, in San Diego.
"Everything is everything!"
OLDSURFDUDE