The benefits of bad judgment

Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment. In the Scuttlebutt series of grounding stories, here is the experience of others:

Over the last 60+ years of racing and cruising all over the world, I have managed to go aground in many exotic locations, including getting hung up on a ledge in the Solent during Cowes Week while competitors raced close by us on both sides. But my favorite (?) memory happened in a beautiful little cove in the Gulf Islands of British Columbia.

We were stern tied to a tree, and even accounting for the large tides in that region, the depth sounder showed plenty of water. During the night we were awaken by crashing sounds as loose items fell to the sole and I realized I was lying on the side of the bunk, not the mattress. We were firmly aground.

The sounder still shows plenty of water, but upon surveying our plight realized that the sounder was forward of the keel and the skeg, rudder and back of the keel were stuck on a very steep bank.

Discussing the situation with my friend and great crew Dave Robinson, he decided our only option was to un-gimble the stove, make some coffee, and wait for the tide to flood. No damage was done, but a good lesson learned.
– Alan Blunt

During the Round the Isle of Wight Race in the UK in the early 1990s, the boat I was crewing on passed close to the south east side of the island. We were sailing under spinnaker close to the shore near Ventnor or Shanklin, dodging a foul tide.

The navigator said, confidently, that “…he knew every rock in this area” but within about ten seconds the boat hit a rock and stopped dead. Any standing crew hit the deck, hard.

Fortunately, the boat bounced off and we were not, unduly, delayed. The first voice heard immediately after was from the navigator who said “that was a rock my brother knew.”

That statement probably saved his life as all the crew laughed except the owner and the poor crew mate whose forward motion on striking the rock was halted by a winch. He did not look good and a few people who met him in the Island Sailing Club bar afterwards nearly fainted when they saw his bulging eye.

Ahh, happy days.
– Stuart Munro