When's The Last Time You Ran Aground?

When was the last time you ran aground?

  • Total voters
    234
  • Poll closed .
Alex F said:
Vince,
I wunder what did your chartplotter showed in your situation? I would expect to see more water to your port side.:huh:
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My C80 was malfunctioning. I had purchased a new C-Map card for the trip. It kept rebooting when I zoomed in, so wasn't any help inside the harbor. It needed a firmware upgrade. It's working now.
 
Last edited:
Pirate said:
Oops. While on the TN River with 30 feet of water in all directions except for this one 5' x 5' submerged, rocky "mountain top".

Stalled both mains from 900RPM.
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Matt,

Ouch, you have got to love them hidden mountains, almost as much as the logs:smt100
 
Two times

1. Summer 1999, Shrewsbury or Navesink River (I forget which). My first trip across Ambrose channel to NJ (from Brooklyn). As I was asking my wife "what do you suppose these sticks mean?" we went from 20 to ZERO in 1 second. No one hurt, no teeth avulsed and we were able to back off. (PS: where I come from they use floating buoys, not sticks). That was with this boat...
boat4sale.jpg


2. Summer 2005, High Bar Harbor. Extremely windy day (20kt sustained) - While I idled & contemplated entry to a marina for fuel in an attempt to figure out how the hell I'd turn the boat around and get back out once inside the rickety wooden fence/breakwater, the wind blew me into a shoal area - not a sand or mud bottom mind you, but a tall grass bottom. Could NOT get out and gave up after 3 minutes, shut down and called TowBOAT/US. They arrived about an hour later, during which time the tide fell and the wind and passing -by boat waves helped entrench the boat further. It took about 3/4 throttle on their diesel towboat to unearth me. No damage to running gear, only pride. That was with current boat.
 
We boat on Table Rock lake. Running aground would be very bad. The shoals tend to be granite and very unkind to fiberglass, much less running gear. It is very important to know where the shallow spots are, a mistake can mean a big hole in the boat.:smt100
 
I was coming home from a friends house after a Sunday BBQ. I totally forgot about the shallow flat between his house and mine. I was just above idle so the bow was kind of high and next thing i know the outdrive is sliding across the sand and the bow did a nose dive. Usually you have to be up on plane or idling with the trim all the way up. well.... I forgot that night. :grin:


I'm sure I'll have a better story this season as i only had the boat for about half of last year.
 
festivus44 said:
Vince-
Everybody runs aground the first time into Rock Hall. It is a rite of passage. My brother and I towed off a certain member of this board last year (who shall remain nameless).
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I, nameless, think you well know the last time I ran aground... Thanks for pulling me off! :smt021

Were you thinking about that night when you started this poll?
 
As a west coast of FL boater there are plenty of opportunities to run aground! Once at night when I missed the entrance to a channel heading toward the shore. Long slopping shelf with real soft mud. Moving right along until she skidded to a stop. Good thing it was low tide. Had to wait for three hours at night for the tide to come in enough to float the boat. I used a gaff stick to push the boat about a half a mile until there was enough water under the boat to start the engines. Luckily I had plenty of time to watch other boats heading in so I could get a good bearing on where the channel was!!!

Second time I had a boat full - ten people. I cut Hurricane Pass too close and hit a sand bar a touched a bit. Enough that I had to relocate the payload (passengers) and exit the boat to lead it over the bar. No harm either time.
 
1987. You don't have a selection for that.

First time on new boat running in a new to me area and an also new to me inlet. Missed a marker and ran aground on soft sand. Didn't want to power off, so just jumped off and walked her back to deeper water. No damage.

Best regards,
Frank
 
Coming in to St. Michaels 2 years ago. Hurrying to get in ahead of a thunderstorm. Missed that dogleg to the left right before coming into the harbor. Water goes from 20 ft to 2 ft real quick! $1800 damage to props and shafts on a chartered boat! Probably did more damage backing off in a panic than when we ran aground. Not my best day!
 
I ran my Ranger into the mud years ago at 35 mph. My 175 hp Merc Black Max looked like a malted milk blender shooting a rooster tail. After we skimmed to a stop, kill switch pulled, I looked at my wife and said, "you might have to help me push". Like hell was the reply. So when I got out of the boat, she yells "becareful, you might drown". It was one of those moments where I learned to keep my mouth shut and push.
 
There is some sort of saying around the Chesapeake Bay that if you haven't hit bottom then you haven't really been anywhere. Lots of shallow water in our bay. Never been stuck or had to be towed, just have had to stop the boat and raise the drive because we were getting too shallow.

Every fall when I drop off my prop to have it reconditioned the mechanic tells me I've been "rock" fishing again. The prop gets beat up mostly by running into muddy shallows and stirring up mud with small rocks, shells and assorted debris. When we go to our favorite spots with a sandy bottom the drive has to be up and sometimes I need to walk the boat out a bit before starting the motor, especially if the tide goes out during the day.
Eddie
 
1. 27 knots smack into a sand flat following another boat. Stopped right there right now. All hands in the water for that push off.

2. Last year I ran up the ICW and got stuck on low tide and had to get out and push.

3. The admiral and her sister got too close to the beach last year and got back washed into a sand bar. She wasn't going to tell me because I warned her not to do what she did but she had to call me for the seatow info. That was funny.

Those are the ones I remember and doesn't count prop damaging incidents where I ran over something tougher than the prop.
 
Georgeon Bay, just got fuel and asked the kid who fueled my boat if there was lots of water to go into town from the marina, big mistake. No markers, showed 5 feet of water on the depth sounder, went up to 2 feet before I could reverse. Messed up both props, bent both shafts. Limped back to the marina (1000 yards). Had the boat pulled by cradle. Two weeks later and $7000.00 boat back in. Shouldn't blame the kid, I should have known better and asked someone more experienced at the marina. Lesson learned. UGGGGGGG!
 
05 for me. Granite shoal in the St Lawrence. Severe damage to both B3 props, skeg was gone and the lower case was cracked. Bought my first chartplotter the next day. SB
 
About 5 to 6 years ago in our previous boat, a 33 dancer, we were "no waking" our way through the back bays of Ocean City NJ heading north between the 34th St and 9th St bridges. This part of the intercoastal waterway and as such is excussed from totally sufficient navigational aides. There is a section where the channel goes as far inland as you could imagine, very close to the weeds.

Heading north, I was very aware of this spot as I had seen several boats stuck where they were very logically correct thinking there was good water - not! I was actually telling my guests how local knowledge is so important in spots like this when all forward motion stopped, abruptly. Very well done Captain! Guess you need more local knowledge.

TowBoatUS just happen to be passing by at that exact time so hardly a delay and no damage.

The only absolute sure way to navigate the ICW without incident is to follow another boat.
 
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