It was noon and we were going past a moored boat to then make our final turn into the wind, when…. CRUNCH!!! We ran hard aground in the pebbly bottom! Ugh!
We quickly sprang into action, launching the dinghy, getting the kedge anchor ready, and loading it into the dinghy. Ted first took the kedge about 200 feet out on our starboard side and dropped it into the water. Coleman and I wrapped the line around a winch and started bringing it in. At first, the kedge seemed to have a good set in the bottom, as the line got really tight. However, Bottlenose refused to budge, so we continued to crank on the winch.
While Bottlenose still didn’t budge, the kedge apparently broke free from the bottom as we cranked and it slid across the bottom without re-setting. So, Ted hauled the kedge back into the dinghy and this time took it astern (the way we came in) and re-dropped it. It got a good set and Coleman and I cranked the line in with the winch until the line was very tight, but Bottlenose seemed unimpressed with our effort.
Using the dinghy, Ted took a hand-held depth finder all around the boat to see where the deepest water was. It was indeed behind us, so we knew the kedge was in the right location.
Next, Ted went for a swim to see how badly aground we were. It was pretty bad. The full length of both keels was solidly on the pebbly bottom and the bows were sitting a foot above their normal water line and getting higher out of the water with each passing minute.
We were at about half tide and it was falling. Not a good situation. Low tide was a little before 3 pm and the next high tide would be around 9 pm. The tide range is only a little over 2 feet. So, it could be 9 pm before we have our best chance of getting unstuck – and maybe not even then. So, we prepared ourselves for a long afternoon on the boat to wait for the tide.
We called the Mystic Shipyard West marina where we had reserved a slip for the night, to tell them what happened and that we would be late. The dockmaster said he would like to come over in his small powered barge (used to permanently anchor mooring balls) to see if he could get us free. He couldn’t.
Now, today was the day that Coleman was going to leave Bottlenose and go home for a week to take care of a prior commitment. He had talked my wife, Sheila, into driving his truck here to Mystic and then trading places with him on Bottlenose, while he drove home in the truck. Sheila was arriving in Mystic, about the time we ran aground, so we called her as soon as we could to advise her of our predicament.
Before the dockmaster left us, Coleman asked him if he would take him back to the marina on the barge to meet Sheila. He agreed.
Once on shore, Coleman drove with Sheila closer to where Bottlenose was aground. Then, Ted went to shore in the dinghy to get Sheila with her bags and brought her back to the boat, so Coleman could go ahead and take off for home in his truck. As it was, he would be getting home late, if he drove straight through.
Ted and I welcomed Sheila to Bottlenose and she got settled in, while we continued to wait for the tide.
Around 4:30, the boat started to bob a little in the building chop of the harbor and at 5:00 it broke free! We quickly got the engines started, because we were drifting toward a moored boat, and were careful to retrieve the kedge anchor and rode in a way that prevented the rode from getting tangled in the propellers.
We were thrilled that we got off so early, now we can go to our marina and have dinner ashore at the Captain Daniel Packer Inne.
Back at the boat after dinner, Ted and I sat up til midnight talking about everything under the sun and solving all the world’s problems.
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