Lisa and I commented a few days ago how lucky we were not to have touched bottom with Uproar's 8' keel during our travels. Some areas we have navigated have been extremely tight. It is cool to be in a narrow channel with plenty of depth and close enough to touch rocks on either side.

We did mush to a stop while approaching the custom's dock on Heart Island but easily backed off.

I promised to blog about the good and the bad, so here goes!

Yesterday, we were approaching a new marina in Clayton, NY and hit hard! Fortunately we were going only about 2 knots but it was one bump, then a sudden stop! It is a sickening feeling and sound!

Powering forward and reverse didn't budge Uproar. I put the anchor in the dinghy and set it about 250 feet out in deep water. With the anchor line winches in until tight, we gunned the engine. Uproar pivoted and moved a little but was still stuck. It was an awful sight to see the dirty waterline, out of the water!

Then next attempt was to connect the anchor to the main halyards, heel the boat and try to power off. To make our 1 1/2 hour struggle fit in this posting, I can say that we made three strenuous attempts at this.

I finally decided to snorkel with two battens taped together and sound around our keel. I wanted to make certain that we were trying to move Uproar in a direction that was clearly deeper. I also switched the pitch on our tori 3 blade folder to low gear. This enabled the engine to wind up to full revs.

The trick that finally got us off was maximum heel from the main halyards/anchor and enlisting a power boat to roar by, giving us some wake to lift Uproar. It worked!

It was a difficult time but we made it off the rock. I can't see any damage, Uproar is a tough boat.

We reunited with Bill and Judy, Whisper and celebrated the re-floating of Uproar at Bella's in Clayton, NY. Picture is the sunset from our table.