Sail Day? More Like Fail Day!
27 August 2011 | Albany West Australia
Sue Watt
Well we headed out this morning on what the weather pundits told us would be a sunny day with a few scattered showers, with light Westerly to North Westerly winds aiming for a small sail. Instead of returning to the Princess Royal Harbour and our pen at the marina, we planned to have an overnight stay on a swing mooring at Oyster Harbour near Emu point where we had our yacht out of the water recently. The swing mooring belongs to the shipwright who helped us with the anti-fouling and other maintenance we did on the boat while it was slipped, and we had intended to hook up and then use the dinghy to motor over to the Squid Shack for dinner. They have by far the best squid of anywhere in Albany.
I have maintained, since we first started sailing on our first Yacht Selah, that you learn more when things don't go according to plan than when they do. When things don't go smoothly we call it a training session and remember that it's an opportunity to learn.
So what did we learn today?
We learned to always check charts and never rely on instructions like - just follow the first two markers and then turn..... That there is nothing better than absolutely knowing where you are going!
To ensure when tying on the dinghy that the line is totally secure!
That the depth meter doesn't emit an alarm when you have been in a trench that has been dredged as a shipping channel and you slip out the side of it.
That the navionics on the iPad is the most superb program and incredibly accurate - perhaps the best piece of equipment we have on board.
To not tie a tow rope on to the new guard rail at the stern of the boat and expect it to hold!
Oh and I learned how to reverse the boat when Peter was busy elsewhere!
Things were going quite peachy for us as Peter and Liam hoisted the foresail, the jib and the flying jib although the weather was looking more grim than we had expected and the wind was chilly. Still, nothing another layer of clothing couldn't fix! We were trying out our plan of wearing a harness and being clipped on even in fine weather. It was tricky for the boys putting up the sails and we decided to tweak what we had and replace rope lifelines for stainless steel and to get our second tether lines remade in webbing of different colours - so that when setting sails we don't mix up the tether lines with any other ropes! We had a few funny moments when we would forget we were tethered and try to move further than we could and one or two when one person's tether got caught on someone else's! We have no doubt that this will make for better safety - and we will persevere - and we are committed to not grumbling about it! Actually, for me, watching the children move about on deck while tethered is so much more comfortable than before when they moved around freely - I feel I will be able to relax so much more now!
We had tea, drinks and snacks and then we were approaching Oyster harbour and were all watching the channel markers and other landmarks. We entered the channel and still all was good, but then, as we turned off towards the swing moorings, turning at the point we thought was correct, we felt a small shudder and realised, we were stuck. Straight away peter tried reverse - but no go. We had run aground. All too late the depth sounder told us we were in water too shallow for us - like we didn't already know. Then there was a flurry of activity - and talking about options. We did have some - after all this wasn't the first time we had experienced being unexpectedly grounded - and as any experienced sailor will tell you - not likely to be the last either - and that more important than getting grounded is the capacity of the sailor to deal with it.
We were less than 500 yards away from the sea safety people - and a marina full of other boats - one option was to see if we could get assistance to pull us out. Another was to drop our dinghy and take the anchor into the deeper channel and drop it, return to the yacht and then winch ourselves forwards on the anchor. We had lowered the dinghy preparing to take this course when a fishing boat came near to us. We called out, 'Hey, can you give us a hand?' which they were more than willing to do. After a few tugs, one of which involved the tow rope being tied too close to Peter's newly built hand rail and ripping it down, Slinky Malinky got us free. If any locals reading this should happen to know the owners, do please pass on our sincere thanks for their time - and apologies from Peter for his adept throwing of ropes which were almost always head high!!!
So we were off and ready to try again to head towards the swing moorings. This time though we took a look at the new iPad navionics and were horrified to discover how very tricky the passage would be. The area is riddled with shallow water and the path through it would be extremely hard. But we had a go. And guess what? In a few moments felt that familiar thud and slowing down - yes, we were grounded again. Oh dear! But, because we instantly recognised the sensation, Peter was able to immediately reverse and we were safe. But alas, at that moment the dinghy line loosened and to our horror was slowly drifting away from us. Would this never end??? Once more we reversed and I ran and grabbed the boat hook, then ran to the bow of the boat and to my amazement both hooked up and then safely tied off the dinghy before we had a chance to run aground again.
At that moment I announced to Peter that I had had enough of this game and I wanted to go home. We all agreed - oh yes, we had all had more than enough - so we turned the yacht the other way in the channel and headed towards Princess Royal Harbour once again.
We arrived back in our pen, a little disappointed that we would miss out on a good dinner at the Squid Shack, but happy that despite the difficulties, we had done okay. Anyone can have problems, we are feeling like what's important is that we can think, plan, address difficulties and then afterwards sit down and discuss ways to avoid getting into the same situation again.
On a positive note, the new iPad navionics is so amazing - the picture above is the screen shot of our path through Oyster Harbour, the green is shallow water, not land and the yellow line our path - accurate, clear, very visible - the big screen is fantastic and it plots our course so accurately. It will undoubtably become the best piece of equipment we have. We learned lots as we do when things go pear shaped - but really - would you do it any other way!!!