In a new, world-first NEW series, Yachting Monthly SERIES creates a wide range of potential disasters to find out if the theories we’ve all heard actually work in practice What to do when you run aground Chris Beeson and the Crash Boat crew tested every possible method of getting off the putty to find out what worked and what didn’t so if it happens to you, you’ll know just what to do

rovided you refloat without any damage, it doesn’t much matter how, but the aim of this test was to go step-by-step through the various methods, from simple to increasingly desperate, and assess how effective they are. Armed with the knowledge in this feature, you can Preact quicker and more effectively – and on a falling tide that might make the difference between a nuisance and a nightmare. The nature of the grounding will suggest what type of bottom you’ve found. Slow deceleration means mud, quicker deceleration means gravel, sharper still is sand and a dead stop is a rock or a wreck. Check charts to confirm but be aware that things can change – as a Yachtmaster Instructor, our consultant Simon Jinks once ran aground on a Ford Capri. If you’re grounded on rocks, use only the heeling techniques – don’t attempt to turn the yacht ‘Help!’ We learned the RYA-endorsed because you could rip out the . -protection method doesn’t work

windward shore with a rising tide. of refloating, we were hoping Before testing, we checked Then the wind rose beyond our to get some shots of the boat weather, tides and atmospheric How we did it abandon limit of 16 knots true, heeled over but in fact the keel pressure – each 10mb above We’ve big plans for this boat and so we called it off. sank half a metre into mud, standard pressure, 1013mb, we didn’t want to wreck her first Our second test, slightly making it difficult to induce heel. lowers tidal height by 0.1m. We time out, so we conducted our bolder, was conducted with 1m The third test, on the western informed Hamble Harbourmaster, first test on the eastern bank at of tidal fall left, at the mouth of bank at the mouth of the Hamble Solent Coastguard and the mouth of the Hamble River. Ashlett Creek on Southampton River, involved running her Southampton VTS (Vessel Unsurprisingly, it was actually Water, another windward shore. aground with 2.5m of fall, drying Traffic Services) before each very difficult to stay aground on a As well as trying various methods her out and refloating safely. test, to avoid any false alarms.

Andrew Brook, crew Yachting Simon Jinks, consultant Ran the The Crash Test Boat team Monthly’s Geoff Pack Scholar has RYA Yachtmaster programme, Chris Beeson, skipper Over 30 sailed for 15 years. Worked on navigation and safety courses, now a years’ sailing. 40,000 ocean miles Mediterranean charter yachts: one partner in SeaRegs LLP, specialising logged including three Fastnet season instructing with Sunsail, one season in MCA codes, safety management systems, Races, two Transatlantic crossings, as flotilla engineer with Setsail. Two longest RYA training, accreditation and charter. one non-stop Round Britain and Ireland Race. passages: Gosport-Corfu (2008), Used to write Yachting Monthly’s Practical Author of the Handbook of Survival at Sea. Torquay-La Coruña (2010). seamanship series.

Graham Snook, staff photographer Lester McCarthy, staff Stuart Carruthers, RYA cruising Over 32 years’ sailing experience and photographer 40 years’ experience, manager More than 40 years’ more than 10,000 sea miles logged. many extended passages around the sailing, thousands of sea miles as Has cruised in the Caribbean, the UK and Europe. Owned many boats, crew and skipper. Cruised extensively Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean. Owns from a tugboat to a classic wooden Vertue in Europe. Deals with the many technical and a Sadler 32 sloop, Pixie. sloop. Currently owns a RIB and a dory. regulatory issues that affect leisure sailors.

22 www.yachtingmonthly.com JUNE 2011 Don’t underestimate the difficulty of working or just moving around at this angle

‘The aim of this test was to go through the various methods, step-by-step, and assess how effective they are’

‘First response: photoS: GRA

change direction H immediately’ AM SN OO

Change direction while you K, LES still have way. As a general T rule the genoa will haul the ER M

away from the wind and c the main will bring it up so, CAR TH

depending on wind direction, Y, KIERAN FLA try bearing away, tacking and ABOVE: ‘We’ve leaving the jib backed or gybing, hit the bricks.’ to go back down your track, Zeroes mark our or at least away from shallow test’s start. TT water. This will most likely be a RIGHT: Having series of bumps – heeling, vertical, touched, we heeling – as the keel bounces tacked, leaving down into deeper water. the jib backed

JUNE 20119 www.yachtingmonthly.com 23 ABOVE: Weight ‘Hang off the forward reduces shrouds to draught on and long keelers. heel the boat’ RIGHT: On the It’s generally accepted that you 40ft Crash Boat, should get all but one crew to three ‘heavies’ on hang onto the downwind shrouds the shrouds didn’t to increase heel, which reduces induce much heel draught on fin and long keel yachts. In reality, however, we found that three stocky gents a smaller yacht, it might just make keel may slide down into deeper and back what’s left. Another hanging onto the shrouds had little the difference you need if you water. Remember to furl the jib if trick on long and twin keelers is to effect on the heel of the 40ft Crash react as soon as you run aground. it’s countering your heel. move any spare crew to the bow, Test Boat and, as a first response, In light winds it’s worth trying to Conversely, if you have twin which also reduces draught. This backing the genoa (on a windward heel her both ways. If you’re fore- and you’ve been sailing method is the only one available shore) was much more effective if and- along the contour, heeling upwind, reducing heel will also for skippers of wing-keeled boats there’s any sort of sailing breeze. the offshore reduces draught reduce draught, so drop the as heeling will dig the wing tips That said, with a smaller crew on and heeling it inshore means the main, furl away most of the jib into the bottom.

throttle. If that doesn’t work, If that doesn’t work, get ‘Start the select forward and try turning everyone into lifejackets and engine and try hard to port then hard to switch them to manual if possible. starboard. This might loosen the In the next few minutes you’ll be to motor off’ mud’s suction on the keel or dig jumping all over the boat so the If your first response doesn’t work, a hole in the shingle, allowing you chances of ending up in the water check there are no lines over the to break free by selecting hard are heightened. It may be shallow side and start the engine. On a astern again. You’ll be stirring enough that drowning won’t be a lee shore, drop sail, otherwise up the bottom a fair bit so make problem but you could be swept use canvas and crew to generate regular checks of the raw water away by current and the lifejacket as much heel as possible. Select You’ll churn up plenty of sediment strainer. After several hours of will keep you afloat long enough astern and give her plenty of so check the strainer regularly testing, ours remained clear. to be retrieved. ‘Put the crew on the boom end’ Now get all but one crew out to the end of the boom to increase the heel generated by the backed genoa. Drop the main and check the gooseneck fitting. Secure the main halyard around the boom end to support the topping lift so that the crew weight is not supported by a single shackle or casting, run the lazyjacks forward to the mast, release the mainsheet and rig a foreguy from the boom end to the forward cleat to haul the boom outboard. Leave the engine running and get your crew to shimmy out onto the boom end while you try to reverse off. Again, we found this made little difference to the heel of our boat but react quick enough and a little difference is all you need. Our ketch rig meant a short boom, which limited the effect of our combined weight at its end

24 www.yachtingmonthly.com JUNE 2011 If you’re still not free, drop all Before setting any ground ‘Check position and sail, lift the cabin sole, check for tackle, check for deeper water tide, survey depths’ water ingress and make sure the using a leadline – it needn’t be keelbolts are secure. Next, shut more complicated than a shackle the stable door by checking your on a length of knotted string – position on a chart to find out poled out using a boathook either what the bottom is and where side of the bow, beam and . If deeper water lies. Also check the you don’t learn anything from that, tide. If it’s rising, just wait for 20 launch the tender and leadline minutes or so. If it’s falling, keep further afield to establish where trying to haul yourself off. If you the deeper water lies. While we can’t, you have up to six hours to were leadlining, the line would learn your lesson. The worst case often be taken by the current so First, use a leadline at the bow to is running aground at HW Springs. try moving with the current to If bow leadlining doesn’t reveal find out where deeper water lies You could be there for two weeks. get an accurate reading. anything, launch the tender

‘Make sure you don’t go further aground’ Next, deploy the bower in deeper water and deploy the kedge back down your track. On a lee shore in a rising wind, if Lower the bower you’ve tried all the anchor and chain above, securing into the tender position is your No1 very gently priority – get the anchor and kedge dug in under deeper water and get both cables tight. Rig a trip line for the kedge because it’s likely you’ll need to retrieve and reset it. Andrew was volunteered to handle the groundtackle and found the job fairly easy, but then he’s 24 years old, 6ft-plus and beefy. Stuart noted that most The bower anchor protects your position and the kedge could help you haul yourself back down your track cruising yacht owners won’t fit that description and that dropping and resetting groundtackle by hand would represent a real challenge for most. It’s a fair point. The aim here is to test every possible method but only you can decide what works for you. Having located deeper water, we used the tender to set the anchor and kedge. We were concerned about putting a hefty Pay out the kedge chain before setting in deep water Fit a trip line and set the kedge down your track CQR and 30m of 12mm chain in our tender, half expecting the load tight to make sure the anchor’s set it once in Greece and it is doable, As any good chandler will tell you, to turn it into a rubber ring, but as and that the chain hasn’t piled up but two things: it’s a decent idea in better to look at it than for it. we loosened the windlass clutch on of it. Without a windlass, the clear, sandy-bottomed South We launched the Fortress and gently fed out the chain, our hitch a line to the chain, or lead the Pacific, not so good in muddy kedge, fitted with a trip line, in borrowed Tetra Boats tender didn’t cable aft, to a and get some Southampton Water, and a dinghy the same way and ran its cable flinch. By mooring the tender to tension in the cable. is much quicker anyway. through a fairlead onto a primary the yacht’s bow, we limited relative In his book A Sea Vagabond’s Marlow very kindly supplied winch, then wound until it was movement, making loading safer. World, Bernard Moitessier us with 30m of 12mm multibraid tight. Maintaining as much heel We shackled the anchor to the explained how he hauled his (worth £94) to use as a kedge line as possible and having loosened tender’s cleat and towed it in the yacht off a lee shore by dropping and I would highly recommend the bower anchor cable, we water because it made launching the anchor then diving down having that length of cordage tried to winch her back down her much easier than heaving it repeatedly and walking the on board. As a kedge line it was track but the keel was too deep overboard. If you have an electric anchor further and further out invaluable in our test but it also in the mud by then. We expected windlass, give the throttle some into deeper water before hauling means you have spare sheets and the kedge to trip but it gripped revs in neutral and haul the cable her off with the windlass. I tried halyards if ever you need them. the mud admirably.

JUNE 20119 www.yachtingmonthly.com 25 Move heavy kit into the tender and winch it up on a bridle through a boom end block – very effective

‘Attach halyard to loaded dinghy, then winch to induce heel’ Next we tried another method of reducing draught. We loaded the tender with anything heavy Emptying water tanks lowers – liferaft, toolkit, outboard, jerry displacement and reduces draught cans, mooring warps, spare sails, etc – emptied the water tanks on the toerail would be a better then tried to motor off again choice. The bridle’s knot was while winding on the kedge soon up against the block so we line. Then we moved the loaded lowered the tender, released the tender round to the offshore side, vang and mainsheet, hoisted the attached the main halyard to the boom on topping lift and main boom end and rigged a foreguy halyard and lifted the tender again. as before, rigged a bridle for lifting This was one of the more effective the tender, and ran the lifting line methods of simultaneously through a block on the boom reducing draught and inducing end, then a jib car and back to heel but make sure your bridle is a primary winch. The lifting line up to it – you don’t want to lose With a foreguy on the boom and crew weight outboard, we heeled well chafed on the lifelines so a block the tender’s contents.

26 www.yachtingmonthly.com JUNE 2011 LEFT: Clip the ‘Use the kedge main halyard anchor to to a loop of line, attach a block, winch her off’ run the kedge Using the tender, line through it re-deploy the kedge anchor in deeper water off the offshore beam. Run the cable through the forward fairlead and back to a primary winch and start grinding. This should haul the bow round towards deeper water, which gives the bower anchor cable a fair lead and brings the windlass into play. This will stress the keel root so send someone below to keep an eye on the keelbolts. If the wind is offshore, remember to keep the genoa backed and use the crew to heel. Many of these methods can be used simultaneously. With the kedge well set in Winching the kedge line through a block up the mast was very effective deeper water, we tried to increase heel by improving leverage using the most effective method of aft of the shrouds, rig a downhaul the mast height. If you have a generating heel. If you don’t have on the loop, run the kedge cable spinnaker halyard with a swivelling a spinnaker halyard, this method through the block and, with block, tie a loop in its end, attach isn’t suitable because the halyard plenty of slack in the cable, haul a block and run the kedge cable is likely to jump out of its sheave. it up to the first spreaders. Run through it, down to a genoa car Instead, as we’ve done here, make the cable down from the block, and back to a primary winch. a loop in a length of gash line, through a genoa car and onto a With plenty of slack in the cable, fasten a block to the loop and tie primary winch, then winch the haul the halyard up the mast it around the mast. Then attach a kedge cable to induce more heel, and start grinding the winch. In main or genoa halyard, depending simultaneously using the engine Mechanical advantage means this our experience this was easily on whether the kedge lies fore or to drive her off. method involved little effort

‘Ever been The masthead pleased to see tow is effective but it requires a motorboat?’ kid gloves and You could try using the ‘elevated concentration kedge line haul’ technique with the tender (as above) to improve leverage, but we didn’t because it bristled with risk. First you would need to run the tender astern – to run forward could lift the prop clear of the water – and With throttle on and crew out, risk swamping the tender. Second, some wake might be all you need you would need to rig a quick release on the halyard because if very gently try to haul the bow you can haul her free and the mast around towards deeper water. becomes vertical, you could end Again this will stress the keel up with a tender for a burgee. root so keep a close eye on the Ever been pleased to see a keelbolts and release the tow line motorboat? You will be now. Keep if there are any signs of failure. an eye out for any and ask them to Then rig a bridle and ask to be motor around you, using the wake towed off. If you have a spinnaker you’re clearly well on and will bridge-to-bridge Ch13, and ask to lift you off while you motor halyard, you could also try a remain so until the tide refloats them to slow down as their wake astern. As keen for company masthead tow but make it very you. Next call the Coastguard on will bounce you on the bottom. as you may be, don’t get them clear again that the motorboat’s your VHF radio to notify them of Regarding day signals and night stranded too. With our keel sunk throttle must be used gently and your predicament. They will want lights, we couldn’t find an aground 0.5m in the mud, there was only cut completely if you can motor to know whether you are safe, day signal – three black balls 1m of water around us and Lester free. In sand, another option is to how many are on board and to – on sale anywhere so Graham had to trim his outboard up to attach bow and stern lines to the establish a working channel. If bought three 99p footballs from a keep it clear of the bottom. powerboat and have her motor you are on a rocky bottom, make supermarket and wrapped them in If creating a wake doesn’t work, gently ahead, using propwash to sure they are aware that you will gaffer tape. For the two all-round attach a tow line to the bow – clear sand from around the keel need to abandon if a rock pierces reds we needed at night, we make sure it’s your line to avoid allowing you to float free. the hull. If you see any powered bought two sets of emergency nav any potential salvage issues – then If none of the above has worked, traffic, hail them on Ch16, or lights and used the red port lights.

JUNE 20119 www.yachtingmonthly.com 27 Once hard aground, we used the ‘elevated kedge line haul’ to make her heel the right way

‘Stuck fast? Make sure she leans uphill’ On a lee shore, the bower anchor should be set in deeper water to prevent you being washed up the beach when the tide rises. Stuart Carruthers prepares to grind us over Now you need to prepare for beaching. Having established where deeper water bower anchor on the sand bar lies, haul her over so the mast lies to guarantee we didn’t topple towards the shallows. If you don’t, downhill. Then we used the your mast could be horizontal or elevated kedge line, hauled below, and downflooding becomes through a block attached to the a real issue when the tide returns. spinnaker halyard and back to a We dropped our kedge and winch through the genoa car. Once she’s heeling the right way, prepare to get wet protecting the hull

LEFT: ... but fenders were too offered the best protection, or the buoyant to haul into place... heads door stuffed into a sleeping bag. For a hypothetical grounding consultant Stuart Carruthers was on rocks we considered shoving a standing on the bag and it refused partially deflated tender bow-first to submerge – and friction on into the gap, hauling the painter the lines under the hull meant under the hull, and re-inflating the we couldn’t haul it into place. tender. After our experience with This is the RYA’s recommended the fenders, a more realistic choice method of protecting the hull but, seemed something board-backed as Stuart noted, it doesn’t work. which wasn’t buoyant. Finally, we tried to protect the hull with bunk cushions but it was too late – the gap closes remarkably quickly. We ended up with soggy foam cushions that weighed a ‘Protect the hull at ton and were still wet two weeks later. Also, as Stuart pointed out, points of impact’ had the boat been owned by one You need to protect the side of the of us, the adrenalin would have hull when it comes into contact been pumping and we’d have with the bottom. I had planned had no qualms about getting a to fill a sailbag with our largely bootful and stuffing something – deflated fenders and haul it into anything – between the hull and place with lines under the bow and the bottom. Fenders in a bag seemed like a stern but I hugely underestimated We decided that our board- ... we tried kicking cushions into quick, compact, sensible solution... their buoyancy – our well-built backed saloon seating would have the gap, and failed

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28 www.yachtingmonthly.com JUNE 2011 on the same side as the exhaust, ‘Seal all hatches, consider some means of stopping lockers and water entering the exhaust outlet and close all seacocks. through-hulls’ You should also use duct tape to Next, secure all hatches and seal the fuel breather and heater lockers, cover your outlets as required. coachroof ports with storm boards While you’re dried out, check if you have them. Remember, the and keel root as both that when heeled the exhaust may have sustained damage. and heads swan necks may no Raise the saloon sole to expose longer work and could possibly the keelbolts for inspection. Empty allow water to run back into the hull lockers and remove saloon engine or hull. If you’re drying seating to expose as much of the downhill side of the hull as you can – if the hull does crack, you need to know about it. Now you can settle down below, shutting the washboards behind you, and prepare for a very uncomfortable few hours at an angle that makes everything difficult. It was both unnerving and exhausting moving around on and below at 45 degrees Rudder and keel may have sustained damage. Check them while you can – the galley was unusable – so I found a berth and slept for an can phone a powerboat-owning prop around and scouring the hour. In stronger conditions, or on friend and ask for help when bottom. You have plenty of time a lee shore, grab the hand-held VHF you’re buoyant again. to clean it, otherwise you may end radio, shut the washboards behind Once she’s refloated, use the up on the putty again... Drying you, carry the tender ashore and methods described above to get out will drain water away from the wait for the tide to return. Notify yourself off. You may have taken engine intake so you may need Check keelbolts and empty the Coastguard that the crew is in a vast amount of debris in the to bleed the system with water ‘downhill’ lockers to inspect hull no longer on board. Perhaps you engine water intake, driving the through the strainer. How to avoid grounding n Use charts, tide tables and your sounder when sailing in unfamiliar waters. Favour the windward side of a channel, it’s easier to get off if you ground and buys time if you have a problem n Don’t sail too fast and know exactly where you are, using and what’s around you. tide and start early. Running the GPS and the Mk1 eyeball, n Look out for patches of aground is usually OK if it short, breaking chop, and is slow, soft and with plenty lighter or discoloured water – of tidal rise left. it could be a tide line but it n Keep a leadline on board. could be shallows. You may It needn’t be anything more also sense a general change complicated than a fishing in the boat’s motion. weight or a heavy shackle tied n If sailing in a channel, keep to to string marked or knotted in the windward side so if you do feet or metres. touch, you can just back the jib n In shallow water, sail the boat and put the bow down. upright unless she is a bilge n If sailing over unavoidable keeler, in which case her draught A leadline reveals your path off Avoid surprises. Know where shallow water on your passage, may be greater when she’s the putty. ‘Read’ water surface: you are and what to expect make sure it’s on a rising heeled over than on an even keel. shallowest patch behind dinghy

JUNE 20119 www.yachtingmonthly.com 29