Going Aground

Hello All,

It is a beautiful day here at the island.  Light rain between batches of beautiful sunshine. Warm, yet cool, water.  Yes, we are in Paradise once again.

The plan is to raise the waterline, try to pull the prop, and see if we and get the dagger-board unjammed. There is a beautiful beach, and we are very protected.  And to top it all off there are 16-foot tides. This morning Courage and I brought Lil Explorers in close to the beach the see what the currents would do to us. We were able to find a sweet spot where she was held in position by a light wind and a current eddy coming around the point.  We played around with getting the anchors in the right position to keep us off the beach but close enough to walk around the boat. As the water would go out we would slowly pull the boat further off shore. One time we went a little to far and I could not stand. Courage lowered the anchor to me and I sank to the bottom. As soon as I hit I started walking toward shore. I figured I had about 30 seconds before I would have to drop the anchor and head to the surface. If I had calculated the curve of the beach correctly, that would be enough time to make it to a point where I would be able to get my head above water.  The only part I misjudged was my hat. When I went down it stayed on the surface.  Luckily it floated, and Courage was able to rescue it for me.

Over the next few hours the two of us took turns pushing the boat out and cleaning the waterline. Even though the algae were dead from our trip up the freshwater Sambu, It was a hard job getting it off the paint above the waterline. We used a Brillo pad and slowly worked our way around the boat.

By this time the tide was almost all the way out. We figured there was no need to be as vigilant with regard to keeping her off the bottom. Suddenly Courage yelled over that the bow was aground. We tried our best but we could not get her off.  An emergency call went out for helpers. Shannon and Teggy arrived to help fill sand bags. The plan was to pile them high under the transom to keep the rudders off the ground.  Courage, Shannon, and Teggy, filled the bags while I carried them and tried to stack them under the cross-arm. Once I could not get any more on the port side I switched to the starboard side.  We must have filled close to 20 bags, and were all exhausted. Now all we could do was wait and see what would happen. As far as we could see she was sinking nicely into the soft sand, and the bags were keeping the rudders from sinking in too far.  The water only went out another two feet. We took the opportunity to have a lunch break, and figure where we would want to beach for real tomorrow.  A great spot was selected, and with the help of Teggy, Intrepid, and Innocence, we filled another 30 bags. They are now waiting for us on the beach. If all works as planned we will bring her in tomorrow morning and set her on the beach. Way up on the beach. We figure she should be dry for around six hours.

More to follow tomorrow. .  .  .

Goodnight all.

Loyal