Saving a Boat from the Rocks

     Or, Whadda group of people!

_______

April 18, 2013

      “You can’t believe how bleeding scary the sea is! There’s, like,

whales and storms and shit! They don’t bloody tell you that!”

 Libba Bray, in Beauty Queens

 

In the summer of 2012, a large tropical storm named “Debby” harassed the Tampa Bay area for several days. Most of the time, a tropical storm doesn’t have to be a crisis if your boat is in a slip, but not everyone keeps their boat in a slip. A good friend of mine kept his boat anchored in Boca Ciega Bay. With no hint of bad weather looming, he and his family had traveled to the panhandle of Florida for a family reunion.

While they were gone, Debby moved in. Somehow his boat broke free of her anchor and dragged to a most unfortunate place – wedged between a cement wall and a pile of rocks. With every wave his boat bounced up and down on the rocks, just across a canal and in front of the sailing club we both belong to. A boat can only take that kind of pounding for so long, and it looked as if my friend was going to lose his boat.

See the video above. While that is not as high as the water got, it shows my friend’s boat caught on rocks and rubbing against a cement wall. As I’ve said before, boats hitting hard things break boats.

However, this boat owner was a knowledgeable man who shared his expertise freely and had often helped others. Members of the club looked at his boat and decided that they had to try to do something to save his boat. But what to do?

The solution was plain old plywood. A number of brave, strong men (you know who you are) climbed on to the rocks. When the water lifted the boat up, they slid pieces of wood under the boat. With each wave, they put another protective piece of wood under, and eventually the boat was bobbing on the much more protective wood instead of banging on to sharp rocks and a cement wall.

The owner of the boat had been notified that his boat was on the rocks and was racing back as fast as he could, but Debby made that a most difficult drive. By the time he got to his boat, the rocks were completely lined with plywood, and all he had to do was climb aboard and put her in reverse, and she slid right off the boards into the water. He motored to a safe location and re-deployed his anchors. This time his boat stayed secure. The boat needed some repair – at two places on the waterline, the rocks had worn the fiberglass down to about ¼ of its normal thickness, but the boat didn’t sink.

LESSON LEARNED: Sometimes when sailors help each other out it’s quite dramatic. Other times it’s far simpler. Join a good sailing club.

BCYC welcomes all levels of experience and skill from rank beginner to advanced expert. We have an outstanding beginning sailing school. The photo below shows our true keel instructional boats (16.5' Catalinas) lined up and waiting for a Sunday morning class.

 
Once you've finished that class, we often have extra workshops. Topics have ranged from reefing systems to reading the weather to what bridge tenders do. It's a tremendous asset to immerse oneself in the company of other sailors.

Sometimes you’ll be part of the solution, and sometimes you’ll be the recipient of most excellent help and advice. And you’re likely to have a very, very good time.