Dry Land is Not a Myth

Coaster’s Harbor Marina in Newport

Only two sailors, in my experience, never ran aground. One never left port and the other was an atrocious liar. – Don Bamford

Well, it happened…again. It’s been a decade and a half since the last time, but alas I’ve touched bottom again.

I took Grete and the kids out for a second sail before they had to head home to KC. The wind was barely puffing but it was their last day in Newport and I had promised Dublin and Fira we’d sail again.

Since there was hardly a breeze, I didn’t review the charts or really even prepare to sail. I planned to go outside the harbor and motor back and forth for a few minutes before heading back in.

Well, once we got past the mouth of the harbor the wind freshened and we decided to sail a bit. As we continued toward Prudence Island, the wind picked up even more and we decided to sail around Dyer Island.

We were moving along fairly well on the south side of the island when suddenly the boat lurched and screeched to a halt. I knew immediately what had happened. I pulled out my phone and looked at the GPS. Ugh!

Satellite image of Dyer Island

Yeah, that 50 foot wide sandbar is legit. Brightside draft is just under 5.5 feet and the depth over the sandbar was just over 4 feet.

The good news is that we had a few things on our side. The wind remained to be fairly decent and the tide was coming in. I kept the sails up and started the engine. We bumped along for about 10 feet or so over the course of 15 minutes and then we seemed to really be stuck.

I called in to get a tow and while on the call, a nearby boat flagged me down. It turned out to be an off-duty Coast Guard sailor. He had the dispatch station call me up. They said they’d look for some way to get out to help me and would call back in ten minutes.

At that point a couple of good decisions changed our situation. Firstly, Grete had great instincts and asked if she should get the kids to leeward to help heel the boat over more. I said yes and the four of us got as far out on the rail as we could. I kept the sails up to help heel us but a puff of wind started pushing the bow to leeward. I immediately furled the jib and the boat straightened back out.

About 30 seconds later, the keel swung back under us and we started moving. We were clear. When the Coast Guard called back I told them we were back off the bottom. Grete went below to check the bilge and we were not taking on water. I have since dove under the boat to check and the keel suffered no damage, we were quite lucky that it was sand and not rock.

We made it back into the slip a bit later than anticipated and went out for a nice bite to eat. Afterward, we rewarded ourselves with some ice cream for being patient and pulling together in our moment of distress. We brought it to a parking lot near the water and ate it while enjoying the view. The timing was amazing because the bicycle trains started peddling by shortly after we finished.

It was a great end to a great visit and I feel even more strongly that we are on the best course possible for our family.