[Public-list] careening ship

[FINNUS505 at aol.com]

In a message dated 1/19/2005 5:59:45 PM Eastern Standard Time,  
mainstay at csolve.net writes:

that you  bear in mind that while the hulls of our boats are quite  strong
>>> they are relatively soft.  The side of the boat  that she is resting upon
>>> will push in; and of course come back  out again (presumably to her old
>>> shape) when she is lifted  again.  To my mind you might be encouraging
> the
>>>  creation of deep cracks in the somewhat brittle gel coat.
>>>  



I think I forgot to tell you guys about the 20 minutes Stargazer spent on  
her side on a ledge this summer. Silly me.
 
It was that same day that our engine failed. That was while we were passing  
through Woods Hole. Gee. We had the current with us, and there was about 10  
knots of wind, so we kept going. All was going well, until a large commercial  
fishing boat showed up, coming towards us in the channel. We moved over to the 
 side of the channel to make room. I didn't realize the current crossed the  
channel right there. The current swept us out of the channel, and boom, into a 
 rock ledge, and then up onto the ledge. Gee, what fun. We were listing over 
at  20 or 30 degrees, stuck fast, 4 knots of current sweeping by like a river, 
 the dinghy planing wildly at the end of its painter. Looking over the high 
side,  I could see the keel, prop, rudder. There were many colors of bottom 
paint on  the ledge; small consolation.
 
There was no point in stopping a motor boat and asking for a tow; we were  
really stuck. The only hope was that the incoming tide would float us off.
 
Long story short, that is what happened. There was little wave action, but  
the boat did bounce a few times before being dragged off the ledge by the  
current in the higher water.
We sailed home after that.
 
These boats are tough. We had some superficial gouges on the bottom of the  
keel, and we found that internal void in the front of the keel that I had  
written about ealier this winter.
 
Where the turn of the bilge was lying on the ledge, there was no damage but  
some scrapes through the paint. Really. Luckily the ledge was smooth. Inside 
the  boat, the fiberglass tape that bonds the bunk to the hull was broken. Must 
have  happened while the hull flexed while the boat bounced. Easy fix.
 
Tough boats.
 
Lee

 1106184939.0