Date: Sat Jul 31, 2004
Subject: Aground and adrift

Two weeks ago, I took the boat out to Biloxi for my first offshore sail. Headed
straight out to what appeared to be Ship Island 12 miles due south of the Beaux
Rivage hotel. Got about a mile offshore and the wind died on me, so I lay there
for about an hour watching the sails flap. Wind finally kicked up and I
actually got the boat sailing for the first time ever up to 5-6 knots. Got to
the island in no time. I don't think it was Ship Island because that's supposed
to be inhabited, but there is something called Camille Cut I think and this may
be what I was looking at, pretty much just a large sandbar with trees on the end
I was approaching. I saw a sharp black fin break the water just before getting
close, so I turned around to check that out first, but I couldn't find it again,
so back to the island.

Next thing I know, I feeling that thudding/sliding of a boat running aground in
sand. I've done this several times in Lake Pontchartrain and always just get
out and push the boat off, using the motor if necessary. Never been a problem
before. Now I am about 400-500 yards off this island and stuck in waist deep
water, which I am not understanding cause the boat has, what 3' draft? So I
jump in at the stern, with the image of that shark in my mind the whole time.
Now I was raised in south Louisiana and been around lots of salt water, but
never been comfortable IN it further than I could walk. I worked offshore on
tug and supply boats when I was 19 for a year. Watched lots of Jaws reruns over
the years. Three critters I don't mess with: spiders, snakes, sharks. I am not
capable of telling which version may hurt me, so I treat them liked they are all
dangerous. That's kept me from ever getting stung, bitten, or eaten and I'll
keep using it.

So I'm in the water expecting to see fins or feel scrapes on my legs. The boat
is headed away from the island with fully loaded sails, the motor running in
forward gear, and me pushing like never before. The thing wouldn't budge. In
waist deep water with all that power behind it. After about a half hour of that
I got back in the boat and throw the anchor as far as I can hoping it'll dig in.
I know that i am supposed to walk the anchor out but remember that the waters
here are teeming with starving man eaters waiting to smell my fear. So I
managed to get the anchor about 15 feet out and it did dig in hard.

I got on the radio to see if I could get anyone nearby to pull me off. About 20
minutes of calling (getting dark now) and no one answering, I guess my calls
started to sound a little more urgent. I never actually said I was in distress,
but I was asking for assistance. Coast Guard Station Gulfport answered. He
asks me for my location and I try to give him coordinates, but my handheld
Magellan GPS isn't set for N/W readout like he wants, so he cant understand the
numbers I'm telling him. He finally asks me if I would accept "commercial
salvage." I've never heard this term before, so I don't know what he means.
Minutes later my cell fone rings (I'm roaming now) and it's a tug operator who
says he'll come pull me off for $500. He tells me it's low tide right now,
which I didn't know, and that it starts coming back in at 2am and is high again
at 10am. I tell him I'm not worth $500, so I'll wait on the tide. My cell fone
is barely keeping enough signal at this point to talk.

By this time, my boat battery is getting week because I had had my 110v inverter
powered boombox on all day (didn't find out till this weekend that three of the
cells were dry). The coast guard keeps calling on the radio and now that I
can't transmit any more, on my cell fone (still roaming). He has a park ranger
and an off duty deputy sheriff out on a 4 wheeler looking for me (never
understood the point of that). I hear them talking. I had finally given him
the coordinates he wanted and none of them were ever able to realize that I was
not on the island they were searching on, so they never saw me. They want me to
flash my lights but if I do that, I have to turn off the radio, battery is so
low. Eventually everyone gives up and I tell the coast guard to quit calling my
cell fone (still roaming) cause he's costing me a fortune at $0.79/minute.

So I decided there was nothing to do but sit there and wait and keep watching
for drift since I had no rode out. About 20 minutes later I felt the boat start
pounding differently, so I got out and pushed again, and it went right off! It
was now about midnight. I motored about half a mile or so toward Biloxi and
decided I was too tired now to sail all the way back in what was now light
winds, so I anchored right where I was (no battery left for anchor light) and
went to sleep. I tried to sleep. The wind kicked up as it always does when I
quit sailing and anchor, and now there were 2-3 foot swells. The boat crashed
and thudded all night, slamming me all over my bunk. I might have slept 20
minutes, I should've got up and sailed.

At 6:30am I couldn't stand the pain of thrashing about in the cabin any more so
I got up to retrieve my anchor. I found the 1/2" manila line (came with the
boat) floating on the surface. Thought that was odd. Pulled it in, there was
no anchor chain on the end of it any more, nor was there a very pricey danforth
on there either. So now I realized I had been adrift for some part of the
night. I could still see the Beaux Rivage hotel, but now instead of looking at
the face of it, I was seeing the side of it. I guess I had drifted about two
miles, luckily I hadn't drifted out to sea. No more manilla rope for me.

Now the wind was still blowing about 30-40 and the swells were huge, really
nasty weather, but it wasn't raining. I sailed back on a broad reach and for
the first time ever, the boat was heeling. Wow, so that's what it's like!
Heeling so much that I had to keep heading into the wind (and waves) to let wind
out of the sails. As usual, when I'm sailing the winds die down to nothing and
I spent the next several hours trying to get back the remaining 3-4 miles to
land. Got back around noon, so it took me around 6 hours to sail about 12
miles.

Fortunately I have a spare anchor on a spool of nylon that I can use, but no
longer have a spare.

 

Home