Hats off to bay police

[littlebookworm]

This afternoon, while cruising west towards Moriches Bay, I was showing the Admiral how to operate our 24' Chaparral. She had trouble seeing over the dashboard, watching the boat in front of us, watching the channel leading to the Westhampton Bridge, and watching the GPS/chartplotter. The GPS, in particular, seemed to block her view. Once we cleared the no-wake zone west of the bridge, I had her accelerate. Unfortunately, she lost the channel. My instructions to turn left came too late. We hit the mud and sand hard. I raised the outdrive and tried to get back into the channel, with little success. I then started the "anchor toss" to pull us into deeper water. It was starting to work when a police office on a jetski came by to see if we were OK. When I informed him that we were and were starting to get into deeper water, he called a boat to give us a tow. A little while later, we were safely back in the channel, tied along the police launch, while the other officer filled out a report and the officer from the jetski did a safety inspection. All's well. Their concern for our safety and our knowledge of the bay was fantastic. I guess the sight of this grey-haired gentleman tossing an anchor and chain and pulling a cruiser had them a little worried. Thanks, guys. PS. What was surprising was how few boats were out on the bay on this beautiful day. Most of the boats in our marina were at the docks, as well, with no people around. Strange. Hy

 

[Radioactive]

Glad to hear of your satisfactory resolution!

fwiw: the "anchor toss" procedure has an official name: kedging

Here is a reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anchor#Kedging "For ships, a kedge may be dropped while a ship is underway, or carried out in a suitable direction by a tender or ship's boat to enable the ship to be winched off if aground"

Of course, use the term that your audience understands...

 

[walterv]

Great post, glad to see they helped you out.

 

[Holy Grail]

Thanks for sharing. Nice to see how it worked out and nobody got hurt with the hard aground.

 

[Billylll]

I am glad everything worked out for you. About 2 years ago I finally did my 1st hard grounding. My wife and I were traveling south on the Jersey ICW behind Long Beach Island and just coming out of the no wake zone, I decided at the last minute to take the inlet and head for the Ocean for a short trip to Atlantic City when I veered slightly off course hitting a hard shoal at abot 12-13 knots. I never knew 26,000 lbs of boat could stop so fast. We both had minor injures. I hit my lower jaw/chin on the steering wheel and my wife hit her right leg above the knee as she launched almost over the top of the instrument console. I grabbed the back of her vest before she went completely over the top. She sustained a bruised leg. SeaTow pulled us off the bar and when I tried to put the starboard engine in gear the motor stalled immediatly. The port engine would go in gear but vibrated so bad we decided to get towed back to our marina. 2 hours later we were back in our slip. The boat was pulled the next day and we needed a starboard shaft, drivechain alignment and new prop. The port side needed a prop. I upgraded the shafts to Aquamet 22, had dripless shaft logs installed, new cutlass bearings and had my spare props checked/scanned and put on the boat.
I didn't use my insurance for anything but the tow. Looking back I should have used the insurance but they alays win anyway to me insurance is for big problems not a foul's error which means me straying from the marked channel.
I'm glad everyone was ok and the police were helpful.
Bill

 

[pstew96]

Ouch Bill! That even hurt me some... hate to know what that must have cost you.

 

[bobalong]

You are obviously not in Ky or Indiana waters. First thing here would be a breathalizer, then a complete interrogation in addition to all the blue lighters one could muster attending. Then possibly a ticket for disturbing endangered sand. Total disdain for police in general. Never had a ticket on the water or in my vehicle.(ok, one in 1978). Glad noboody got hurt, glad you received assistance. The few times I have been asked to show life vests I display them and I have absolutely no room for chit chat or small talk with them.