After a smooth start to our voyage with our engine ticking along beautifully, on our second day out Phil sponsored our first big adventure of the season, putting us aground (actually “arock”) on a rock reef. How did our experienced captain manage that?
We were coming into Ganges Harbor, which has a chain of islands separating the main harbor from the smaller harbor where we planned to anchor. We have crossed between those islands many times, carefully, because there are lots of rocks scattered about, in the places where the chart shows there’s enough water. On this particular trip, we were almost at the pass that we had planned to take when Phil saw a large, older sailboat come slipping across a passage that was nearer (and fuller of rocks than most, according to the chart). He made a sudden decision to go through where the other boat had gone, and found to his chagrin that the other guy knew where to go much better than he did. We slid up on a nice reef of rocks and came to a halt, with a slight list to starboard. Not a big list, and we were still afloat fore and aft—just stuck in the middle.
If you note the two pictures, you will note in the first one that you really don’t want to be able to see rocks that close as you look through the lifelines over the railing. In the second picture you can see that we’re listing a bit to starboard.
Several helpers appeared right away, first to be sure the boat and its occupants were all right (we were, though with an embarrassed captain), and then to offer advice and help. Two good things had happened—(1) the rock was smooth where we hit it so we had not suffered any damage and even moreso (2) it was low tide and we had several hours of incoming tide to help us get enough water to get off. After one helpful person took an anchor out to secure us and keep us from sliding further onto the reef, we fixed cocktails (it was 5:15 pm) and sat down to wait. In a very short period of time the water had come in enough that we were heeling less. About that time another pair of people came by to offer help, one of whom put a line on our bow to pull us while the other gave us a sideways push to keep us from sliding further onto the reef. After a couple of tries, we were free. We gathered in our lines and gave hearty thanks to all involved, then proceeded to get ourselves properly anchored.
After all that ado, we decided to treat ourselves to a dinner in Ganges Harbor—quite a nice one at a restaurant we hadn’t tried before. Biggest lesson learned (other than BELIEVE THE CHART) is “don’t make spontaneous decisions.”
We hope that’s our season’s grounding and we can get on from there without any other major mishaps. We seem to have to do something like this once a season, just to humble ourselves. Since Ganges, we have spent an uneventful night in the northern Gulf Islands (Ladysmith Harbor) and are currently anchored in Pender Harbor where we are visiting with our friend Jack Charlton, who has a cabin on Mary Islet in the middle of the harbor. After a day of rest, we’ll move on north to Desolation Sound, possibly stopping at Lund.
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