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Commander Absten goes AGROUND in the ICW,
May 2001!!
Sea Tow to the Rescue
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OK, so you'd think a guy who is
Commander of the Marathon Sail and Power Squadron, teaches navigation, and
is an instrument rated multi-engine pilot could read his charts and stay
in the channel right?? - WRONG.
This happened just out of Beaufort NC getting back into
the ICW Northbound. Fortunately it was soft aground so no damage resulted
and it was easy for these guys to pull me off. I must say that the
response was very fast - only a few minutes. These guys were very helpful
and very courteous.
Even my electronic charting was telling me I was out of
the channel, but it had been off some earlier in the day so I dismissed it
as wrong. I was wrong instead. In all fairness, the Sea Tow guys said the
main channel had been shoaled in for a couple years anyway, and that some
daymarks had been removed, but that none of it was updated on the charts
(Hey Power Squadron - maybe a coop charting update in the area). It
appears that they get a LOT of business from that shoal area. (See the
chart below for details)
I'd whole heartedly recommend subscribing to the Sea Tow
service. I signed up for it less than a year ago in the Keys "just in
case". Boy was that lucky. It would have cost me hundreds of dollars
for this tow. Instead my membership covered it all, so I renewed it on the
spot for next year at less than $100 ($75-$95?)
At-A-Boy SEA TOW! |
This is just out of Beaufort NC, leaving the town docks - red dashes show the
way up under the bridge, and past Town Creek. From there you should ordinarily
go straight to connect with the ICW. The red circle shows where the channel is
now impassable. Instead then, you should take the side creek to the starboard to
rejoin the ICW. There are no signs posted that I could see, and my charts had no
indication of this. I'm told by the Sea Tow guys that some daymarks have been
removed and that charts are not yet updated.
LESSON:
In retrospect, I could have prevented this by being more diligent - even if the
charts were wrong. My computerized chart was telling me I was heading over a
shoal, but I dismissed it as an inaccurate datum as had occurred earlier
(sometimes it puts me on the highway). I was checking for the daymarks but
couldn't identify all the ones I was trying too. I just dismissed that too as a
bewildering collection of daymarks and I just didn't make them all out properly.
I had been this way before and was somewhat familiar with it (overconfident) so
I continued on to my next identified daymark. The problem was that I skipped one
daymark that would have kept me in the channel (it was not there) and I cut
directly across the shoal to the ICW thinking I was in the channel the whole
time. The good news was that I reacted quickly enough to prevent a hard
grounding or damage. As the water got shallower the sound of the engines changed
and the stern started squatting as it does when it gets sucked down in shallow
water. I immediately pulled back the throttles and put the engines in neutral
before we went aground. I tried to get off by myself for a short while, but
finally gave up the ghost and called Sea Tow before I created any damage myself.
Capn Greg
Boaters Beware!
FOR
MORE PICTURES & LOG OF GREG & LISA'S GREAT CIRCLE TRIP, CLICK HERE.
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