The channel, at this point, does not go straight. It takes a very sharp bend to the left and passes close to the piers in Hopewell, well to the left of some small islands. It then bends back to the right and comes back into line with the bridge. Of course, I knew that. Of course, the chart showed it. Of course, following the channel markers would have taken me right along that path.
Of course, I missed it.
FRANK MUMMERTThe Henrico County Marine Patrol stands by to render assistance, towing stranded vessels.
I continued merrily on a straight path, through the two nearby channel markers and towards the further markers. I slid blissfully along, enjoying a slight breeze as the wind shifted slightly. I felt the first tug of the keel in mud about three minutes later.
I recognized that feeling. It had happened several times on parts of the ICW and I immediately started looking for the channel markers that would indicate where the deeper part of the channel was. I had almost gotten stuck a couple of times and only by rapidly turning the boat towards the center of the channel had I gotten out of trouble. I looked frantically for the markers and soon found them. Both of them – half a mile to my left.
I was well out of the channel.
The keel started tugging more insistently now. I could feel the speed starting to grind down, even as the engine rose in pitch. I spun the boat to the left and tried to power up, with the hope of popping off the mud bank underneath me. The keel stuck tighter. I tried to go back the way I came, but the boat came to a slow stop after less than a quarter of the turn. Backing down caused mud to billow under the boat, but she moved not an inch.
Worried that I would suck up too much grit and muck, I shut the engine down. The deafening quiet was broken by my wife's worried question. "What happened?"
Well, it was obvious what happened! We had gotten stuck and it certainly wasn't my fault that the channel was – well, exactly where it was supposed to be, just not where we were.
GROUNDED
So what do you do for a grounding? The first step is to figure out the state of the tide. We called the Benjamin Harrison bridge tender, who let us know that it was were two or three hours before low tide. She asked if we wanted her to call for assistance. When we agreed, she called the local marina and a friendly boater was soon on his way to help us out.
Unfortunately, the friendly boater was in an eighteen foot bow rider with a 65 horsepower motor and, when he got close, he realized that he had almost no hope of getting us out. He pulled up alongside, apologized for getting our hopes up and headed off.
At this point, I decided to take matters into my own hands, literally. I would take out a kedge anchor and we could winch the boat out. All I needed was the dinghy, the dinghy motor and the kedge anchor.
The dinghy had been hanging in its davits the entire trip, the motor below in the aft cabin. Step one was obviously to manhandle the motor up on deck. Careful consideration to the choice of cursing vocabulary was important here – since I didn't want to use up all my good curses too early in the project. The engine was soon up top and I tossed it into the dinghy, figuring I could put it in place after I lowered the boat.
