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As the season for many of us approaches, I could not resist posting a beaching pic of ours. We beached stern-to about 10am one warm day. The high tide line is about 8 feet aft of boat. We got off again about 5 pm when the tide returned. During the afternoon, several other boats anchored at the shoreline and came by to oogle and ahh (and probably think we were crazy) but we had great seats for the afternoon, a fine lunch, walks on shore, and good vibes about the Mac. Enjoy.

The perfect photo to hand to the next finkeel sailor who disrespects the 26X.
Ron

Nice photo. Makes me miss those beautiful FL and Carolina beaches I used to sail and camp on forty or fifty years ago.

Thats what I call a clever means of getting a "free" over night stay on some select beach front property.
Just pick a spot, read closely the prevailing tides...and bingo... Step out the boat on dry land, pick sea shells, build sand castles, chase the Admiral around , swim a little bit...and shove off for more fun.

Beautiful pic and scene

Opie, I beach often and let the tide run out. I am going to put a layer of epoxy with Biox cloth and feather it out at the bow to aft aprox. 6 ft. back to use as a sacrifice . I do a lot of fiberglass restructures and tho there are after market items you can attach I have seen nothing to just fiberglass to protect the hull with smooth finish.
Here is one grounding were the hull is not supported for 7 ft. under,tide went out and was sand 1000 ft. away. We floated off 2 hrs after the tide change. (good sleeping)
http://s182.photobucket.com/albums/x25/ ... ec%202008/
Dave

(As the season for many of us approaches, I could not resist posting a beaching pic of ours. We beached stern-to about 10am one warm day. The high tide line is about 8 feet aft of boat. We got off again about 5 pm when the tide returned. During the afternoon, several other boats anchored at the shoreline and came by to oogle and ahh (and probably think we were crazy) but we had great seats for the afternoon, a fine lunch, walks on shore, and good vibes about the Mac. Enjoy.)

One of the few neat things I did in San Felipe, BC, Mexico was beach the and wait as 50 or more people walked out to the boat to see the crazy Gringos who had gotten themselves stuck

Rick

What a blast that's got to be. In my 40plus years of sailing I admit I've gone aground twice with a fixed keel. Once while approaching the Santa Barbara Harbor entrance for the first time in pitch dark with no engine, we hit the sandy bottom going about half a knot. About an hour later the tide change and freed us. The second time was not a pretty sight. There was a Neap tide at Cat Harbor and I was single moored with one hook. When the tide switched in the middle of the night we lost over eight feet in just a couple of hours while the boat moved over fifty feet to the shore. We ended up on our side for another four hours. It was the most embarassing thing that ever happened to me. Thankfully only two people saw us. Depending on how she sits and the bottom composition and weight of the vessel, I can imagine that you can get some damage. Sounds like the extra glass idea might be a good one.

The admiral has mentioned that I would be inconsiderate if I did not mention the inherent dangers of anchoring near shore or beaching. In the three years of boat ownership with my MAC26x we have enjoyed the areas around Wrightsville Beach, especially Masonboro Island on the sound-side. I estimate we have been to shores like these at least 50 times, enjoying walking the beaches, both sound-side and ocean side, taking family and friends to see places that can only be reached by boat, exploring nearly deserted places while the main beach at Wrightsville is crowded. Here's the warning part of my message.

Out of 50 times: only 5 beachings. Beaching the boat was only done when the weather window promised absolutely no storms and the winds were negligible at the on-and-off times. You can imagine the problems that would occur if a storm came up while you were stranded trying to get off the beach. Not pretty. Be careful and cautious.

The other 45 times were near-shore anchoring. Oh, the small power boats do it so neatly. They power up to the water/sand line slowly, step off the bow on the beach, throw a small anchor out about 15 feet and walk away without a care. In stronger winds or tidal currents, they throw a second anchor off the stern, and most of the time do great. I watch them and marvel at their boats just sitting there like an obedient doggy. But my Mac26 is not so obedient. With its high sides it catches every breeze and strains to sway up and around and back and forth. When tidal currents come, they add to the forces at work.

So what do I mean? Well, my standard near shore anchoring has an anchor placed off the bow and way up the beach and a stern anchor far out the back in deeper water. I dread when other small boats come up and do their anchoring right next to my boat. Believe me, if winds pick up you will have to leave as the Mac26 will bang them. I know, I was there first, but why fight it? One time I got surrounded and waited too long. I had to pull on the deep anchor to thread myself out, barely missing others. Motoring out is just a precarious when others are near.

And then there were about 10 times when the wind picked up and the shore became a lee shore, meaning that the wind was driving me into the shore. These were the worst experiences I have had. Water too shallow to put down the motor and hard to get into deep water. Sure, an anchor placed way out would have saved me, but I did not do it. Agony, but I made it somehow.

About 10 times, committed to go to the beach to walk, and the wind and current too strong for my taste, I did the following: I threw out a saftey anchor 75 feet out, raised rudders, then I motored slowly right (with anchor line on the safe side of boat) onto the sand with motor raised up somewhat, cut motor, raised motor out of way, jumped out and turned the boat around by hand, unloaded my passengers, jumped back on and had them push me out, started up the motor and anchored safely out, and then swam to shore with swim fins. Reversed that when ready to leave. Trouble? Yes. But safer.

Be careful. Experience and good thinking are your best medicine for avoiding boating headaches.

Haven't done it yet in my boat. But here is a picture of Bastonjock's boat, GLISSANDO, at Sea Palling (52 47 23.42N 001 36 13.06E for those that want to take a look...nice breakwaters to keep the surf off). We beached about 2 hours after low tide so after walking around town for an hour or so we came back to the boat and it was close to floating. Got to pay attention to tides if you do this in tidal areas. Of course now I think GLISSANDO is missing a few things...like a mast But I know that Matt will have her fixed up soon.



But this gave us a chance to wash off some of the mud that got on his boat from his mooring which completely dries out. Seems to be pretty common practice over here. There were 20+ boats (lift keelers, twin keelers, and some wing keelers) moored in this area.



(NOTE: At high tide this mooring position is around 8' deep *)

A couple of months later I was sailing in the Solent with RickJ and we moored up at Ventnor on the Isle of Wight (50 35 34.02N 001 12 17.12W...yes, the other side of the Prime Meridian). We took his inflatable to the dock and walked into town for dinner at a local pub. When we came back the boat was sitting pretty much high and dry. Okay, not so dry...but since we didn't want to walk through the mud to get back to the boat we went back to the pub for a few hours until they kicked us out around midnight. The water was about 8" deep, we were barely able to get the dinghy out back to the boat but we made it. Next time we will study those tide tables a little more closely. Sorry...no pictures.

Gotta love sailing in England...but it is not as nice as Florida (but big THANKS to Matt and Rick for letting me tag along).

Jim

A few good points there by Opie we have had a few occasions sitting on a rising tide where another boat with a different anchoring system or lifting earlier has given us a bump, it's not good at 2 am and the water full of stingrays, paddling round trying to straighten up anchors and boats.
This was one of the times when there were nine of us parked fairly close as there was limited level beach space and woke up to find our neighbour hard against us saying "oooh the things that go bump in the night"

We found that after setting anchor on arrival it payed to reset anchors when tide was out with proper scope etc but doing this make sure you don't make the scopes too long or it allows boats to come together.
Once the boats are anchored front and back, providing the anchors hold evenly the boats should move evenly when all are floating but this is not always the case especially on a lee shore that wasn't when you anchored or with tide running the other way.
We have been caught on strange beaches and woken up being slammed about but by the same token have been caught rubbing the rocky\shelly bottom with a miscalculation of tide in a sheltered bay that wasn't in reality so sheltered with a change of wind.
One night the wife got spooked when we anchored in a shallow cove and the sharks etc were slamming into the side of the boat and the water all around us was fleuresing(sp) with all the movement in the pitch black she had visions of the 5m crocs we saw earlier climbing aboard.
Anchoring or beaching especially for the night is not something to be taken lightly or rushed sometimes we have shifted 3--4 times trying to get it right and then moving anchors until better, when setting for a night it pays to get there very early so you have time to pull out if neccessary especially if a noisy crowd arrives.

130king.....love your second photo....looks like a scene from "The Riddle of the Sands"....Ron

Ron,

Matt's marina is "Wells-next-the-Sea" and it is quite interesting. Long and narrow. The mooring balls are probably 1 mile from the "marina" proper. You either have to walk down the paved sidewalk along the sea wall to the mooring field and then walk all your "stuff" through the mud out to the boat (no area for cars down by the mooring field). Or wait for the tide to come in and take your dinghy from the pier at the marina to your boat.

The interesting part is you can only launch/recover your sailboat at high tide (+/- about 2 hours). If high tide is 0900 you can launch between about 0700 and 1100. And then you can't recover until about 1900-2300 that evening. Can be very inconvenient...but we still had a great time. Except for that rough night after the Fish-'n-Chips and 6' seas... ...but the cockpit washed out just fine afterwards...

Here are some more pics.

The marina proper


Here is the pavement alongside the sea wall leading from the marina, towards the mooring field, which has a little bit of water in it. The sea is in the distance another mile or so.

And here are a couple more pics of the mooring field which stretches for over a mile from the marina:



Matt is getting GLISSANDO ready for a day of fine sailing.




Cheers,
Jim

WOW! Thanks for sharing the pics & links. It is intriguing, the tidal / coastal challenges of that region and the way people have adapted to it.

This is the first time posting a picture, beached on Snake river. temperature about 105 degrees at sunset.

Hey DaveB,
Where can I beach my boat while in Fla?