tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4573951152257923017.post8702065750923612488..comments2023-06-11T01:38:45.446-07:00Comments on Nel and Al's Caribbean Odyssey: The Culebra ExperienceNILUFER and ALPELhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04828810958270364566noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4573951152257923017.post-76168541108474872442011-12-20T19:51:13.246-08:002011-12-20T19:51:13.246-08:00Colin Starratt from RYC here, Al. I know how you ...Colin Starratt from RYC here, Al. I know how you feel -- you haven't really been crusing until you've run aground! When we ordered our pilothouse motorsailor Walloping Window Blind I took a 'grounding plate' option, which turned out to be a 4-inch-thick slab of lead along the bottom of our shoal-draft keel to protect it when -- not if -- we went aground. It has done its job several times, including one incident in the North Channel when somebody moved a private range marker and I went aground on a rock shoal at 5 knots! Fortunately I was able to kedge off, heeling the boat well over by raising all the sails into the wind that was blowing across the deck. Not an experience I'd care to repeat, but I know that I will someday, usually by going to the wrong side of a channel marker or missing one altogether (easy to do in Georgian Bay on the Smell Craft Route).<br /><br />Safe sailing to you on your voyage, and if you don't know where you are going, come to a dead stop! Then, if necessary, back out the way you came in until you are in safe water again (been there, done that!). Good luck, and may the bureaucrats be in a generous anc cooperative mood when you are checking in and out!<br /><br />CLS Ottawa (de622@ncf.ca)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com