Article by Capt. Mark Sampson
This summer there is going to be some dredging done in Ocean City’s back bays that will result in the opening up of a few channels as well as the creation of some new islands. Just as the new islands will create habitat and make life a little better for birds and other critters, the dredged channels will certainly make things a whole lot better for boats and the folks who skipper them throughout our inshore waterways. There’s nothing prettier to a boater than a deep and well-marked channel. But as anyone who has ever navigated our back bays knows, there are a lot of waters away from the marked channels that are fun to fish, cruise and enjoy. And therein lies the problem, because venturing out of a properly marked channel puts boaters at the risk of running aground, a predicament that is usually nothing more than a somewhat embarrassing inconvenience, but it can also result in a damaged vessel or personal injury if the aftermath is not handled properly.
When someone is running along on plane and suddenly hits bottom, their first reaction should be to throttle the engine down quickly, pull it into neutral and then shut the motor off. The motor should be shut down because the process of running aground typically stirs up a lot of bottom sediment and a running motor will suck in a bunch of sand and mud through the water pump and send it through the cooling system. It’s bad enough to be aground; no one wants to make it worse by tearing up their water-pump impeller and clogging up their motor with a bunch of bottom gook. Trying to plow a boat out of shallow water is almost always a bad idea and increases the odds of damaging the prop and lower unit.
Once stopped, it’s time to assess the situation and figure out a plan for the next course of action. One should first determine if the wind or current is going to make matters worse by pushing the boat farther away from deep water. Chances are, the closest deep water is going to be back behind the boat, exactly were it just came from, and the boater doesn’t want to get farther away from that direction. If the boat is inclined to drift farther up into the shallows, the motor can be trimmed down until it contacts the bottom enough to keep the boat from drifting. This tactic can buy enough time until those aboard can come up with a plan for getting “unstuck.”
After the motor has been turned off and trimmed up, it might be possible to simply push the boat to deeper water with an oar, paddle or boat hook, but usually the process will involve someone getting out and pushing by hand. In fact, it might be necessary for everyone to get out and push, which will not only provide more manpower but also lighten the boat and allow it to float in shallower water.
Boaters who run aground should not lose sight of the fact that they have (or at least should have) an anchor aboard which can be used to keep them from getting into worse trouble and possibly even be used to get them out of the trouble they’re in. Once aground, it’s usually easy to walk an anchor away from the boat and in the direction of the closest deep water. By setting the anchor in the deepest water they can, and then tying anchor line off to the boat, it will help keep the boat from drifting farther up in the shallows. Once the anchor is firmly set, the occupants might also be able to use the line to pull the vessel to deeper water as the tide rises or when waves from passing boats come along.
At times a boat can be pulled off by another vessel, but whoever is in charge of such an operation had better know what they’re doing, otherwise serious damage could be done to one of or both of the vessels just as someone could be seriously hurt in the process. Such assistance is usually best left to trained professionals with the right equipment. There will also be times when the only way to get back to deep water is to wait for the tide to rise, which could be a long wait if the boat gets stuck as the tide is falling.
Afterwards, one should always make sure their motor is still pumping water before carrying on with their voyage. If an outboard has a bad water pump, it will likely blow steam or smoke from the telltale where the stream of water usually comes from. If nothing at all is coming out, the water pump might still be working but there could be a little sand clogging the telltale hole. One can check this by poking a soft wire like a paperclip or leader wire, or a piece of heavy monofilament an inch or two into the hole to break up the clog and restore flow of water.
Of course, whenever possible, it’s best just to stay off the bottom in the first place, which is something that even boaters without a lot of local knowledge can probably manage to do, at least most of the time, providing they follow a few common sense boating procedures. First; before they even leave the dock, everyone should acquire and study whatever a good chart of the waters they’ll be navigating in and then have that chart available for quick review when out on the water. Just keep in mind that the channels and shoals of our local bay waters are constantly changing, so no chart is going to be 100% correct from year to year. Next, watch other boats to see what water is passable and what is being avoided. Boaters should also strive to read the water by observing the color changes and differences in the appearance of the surface that would indicate changes in depth. Finally, slow down! It’s a lot easier to both run aground and tear something up in the process when you’re zipping along at warp speeds. Take your time until you get to know the waters, and remember if you see seagulls standing, you probably don’t want to be there!
Just like paying exorbitant prices for fuel, running aground is not something any of us enjoy, but it should be an accepted part of the boating experience because sooner or later it’s going to happen to everyone. Heck, I’ve been running boats around our inshore waters since I was a small kid and I still manage to find bottom more than just a few times each year! The key to ensuring that running aground is an inconvenience, not a catastrophe, is knowing what to do when the inevitable happens.
Captain Mark Sampson is an outdoor writer and captain of the charter boat “Fish Finder”.
