Running Aground: Don't Panic, Think Tide

Sooner or later, most skippers feel the sickening slow-down of a keel touching the bottom. Your first response shapes everything: instantly throttle back or ease sheets so you stop driving harder onto the ground. Then check for danger to life and hull — is water coming in? Are crew safe? — and note your depth, heading, and the state of the tide, because whether the water is rising or falling decides your whole strategy.

The single most important question is: is the tide flooding or ebbing? On a rising tide, patience often wins — the boat may simply float off in minutes, so you just need to keep her from being pushed further on. On a falling tide, you have a shrinking window; act fast or you'll be stuck (and heeled over) for hours until the next high water.

Technique matters. To reduce draft (how deep the keel sits), you can heel the boat: send crew to the low side, swing the boom out with weight on it, or hang the dinghy off a halyard — tilting the keel lifts it slightly. Motoring off usually means reversing back along the track you came in on, since that water was deep enough moments ago.

When you can't power off, use kedging: load a small anchor (the kedge) into the dinghy, row it out into deep water, drop it, then haul on its line — often via a winch — to physically drag the boat toward deeper water. Combine kedging with heeling and a rising tide and even a firmly grounded yacht can be worked free.