Sept 17, 1985
“We ran our charter boat aground!”
There, I said it, I feel better already, sort of like going to confession.
We had quite an adventure on our sailing trip with Mark and Linda. We had a 36’ sloop, two
weeks and our original plan was to see as much of Georgian Bay as we could (without rushing,
that is). The plan got changed part way through.
We went to a few neat spots where we hadn’t been to before - the anchorage on the South side
of South Benjamin Island, the Notch Bay just North of the Waubuno Channel and Croker
Island. We made those stops after our adventure through Collins Inlet, Beaverstone Bay and
into Georgian Bay - an adventure that was interrupted by a chance meeting with a rocky ledge,
somewhat less than the minimum required 5-½ feet below the water's surface.
Oooops, misspelled Farquhar’s :(
In the Key Harbour/French River area in NE Georgian Bay there is an anchorage between
Major Island and Finger Island which Marjorie Brazer recommends as “quite clear of
obstructions with depths in excess of 10 feet, and a beautiful spot to anchor”. Not quite.
I should mention here that before we left Gore Bay the charter manager advised us of the high
water conditions. They had had a boat on the rocks each week for 3 weeks in a row plus two
earlier in the season. The problem was that with the high water many uncharted rocks were
under water.
The Finger Island bay is unsounded but the chart does have white and blue areas. I decided to
explore only the white areas as the blue might be too shallow. It is 3 PM and the wind is picking
up. This bay is not as sheltered as one would like. We can’t anchor in any of the white areas as
the depths are all 35-75 feet and there is no protection. Mark is on the bow looking for rocks as
we carefully nose our way into a blue area - looking for one of Marjorie’s “beautiful spots in
excess of ten feet”.
C R U N C H ! !
The keel is now on top of a rocky area and people are upset! But we got over it! Whew!
No one wants to anchor here now - it's still too deep and too windy. So we must go over or past
that same spot to get out. I moved over about 25 feet hoping to miss it and
C C R R U U NN NN C C H H ! !
We.re really on it this time - dancing on the keel - rotating - forward - reverse - wind picking up.
People are upset. White faces. Big eyes.
I spin the boat around, back her off the ledge and we’re on the way out. We’re now heading for
a new anchorage at the Georgian Bay Fishing Camp. Mark takes the helm. It is about a 2-
hour trip so we will get there after 5 PM.
We are going extra slow - people are upset - we are counting buoys and Islands and watching
the chart. The wind is still blowing pretty good, enough on the beam to provide some leeway -
not enough that the helmsman would notice as he shares his attention between the chart and
the next buoy - but enough to put us 20 feet further to starboard in a narrow channel.
This rock had only a small amount of water over it. We hit hard. We stopped dead. The mast is
whipping back and forth. The halyards and shrouds are clanging. Mark's hand is bleeding. Linda
grabs me and just prevents me from going head first down the companionway. People are
upset. What comes after white faces and big eyes!?
Somehow we arrive at the Georgian Bay Fishing Camp and quite willingly accept the invitation
to tie up at his dock for the night. Very nice people. They invited us in for excellent coffee and
homemade cake. I ate two pieces. No one else could eat. [I wanted more but I did not want to
seem hoggish].
We spent an hour chatting with Dave and his partner. They had just bought the place - saw it for
the first time in January. Unbelievable fishing - you must go there some time.
It is now about 3 hours since we first hit bottom. The coffee and warm cake have helped but no
one is really relaxed yet. We head back to the boat. Maybe a light supper would be nice - soup
and a sandwich.
Linda gets to the boat first - goes below to start supper and is up to her ankles in water.
We man the manual bilge pump. It takes a while but we get most of it out. It is obvious that there
is a continual flow of water into the boat,
While I am on the phone to Gore Bay [Uh, yes sir - we have a problem - rock - water streaming
into the boat …] Mark arranges [$40.00] with Dave for a small pump and a hose. Dave also
lends us a spare battery to run the pump overnight. The hose he just cut off a gas pump [“it
leaked anyway”] and the battery - well “it was charged a couple of weeks ago and that little
pump will never run it dry”.
The pump is just able to keep up with the water flow. It is like a garden hose. We have 1-½ hour
shifts watching the pump until 6 AM when we are to leave for a 13 hour run to Gore Bay. The
charter manager went over Mayday procedures with me in the phone call.
What a night! The pump stops. The bilge fills. Mark cleans crud from the impeller. The pump
stops again. The battery is dead. Mike crawls into the cockpit locker at 4 AM to hook the pump
up to the boat main battery. No one got more than an hour of sleep.
We leave at 6:30 AM. If we can make the 3 PM bridge at Little Current we can get to Gore Bay
before dark. We just made the 3 PM bridge! Wow!! Farquhar’s Dairy for ice cream 🙂
At Gore Bay they have a travel lift and a crew waiting for us - we had phoned from Little Current
and radioed from Clapperton Island. We are hauled out over dry land immediately - no chance
to even get off the boat. They brought a ladder later. They set up two heat lamps to dry out the
fiberglass keel.
The boat does not have an external lead keel like a C&C. The keel is part of the fiberglass mold
of the whole boat. Lead is added into it later in the construction. We broke the fiberglas and the
water leaked in - ran up the keel.
One day to dry out the boat, one additional day to effect the repair and by noon of the following
day we were headed out again. What an adventure! The repair bill was $716.50 - the limit of
our liability was our $500.00 deposit.
We will remember for a long time this story, and especially the Welcome! we received from
Dave et al at The Georgian Bay Fishing Camp 🙂
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