Position: 18 degrees, 51 minutes south; 159 degrees, 48 minutes west
Bummer. Aground and it was high tide in the middle of the channel. We should have had several feet under the keel
The channel is very narrow
Finally inside the reef, we tied up to Orcinius with Sockdologer on the other side. Orcinius had an anchor out and was stern tied to the trees
We were ready for it and yes, it happened. We ran aground coming in the very narrow and very shallow pass into Aitutaki.
There was a four knot ebb right at the ocean and I had Charisma gunned up but we were only making 3 knots over the ground. Then after 50 yards, the current dropped and we brought the RPMs down to a slower level, but we were still doing about 4 knots when we felt the bump, bump-at which point I said something like; “oh darn it!” and we took a really big bump-Charisma went bow down as the aft part of the keel hit really hard and we just stopped. Totally. Completely.
We were now in the middle (if you could say such a tiny channel even has a middle-it felt barely wide enough for us to fit through) of the pass and hard on the sand. Not moving. Blocking the pass. Didn’t really matter since no-one else was going to use it, we were the only non-local boat in that whole day. Other than us, only the fisherman used the pass and they were in little motor boats that drew about 2 feet. We draw 5’8″ before a ton of gear (literally) so loaded down, I’m guessing we actually draw 6′.
Six feet should have been OK, but I forgot to read some of the fine print of the chart book as follows: “…hug the sticks…”, (channel markers are sticks in the sand), “…close on to the north side EXCEPT around the wreck where you should stay out a little further…” . I stayed with the hug the sticks part and didn’t notice the “EXCEPT” part. So while hugging the sticks close on to the north side of the channel, we basically high centered Charisma on the sand. We hit so hard the alarm went off on the fluxgate compass (more on that below) since it couldn’t comprehend why we stopped so fast.
Once it became obvious we were hard aground I went through my usual litany of swear words to describe such a situation properly to Jesus Christ, then relented and quickly started taking action to remedy the situation. I was worried about two things: The current was going at right angles to the pass, so if we drifted loose we could really get in trouble by drifting onto the hard and very shallow coral that lined the sides of the pass and be in much more serious trouble. We only had 30 minutes before max high tide. We had to work fast and get loose by then, otherwise we’d spend the next 12 hours enjoying the view as the tide cycled back to where we’d have enough water to lift us off. Fortunately we had Orcinius on the radio. They got here a couple days before us and being a catamaran, they didn’t draw as much and thus were able to get in easier and were med-moored to a palm tree in the tidal basin. “Orcinius, we’re aground” was our simple message. Their response; “We’re on our way out in the dinghy”.
Everyone knows about this pass. Everyone knows it’s rumored to be only six feet deep, but that’s at mean low tide, so there should have been enough water for us at high tide. Anyway, we were all ready for the drill. While John and Lisa from Orcinius were heading out to help us in their dinghy, we set our plan in motion. We were aground with the shallow water on our port side, so we had to “tip” our keel to starboard to reduce the depth and pivot it away from the shallow water. We quickly put the boom over to the port side and Ann worked to set the preventer to hold it 90 degrees to the boat. While she was setting up the boom, I dashed to the foredeck and untied the dinghy (which was deflated and folded into its bag and lashed to the deck) and moved it to the port side. We also had two 5 gallon water jugs on the starboard side that I unlashed and moved to port. Just this moved about 200 pounds from one side of Charisma over to port. Then I put Ann on the bowsprit to try and drop the bow and lift the deep part of the keel while I gunned the engine. No joy. We’re still hard and fast.
At about this point, John and Lisa came on the scene. We started out with both of them hanging off the boom from their dinghy hoping to pull Charisma further over to port. I again gunned the engine. We weren’t moving, but when I moved the wheel from one side to the other, Charisma would pivot so I knew we were just sitting on the lowest part of the keel and not too far from coming off. The problem at this point was ME. Not literally, but my weight in the cockpit steering the boat was keeping the keel firmly in the sand. OK, so now we’ll try this: Ann and Bob on the bowsprit waaay out in front of the bow. John hanging on the boom 10 feet to port making a pretty effective lever-arm and Lisa (who weighs almost nothing as far as we can tell) steering. Back to full power, turn the wheel left then right, then left again-I can see Charisma pivoting-I shout; “MORE POWER”and she turns it up. We can see sand boiling up from the stern as the big propeller is pushing tons of water and then…inch by inch, I think I can see we’re moving. Yes, we’re moving. Slowly at first, then it’s clear we’re sliding off the sand. Yay! We’re free!
John relaxed off the boom and headed back in to prepare for us to side-tie to Orcinius and Lisa stayed on for the ride in. The rest of the way was anti-climax, but still amazingly tight. Even the turning basin inside was barely big enough for Charisma to turn without doing a “back and fill”. In the mean time “Saint John” had set up everything on Orcinius so we didn’t have to drop an anchor and med-moor. We would just tie up to Orcinius who already had an anchor out the bow and the stern tied to a coconut palm tree. Yes, that’s how small this harbor is. You have such little room, you are tying the stern to trees to keep from swinging into the coral as wind and current change.
It doesn’t matter too much anyway-at anything but high tide, we actually sit on the bottom here in the anchorage. It was a little unnerving last night as we could hear and feel Charisma settle into the mud as the tide went out. We’re probably about a foot in the mud at low tide and just barely floating at high tide.
I mentioned an alarm went off in the electronics right as we ran aground. It was a different one than I’d ever heard and I was busy, so told Ann to just turn it off and come back up above deck. Turns out the fluxgate compass doesn’t like sudden stops. What the heck’s a flux gate compass you ask? Don’t ask, but suffice it to say it’s a gyro type compass that provides the synchronization between radar and GPS so the two systems can talk with each other and show up together on the chart plotter. After we got in and settled down after our entertaining entrance, I noticed the error message and the fact that the GPS/Radar overlay no longer worked. Crap! I don’t know how to fix that stuff! Once again, out come the binders of manuals and after some reading I found the answer. “Turn the power off and then on again”. I wouldn’t have been surprised if they had added the word; “crisply”. In other words, reboot the system. I did that and it now works. Yay! Crisis averted.
OK, so that’s our yesterday. Today, we rented motorbikes (actually one, we ride together) and motored around the island. What a blast! No traffic and scooting around on both two lane asphalt and dirt roads. Really fun! Also, the people here are amazing/incredible. We have decided that no matter what the reality, we have decided “Aitutaki” means; “really nice, friendly people”. And everyone speaks English! But more on these last topics tomorrow. It’s time for bed for now. Motorbilkes, flux-gate fixes and dinner and a Polynesian dance show with Orcininus have exhausted us for now.
See you tomorrow.