Not a good day for the Captain.....

(This entry from Bill) After a very uneventful passage from Block Island to Mystic Harbor under sunny skies in wind from the wrong direction (again) we motored up the scenic Mystic River past Noank to the first of two bridges to get to Mystic Seaport, a railroad bridge, which is normally in the open position but was closed when we got there. During the fifteen minute wait, we made several 360’s but after multiple donuts, I decided to put the boat in reverse to hold our position.

Our normal routine is to tow our dinghy on a line that runs about 25 feet off our stern. But after a couple of minutes in reverse, I realized the dinghy was not behind us anymore but was right next to us. I asked Lauren to bring in the towing line. So Lauren, being the great first mate that she is, responded and said "it's stuck". We had about a 2 knot current pushing us into the bridge at this point and I had a pretty good idea what had happened. The towing line had caught in the gap between the rudder and the keel of the boat - very scary because this is very close to the propeller. After trying several options and being very close to one of the channel markers, we realized our only option was to cut the line to try to pull it free. No luck!

We re-attached the dinghy to the boat using the “painter” (which is not used for towing but is used to attaching the dinghy to docks) and then, remember the channel marker? Because it was getting very close and I was unsure of where the approximately 24 feet left of line was, I needed to decide whether to put the boat back in gear or to drift out of the channel. Not having but 15 seconds to make this decision, I put the boat into gear and made a hard turn to avoid a collision with the channel marker.

Thankfully, we avoided the marker but we ran ourselves firmly aground in 5 feet of water! Things were not looking good. Call for a tow or put the engine in reverse to get us off the bottom and risk having the tow line (who knows where it was) sucked into the propeller? Neither were great options. I elected the latter and we were able to get ourselves out of the mud. We made our way through the railroad bridge and the next bridge and finally docked at Mystic Seaport, wondering if we were a ticking time bomb (i.e. were we going to suck the remaining tow line into our prop?)

So tomorrow I have to decide whether to dive the rudder myself, as I have gear on board, or hire a diver. However, looking over the stern of the boat today, I counted upwards of ten jellyfish floating near the surface and I am leaning towards having a professional do it since I don’t have a full wetsuit.

Looking back, safe and sound at the dock, after a great dinner downtown, one can realize that it only takes a few seconds of complacency to turn little problems into a big deal. Lesson learned again.

On another note, we are staying at (as in inside) the Mystic Seaport Museum and are actually docked next to three tall sailing ships. And it looks like our stay here is going to be fantastic.