Got up at five. Ate breakfast. Cast off from the dock at 6:30. Went a short distance to the fuel dock. The man used an electric pump to transfer the diesel from the drum to the jerry cans. Roy also bought 3 gallons of oil.
When we left the fuel dock, we went over to Laurie's boat, "Endless Weekend", and blew the horn. Laurie had been taking a shower. She threw a towel around herself and leaped up on deck, thinking a big freighter was bearing down on her. When she saw it was us, she laughed. We said good bye and left her a Royak brochure. She's very much interested in Royaks.
Then we headed out the harbor entrance. Roy was at the wheel, and I was putting the fenders in the lazarette. That turned out to be a mistake. The fenders could have waited; I should have been watching for shallow spots. All of a sudden, BLUMP! We were aground. We were good and aground. And the tide was going out.
Roy took an anchor out in his Royak and dropped it about 100 feet ahead of the Jofian. Then he tried to winch the boat up towards the anchor, but she wouldn't budge.
I VHF'd the yacht club. They sent out three guys in a dinghy, and another man showed up in a small motorboat. They put our anchor astern of us and tried to pull us off backwards, but to no avail. They made several attempts, gunning their engines, Jofian's engine going at 2200 RPM in reverse, and Roy cranking up the anchor as hard as he could. She didn't budge.
The men in the boats gave up and left. One of them had told us the tide wouldn't be high again until 3 p.m., so we figured we'd be sitting there until then.
An islander in a dugout canoe came by and tried to help. The water was only three feet deep on our port side, so he and Roy went down and checked out our situation. Roy decided he could dig us out, so he got his old army shovel. Just at that point, a slightly larger boat with a more powerful engine arrived on the scene and offered to pull us off. He was sure he could, and he did. Free at last! He didn't want any money, but Roy gave him $15 anyway. Unfortunately, he didn't have any money left to give the guy in the dugout. He gave him a ride in his Royak instead. The guy was thrilled.
Went the rest of the way very slowly and carefully. I stood on the roof and watched out for shallow spots. What a relief when we finally reached deep water!
It was a calm, sunny day. No sign of rain. In the afternoon, a light breeze came up out of the north, so we enjoyed a pleasant, leisurely sail.
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