Stuck in the Mud

The plan was to depart Mobile on Saturday, January 13 with my sister and brother-in-law (Carol and Steve) as crew for a couple of days (Mobile to Destin). The weather forecast was for colder than normal temperatures accompanied by a string north wind. I arrived on Thursday and got the head sail back on the furler and put on the cockpit panels on the back, so the cockpit would be fully enclosed for the trip in the cold temperatures. Friday and Saturday, our planned travel days, the forecast called for temperatures in the mid and upper 40s, but sunny. With a fully enclosed cockpit and the sun warming the enclosed cockpit, the trip should be reasonably comfortable.

Thursday night the wind started picking up and a rain squall passed through in the middle of the night. I got up Friday I finished a few chores on the boat.  The temperature had dropped to the lower 40s by the time I left to go pick up Steve and Carol in Destin.  With the cold north wind at 20 knots, the wind chill had to be down in the 30s.  By the time I got to Destin, around 1:30, the temperature was back up 54 (according to my car thermometer).  I was hopeful. As we drove back to Mobile the temperature kept dropping. We were discussing whether to go or not. It would be the first long range trip for Carol and Steve on a boat, so I wanted to ensure they had a good experience. We had decided that it was likely that we would not be departing, but we would make the final call in the morning. Steve had an obligation on Monday afternoon (working people problems), so we had to make the trip on Saturday and Sunday. The wind kept blowing all night. I turned on the instruments and looked at the winds speed. The wind was at 18 knots with gust of 25. The forecast was that the wind is supposed to decrease overnight to 10 knots, great sailing wind.

Lesson Plan sitting on the bottom

In the morning we got up and I noticed that it was a much higher step up to the pier than I have ever seen it at low tide. Then I noticed that the bow lines were tight, so I loosened them. Then I realized that the boat was sitting on the bottom, stuck in the mud. The water was down about 1.6 feet below low tide level. I recalled an article I read about Mobile Bay and north winds. When the north wind blows for several days, it will blow the water out of Mobile Bay and it gets even more shallow. When we got back to the Marina Friday afternoon there was a boat coming in. They said they couldn’t go because the bumped the bottom going under the bridge. I didn’t think anything about it at the time, but obviously the wind had already pushed a lot of water out of the Bay.

We went to Mobile on Saturday and toured the Carnival (a.k.a. Mardi Gras) Museum and the Gulf Quest Museum. We watched a Cruise ship depart from Mobile. If only I could get out to the main channel I could start my trip toward the Keys. But here I sit on Monday morning and the low tide still has me on the bottom in the marina. I guess I will get started one of these days. But the weather of last week is forecasted to repeat itself at the end of this week. We shall see.