Disaster Strikes Off Cape May

May 19, 2018 – Jim Costello joins us for the ride down the Delaware to Cape May.  Everything goes smoothly until we strike a sand bank on Prissy Wicks Shoals, some 5 nm from Cape May.  We were retracing a track we had taken some 2-3 times before, but this time we ran into a 4-foot deep sand bank in low tide and keeled over.  While Thach was trying to maneuver Emmanou off the sandbank, Jim called the Coast Guard and they sent Sea Tow for assistance.  Rollers continued to buffet Emmanou from the beam as Sea Tow took nearly an hour to arrive (one small boat and a larger one).  The smaller boat took a shot at dragging us off the sand bank to little effect, before giving way to the bigger Tow Boat.  It took over two hours before Emmanou was freed with the help of a rising tide and a full thrust from the main engine.  Biggest casualty was the loss of both stabilizers (designed to break off).  The cockpit had also filled up, and we lost various loose items from there, including both scuba diving bottles (one of which, riding up and down the starboard companionway before leaving the boat, did damage to the gelcoat, and the other riding the breakers to come back torpedo-like to give a nice crack to the outside of the boat).  We headed into the Canyon Club in Cape May for a haul out to evaluate the damage, but their lift sling capacity was insufficient to get us into the yard for repairs — just a quick lift out of the water for a visual inspection which showed minimal damage to the hull.  The nearest yard that could take us was Pleasure Cove Marina in Baltimore, so we backtracked two days there without stabilizers – luckily the seas were calm.  Three weeks of repairs and with new stabilizers and a freshly painted bottom (other cosmetic stuff would have to wait till the Winter break in Florida), Emmanou splashed back in the water and resumed her trip North.