Position: Alongside American River, Kangaroo Island
Wind: SE, F3 - gentle breeze
Sea: rippled Swell: nil
Weather: sunny, mild
Day's run: 7 nm

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day with a moderate breeze out of the SE, which meant that the seas were nice and smooth and there was no swell running - perfect for a short pleasant day sail. My lead line had shown that there was plenty of water for us to to come alongside the pontoon off the boat launching ramp so at 1350 I weighed anchor and motored to the pontoon. 1400 proved to be a good time to make our approach as it was slack water which made the quick touch and go to pick up Ella and Xavier a relatively simple matter. From there we motored out the channel, following the track on the GPS plotter, confident that we could not touch bottom in the channel if we followed this route.

Once clear of the channel we turned into the wind, setting sail to the moderate SE breeze, then made our way close-hauled on the starboard tack over the the eastern side of Eastern Cove. We tacked a little ways past Rocky Point then followed the shore line about a cable (200 yards) off, staying in the sheltered lee of the beach and to allow us to inspect the numerous boats at anchor off the beach. This, unfortunately proved to be a mistake.

As we were getting back to the western side of the bay the depth sounder alarm went off indicating that we were in less than four meters of water. This was unexpected as my chart showed the depth as over five meters. I altered course sharply to starboard to what I thought would be deeper water but found less than a minute later that we were aground. Bother! I dropped sail and started the motor to see if we could back off but we were stuck and the wind was pushing us further up onto the sand bank. The next step was to break out the kedge anchor and use the dinghy to lay it in deeper water to see if we could pull ourselves off with a sheet winch. However, I was not confident that this would work as the bottom was covered in thick weed which the anchor would likely not be able to penetrate and get a firm hold on the sand beneath it. (The weedy bottom had also made me think we were in deeper water than we actually were as it makes the water appear dark, as opposed to the usual light colour of shallow water over a sandy bottom.)

It turned out that I was right about the anchor not holding, and on winching in the warp the anchor simply dragged and brought in a whole bunch of weed on its flukes. But fortunately the tide was flooding and by the time we had recovered the anchor, about forty minutes later, Sylph was starting to straighten up and things looked promising that we would soon be able to motor off. All this while I had had the motor going slow astern so as to prevent Sylph getting pushed further up the weed covered sand bank. With Xavier and Ella leaning out on the starboard side to reduce Sylph's draft as much as possible, I increased revs on the engine. I felt a barely discernible bump, a good sign that we were starting to float free. Sure enough about five minutes later we were at last making stern way and working our way into deeper water.

I would like to note that during this rather ignominious debacle on my part Ella and Xavier were very calm and supportive. Indeed, they both said that they thought the grounding was some bonus entertainment. Thank you, Ella and Xavier.

By the time we had freed ourselves from the treacherous shallows of Eastern Cove it was well after 1600, so we motored back into American River. As we approached the pontoon to drop my visitors off there was another boat alongside but she was just departing and as she passed us the skipper suggested that we could tie up to the wharf for the night if we wanted to. Given that the tide was now flooding and the pontoon was an awkward L shape, I decided this was a good option. We therefore aborted our approach to the pontoon and, while Ella steered Sylph a few laps around the harbour, Xavier and I set up lines and fenders. We then came alongside the the wooden piles at the outer northern end of the old wharf.

From here Ella and Xavier departed and I cleaned up the boat and myself. Then it was off the to 'The Shed' where we met again with Ella, Xavier and Ella's grandmother, Shirley, for a meal, a game of pool and some celebratory drinks to bring in the New Year. I enjoyed a fun night among the friendly people of the local community.

After last night's celebrations, this morning I slept in a little, abandoning plans to depart American River today largely because the wind is pinning Sylph to the wharf making it impossible to get off without significant damage to her topsides (and a slight hangover did not help). Instead I will aim to depart tomorrow morning when the wind should be relatively light. From here we will likely head to Emu Bay for a day and a night. The wind will still be in the south making Rmu Bay an ideal spot for some relaxing solitude, with good holding and the breeze holding us off its beautiful white sandy beach, . Then on Friday we will head back to Adelaide while the wind is still fair.

Happy New Year.

All is well.