I have chaperoned my son’s class on a trip on the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater. They have a wonderful program for school groups – teaching kids history, ecology, and a bit of seamanship while also having great fun on a river cruise. On Monday afternoon, they added a new element to the curriculum while sailing near Yonkers and finding unexpectedly shallow waters near the Saw Mill River. The Clearwater ran aground, no doubt for neither the first nor the last time. There were no injuries nor damage to the sloop. As the executive director of Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Inc., Jeff Rumpf, said, “The school group got an extra experience to see how you handle a sailboat in that sitation.”
Clearwater runs aground on Hudson River, students safe
Here is a video from around four years ago of a class trip on the Clearwater.
ah! Clearwater does not have a depth sounder like Pioneer! when the centerboard line goes slack, the depth has been sounded. Still might go aground, but at least one would know a few seconds before.
You got it exactly right, Christina. Centerboards are highly under-rated as depth sounders.
ruthless headline, rick.
Ruthless? All meant in good fun. Anyone sailing on the river who hasn’t run aground hasn’t done much sailing. Sounds like th egood folks onthe Clearwater handled it all quite well.
so, sand/mud bars shift around on a weekly basis? have never sailed there.
I have not spent much time in the Hudson, but the sand and mud in the estuary does move. Weekly, probably not so much. Sand and mud is so different from the rocky ledges you folks have in Maine. Gradual shoaling of a sand bar makes grounding a lot less dramatic than hitting solid rock.
Actually, Clearwater does have a centerboard, and a leadline, for more proactive sounding, but in an area of such active and ever-changing currents, the sandbars do move around a bit.
A unplanned lesson analysis no matter how well conceived is a peripheral representation on its reality. Nice post. Well put Rick.