What happens on the water doesn’t stay

Mark Twain once said, “Nothing spoils a good story like the arrival of an eyewitness.” In the Scuttlebutt series of grounding stories, here are some confirmed incidents:

The line honors race in the 1983 Sydney Hobart was between the IOR maxis Nirvana and Condor, skippered by Ted Turner.

It had been a close race with both boats seldom out of sight of each other. Rounding the Iron Pot at the entrance of the Derwent River in very light air, we were within a few boat lengths for the final leg to the finish.

The tide and river were flowing out so we both headed for the Eastern shore in a slow but intense match race to get some relief in the shallower water. Our navigator was Bob (Beanhead) Clifford, a Tasweigen with intimate knowledge of the Derwent.

We were both close reaching on starboard and had just overtaken Nirvana to windward and were now between her and the shore. Overlapped with us slightly ahead, Beanhead pointed out that there was a reef ahead and hailed Nirvana for shore room. She declined saying there was plenty of water.

We hit the reef going at 2 to 3 knots, but came to an abrupt stop while Nirvana kept moving. I was trimming the mainsheet and immediately eased it. There was only about two feet between the boats, and as Nirvana slowly passed us, our boom neatly removed the radar and comms mast from their stern, fortunately not snagging their backstay.

Nirvana went on to claim line honors while we cleared the reef and finished five minutes behind them. Naturally there was a protest. The whole incident had been broadcast live by a news network helicopter and most of Australia – including the Protest Committee – had watched it.

There was not much in Nirvana’s defense. They were DSQ’d and line honors went to us.
– Alan Blunt
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I wasn’t aboard the Queen Elizabeth 2 when it went aground in 1992, but everyone in New England knows about the Queen’s Bottom Rock.
– David Ford
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Many years ago, while racing the annual Friday night race to the Lake Erie Islands, one boat – Sirocco – came too close to Kelleys Island during the night and came ashore. Sand and small stones made it simply embarrassing. No damage. By morning, she got off but the story had made it through the fleet. The rest of the long weekend had a sore reminder as the favorite drink at the bar was ‘SIROCCO ON THE ROCKS’.
– Tom Purdy