I was in Hawaii and Carol was in bed in our apartment in the Marshall Islands when she received a call every sailor dreads:
"YOUR BOAT IS ON THE ROCKS!"
It seems the mooring had parted and MORNING WINGS had drifted onto the beach during the night. Competent, as always, Carol got a crew of guys together and they floated it off the shore at the next high tide.
The old explorers used to put their ships on the beach to clean the bottoms. The maneuver was called "careening" and it was quite commonly employed. However, they planned their beachings and ours was very unplanned.
We know of two other boats that were beached. Both were 30 foot Catalinas and both were destroyed.
A Hans Christian is a heavy, forgiving, comfortable cruising boat. It will not win many races but it is built to take it. Carol told me that everything was fine. The only damage was some broken fiberglass on the rudder. I guess we can still do the rest of our cruising - to Tonga, Fiji, Australia, and beyond.
This view gives you a good look at our hull shape. Our keel is quite strong and protects the propeller and rudder well. All of our chainplates and stanchions are mounted on either the hull or the gunnels. This makes our decks very watertight as no fittings penetrate them. All in all our boat is very dry in all kinds of weather and sea conditions. Our beam is 11'6" so the boat is roomy inside.
