PRACTICAL

Hitting rocks is one of a sailor's worst fears: Joshua Shankle explains what to do if you're unfortunate enough to be grounded

- RUNNING AGROUND

With one foot on the beach and a fresh breeze in her sails, our old yacht seemed to come alive as we raced along the Panamanian coast. It was the perfect first sail of the season.

We'd left Marina Vista Mar and Rachel and I were ecstatic to finally be sailing Agápe south once more. As we pinched every last mile we could out of the dwindling wind and light, we made our way past the first of the Perlas Islands and into the shallow waters of the archipelago. Dropping the sails, we fired up our trusty diesel, and prepared to make our way around the Isla Viveros. Rounding this island from the west takes you through a narrow and shallow channel between its northern point and the south side of Isla Mina.

We thought about anchoring in a closer bay as both tide and sun were dropping, but plans to drop the hook in the company of our friends on the other side prevailed. Double-checking the charts revealed that at low tide there'd be only 3m of depth, but since the tidal range here can be over 5m and the low was still an hour away, I thought we'd have enough water to glide through the channel and make the anchorage in time for sundowners.

We should have read the guidebook a little more closely and heeded the advice: “Existing charts of the Perlas are very inaccurate. The rocks here are hard, not soft corals, and have taken bites out of more than one yacht.”

CHART INACCURACIES

As we entered the channel I was focused on the marked dangers on our charts and Rachel was standing at the bow, watching for uncharted rocks through the green water and failing light. I was so focused on the charts and depth sounder that it took me a minute to realise we'd entered quite a current pulling us into the channel. Agápe was making 6-plus knots when I wanted to travel at a safer 3 knots in the shallows.