Date: June 09, 2011
Contact: Public Affairs
(718) 354-2359
Stay Out Of The Shoals
SANDY HOOK, NJ – Any day on the water is a good day.
At least until you run aground.
Two boaters found this out over the weekend of June 4-5 when they ran aground outside the channel at Sandy Hook.
Adding insult to minor injury, they could have avoided the embarrassment and the associated costs had they just paid attention to the chart corrections issued by the Coast Guard in Local Notice to Mariners Number 18 on May 4, 2011 concerning water depths of 2 to 9 feet in the area of these two groundings.
Especially outside of dredged channels, water depths can and will change sometimes dramatically. Time, tide, runoff from the shore, river outflow and other causes of silting affect the bays and rivers in this area.
Fortunately for the two boaters in Sandy Hook, the major injury was to their pride as recreational boaters.
But, the potential exists for serious injury or death and major damage or loss of a vessel.
Mariners may update their nautical charts from the NOAA website at http://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/staff/news/headline-spring_charts.html.
Additional recreational boating information is available at http://homeport.uscg.mil/newyork > Waterways Management.