I have just had a good week sailing on the Camel estuary. This river has a very high rise and fall of the tide - about 7 m. This means that the tide falls rapidly.
Last Friday I sailed into Rock beach in the afternoon to get the boat on the trailer for the trip home. I made the mistake of just putting the bow on the beach while I went to get the trailer. Even though I was away no more than 5 minutes I got back to find the boat stuck on the beach, and despite lots of huffing, puffing, and cursing the tide fell so rapidly the boat was hard and fast on the beach. I tried to winch it onto the trailer but as it was on the beach and not in the water the bow just butted immovably against the rear cross bar. I accepted the only way I was going to retrieve the boat was to wait until the tide was in enough to float the boat - at about 9:30 pm.
About an hour later I came back with my son to find the boat completely high and dry. He had the idea that we might be able to winch it off the shore onto the trailer if we lifted the bow end of the trailer high enough to get its rear cross bar under the bow with the rollers against the bow. With this technique the boat winched on to the trailer almost as easily as winching it out of the water.
So the message is: Dont dispair if your boat has been left high and dry if you are wanting to get it on the trailer. It can be done by lifting the front of the trailer.
There is only one proviso. The beach must be firm. Dont try this if the trailer might sink into the beach.
