A keen yachtsman, taking part in a Channel Islands race grounded his 35 footer on a reef which dried 4m at Low Water. The Sadler Starlight 35 was perched perilously on her 6ft keel and he laid out fenders along her port side in case she fell over.

But skipper Arthur Manning was lucky, his Jersey-registered yacht Knight Star was hauled off the rocks at Saint-Quay-Portrieux, in north-west France on the next tide by French coastguards.

She was undamaged. Mr Manning had been competing against 19 other boats in the Royal Channel Islands Yacht Club Race.

In Yachting Monthly’s September issue Tom Cunliffe looks at ways of grounding safely in our Expert on Board series.
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