I haven't piled up on one in some years, but last season, I came very close. In my case, the reason always has been and always will be - my inattention. As was the case last season in the Eggemoggin Reach.

Off sailing our home waters for a couple weeks, we were headed generally homeward and had near infinite routes to get there. But this was not a typical day. We started from Frenchboro and snagged 2 or 3 warps off Swans Island, under sail(! rare). My wife is a tool in an emergency and getting unhooked wasn't too big a deal. It felt like a new start as we entered Jericho Bay under sail in a perfect 10 knot Southwesterly.

I was excited by the sailing conditions and had my camera in my lap, Mary Ann was very happy with a book(her 2nd or 3rd of the trip). This is our favorite way to sail.

I picked the Eggemoggin Reach route to the West. The vision of a lovely reach - through the Reach - was too much of a temptation. With our new sails dialed in, we accelerated in the open water and headed Northwesterly for the Reach cresting 7 knots on the flat water.

And there was another delightful draw: A boat far ahead under sail as well, and I noticed we had been closing the gap on him for some time.

As the AP did much of the steering, I took photos along the way.

With the Garmin CP showing our course on the broad chart, and the Ipad more fine tuned to the water around us, I was a litte gun shy of pot warp so I dodged a few buoys(nothing like Swans Island).

I remember, this is where I really got into the sailing. You start to lose the wind as land begins to close in around you in the Reach. Our light air performance had us close enough to the boat we were 'racing', I could see (with binocs), it was a Bristol 38.8. Pleased with our old boats performance, I kept closing the gap and taking photos. I was also doing a minimum(I thought) of navigation on the screens.

I kept a more windward course of the Bristol(mistake #1) for a bit better boat speed. Under the diminishing winds(which was even more to our advantage), I declared us, the winner!

And also the loser! At that moment, I realized I had just sailed over a ledge. That made me feel a little queasy. I immediately informed my wife that our boat was saved by High Tide as I stared at the less than 1 foot deep ledge our screens were both screaming at me. She was rightfully disgusted. I'd obviously spaced out of my navigating.

And if that wasn't enough, going through the photos later, I could see my Canon was also showing me the freaking green buoy in the frame I was taking! See it? It's just to port of the more prudent, Bristol.

Could I blame it on 'zooming', the classic -get out of jail free card- some cry about?

Playing with the ipad later, I could zoom out the .08 feet depth(at LW), but so what. The info is there in the buoy and the purple soundings.

No, that's a silly excuse. More an issue I think(for me), is tide in my home waters. High Tide is a time to be especially careful.

Still a lame excuse. Truth: Completely my inattention. I see this as a learning experience. This sort of mistake is one that gets filed in your hard drive and will keep my more vigilant, for years to come.