Anchor Madness!

Tim and I returned from doing laundry. We noticed the wind had kicked up a bit on the way back to Hotspur in the dinghy, but nothing to worry about. Apparently not.

Our new 80 lb. Manson anchor dragged in 30 knots of wind while Jim and Carolyne were alone on the boat. Jim put our 10 year old at the helm and she drove our 41' boat around in the small anchorage in Santa Rosalia until Jim could re-anchor and set it again. Carolyne became the local hero! She had men buying her drinks up at the marina... colas, of course.

It really is so true that everyone on the boat needs to know how to operate all the systems. I said operate, not repair! (I’m throwing that one in for when my husband tries to twist my words around in the future). Carolyne has never maneuvered the boat around and certainly not in a tight anchorage with a fair amount of wind.

Jim cracked a joke that our anchor has only worked 50% of the time; we have used it for two days now. Santa Rosalia’s harbor is full of junk in the anchorage: pangas, cars, trash, trees... it’s the run off from the heavy rains and hurricanes, like Hurricane Jimena last year. We can’t hold our anchor accountable for lousy holding in this harbor... but we are a bit worried! $887 later, we don’t have the confidence that we had in our 55 lb. Delta. We will be on the look out when we get another unexpected blow!