Cruise Report and Anchoring Story

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxHhfr3buOw

http://tinyurl.com/2egxdr

On our way in to Pelican Bay we noticed a very unusual trawler that had clearly been modeled after a George Buehler "Diesel Duck" design. It had paravane stabilizers, lots of freeboard, mast and hoist forward, and a raised pilot house. All in all it was a very salty looking boat and about 40 feet long.

http://www.dieselducks.com/

After anchoring we motored over in the dinghy to get a better look, ended up meeting the owner, and were invited aboard for a tour of the boat. He had hand built it over 4 years and something like $100K in cost, doing virtually all of the work himself. It was beautifully done to professional quality in almost every respect, and he and his family were out for their first cruise since launching.

To make a long story short, we got hit with a 35 to 40 kt squall about 2:00AM on Sunday morning, and awoke at dawn to see his boat heeled over on a sand bar about 1/2 a mile away from us. Sure enough his anchor had broken loose during the squall, and they had dragged aground at nearly high tide, on their very first night out. We are not entirely sure of all the subsequent details but believe he was required to sign a salvage contract with SeaTow to get pulled off. I'm sure it was an expensive lesson in how not to anchor, and it would not be a good thing to have on your insurance record.

We of course had done our usual due diligence anchoring on 5:1 scope with 3/8ths chain, and a heavy anchor well dug in under power. As far as I could tell from the GPS plot, we never dragged an inch even though the anchor load probably exceeded 2,000 lbs during the squall. Yesterday morning when we pulled up, the windlass would not even budge the anchor off the bottom. I ended up locking off the chain and pulled it out with the engines. The anchor was so well set it must have had at least 200 pounds of mud and clay on it.

Moral of the story? You really can't be too careful when anchoring for the night. The force of the wind at 40 kts is 16 times greater than at 10 kts, and 40 kts is just a routine squall in my experience.

PS: Thank you Glenn Ashmore. That 120 lb Spade is some awesome anchor, and it is darned cheap insurance, especially these days when your first claim is likely to be your last.

As far as I know Glenn Ashmore is still distributing Spade anchors although West Marine may not be. Glenn has been a reliable source for me:

http://www.spade-anchor-us.com

I still have the old 44 pounder we used on the Bertram 33 up north, and they have both been outstanding anchors. I think the 120 would probably hold a 100 footer if you put enough chain on it. According to Glenn, Nordhavn was offering them as standard equipment on something in the 70 ft range.

LOL!!

Hey, you coming up this far again? I'd like to get some pictures of the GB passing the Watch Hill Light.

That would be cool.

Howzabout a picture near Old Saybrook light or Essex? We found Essex to be a good place to hang out except for the grocery store or rather the lack thereof. We might bring a car north this year however and that would change things. Maybe we could borrow the Vette? :-)

http://www.rutuonline.com

CWM

Liz will be out of town those two weeks at a seminar then a convention, but that doesn't mean I can't have some fun. :>)

> Maybe we could borrow the Vette? :-)

Um...well, sure why not.

I'll change the street tires to street slicks and you and Mrs. B can have some fun street racing. :>)

Hmmmm - on second thought...

Last I heard he was all wrapped up in the nitty gritty of getting systems and sub-systems installed - engine, controls, electrical, plumbing, pumps, tankage, etc, etc, etc, ad infinitum. That turns out to be about 80% of the effort of course. Everyone thinks that building the hull is the biggest part of the project but it's not. Building the hull and deck just leaves you with a big object that looks like a boat but can't go anywhere.

This is an ideal time to visit, bring your wife for a week and take a look around. Real estate prices have just about bottomed out and it's a good time to be looking.

Here's a link to a few webcams around here:

http://www.nbc-2.com/WebView/Diamondhead.shtml

Jacksonville Beach - you control the camera:

http://jaxsurfcam.com/

Miami - south beach:

http://rumler.com/miami/webcam.htm

Key West:

http://webcam.keywest.com/

--Vic