Boating with Sunset Delight: 2024 October: Anchor abandons ship

29 October 2024

No travel

The day started out as a day of rest and relaxation. I read my novel, completed the NYT puzzles I enjoy, and played far too many rounds of the AARP Games that I am truly addicted to. While I occupied the salon, Clark filled his day sitting in the pilot house doing whatever it is Clark does on a no-travel day - probably readig emails and logistical planning for our way to Marathon, Florida.

In the evening, for TV, we generally watch shows via Over-the-air. Most of what we watch is on CBS, so if OTA fails us, we have the Paramount app as our fallback plan. This night we found a show on NBC to watch called "The Irrational". We were 3/4 of the way through the show, when we heard a loud "Bang!" or "Pop"! We jumped to see what had happened. (I guess we never will know how that episode ended as we don't have the Peacock app).

What the heck! Did a boat hit us! We raced outside (in the pitch dark) to look around. I noticed a sailboat way too close and mentioned it to Clark. He responded with, "Yep! I think we're moving!" Just then the anchor alarm sounded to confirm that we were in trouble.

We figured we were dragging anchor, so I ran to the bow to release the anchor line secured at the cleat while Clark started up the engines and headed for the helm. I failed at my task. The line was so tight I could not loosen it from the cleat, and it was so dark I could not figure why it was so tight to unwind it. It didn't really matter though. While I wrestled with the cleat, Clark pulled in the slack anchor line. He came away with the frayed, broken line in his hand and no anchor attached!

Looking at the line markings in the dark, we estimated that we lost the anchor, 55 feet of anchor chain, and 20 feet of line. These items plus the anchor and all the associated anchor hardware were now sitting at the bottom of the anchorage.

Fortunately, we carry an emergency anchor. Unfortunately, it is a devil of a thing to dig out, assemble, and deploy. Clark put me at the helm with instructions to "station keep". It's a job I do not excel at as I struggle to keep the boat in its designated place. Tonight, I got plenty of practice and in the dark to boot.

Our anchor had behaved as per usual today up until 10:45 p.m. when it failed us. The anchor app we use shows the track of the boat as it swings on anchor. This track made a complete circle. Clark's instructions to me as he went off to do his job was "Stay in the circle!"

With that, he ran off to start the temp anchor assembly and deployment. The emergency anchor was "buried" in the lazarette. Clark had to move a few things to get it out. The bucket with the emergency chain and rode is located in the dock box in the cockpit. The bucket is heavy as heck but easier to access than the anchor. Once he had the pieces, he had to do the anchor assembly. The wrenches / hardware required were stored with the anchor, so that at least helped some with the speed of his work.

Of course the emergency anchor is stored at the stern and must be deployed at the bow. So, once he had it together, he had to stagger up the side of the boat carrying the awkward, heavy anchor and dragging chain and line up to the bow. He told me after the fact that as he wobbled his way to the bow, he hoped I did not make any sudden station-keeping corrections, i.e. move the boat port or starboard. He had nothing to hold onto as both hands were required to carry the weight.

He did manage to come away with a bang to his knee where the anchor decided to hit him. It gave him an "Owie" as my grandkids call it. He will have a bruise and some tenderness to show for his efforts for a few days.

Meanwhile, I had my own problems - staying in the circle and checking my surroundings. The three sailboats sharing the anchorage seemed to disappear regularly. I had to be sure I was not in danger of drifting back into the closest one. Searching in every direction, I would eventually see the bright anchor lights high on their masts and know where they were.

A few times I slipped out of my circle and had to make my way back in again. Eventually, I got smart. I found 3 lights in a row shining from somewhere in the nearby marina. If I locked onto pointing at those lights then I could let the boat slip back for a while then pull it forward lined up with the lights and then let it drift back again.

Almost an hour after the "Bang / Pop", Clark had the emergency anchor deployed and shut down the engines for the night. Thinking about all the money now laying at the bottom of the anchorage, I asked Clark if he would get a diver to go find it. I suggested he drop a waypoint (lat / long) of the spot, so we could come back to it. He did so, and said that he thought we should go out with our dinghy in the morning and go "fishing" with our dinghy anchor to see if we could find it on our own.

The wind was from the east and the current was in almost the opposite direction causing the boat to spin in a complete circle when we anchored. Other boats also saw their anchor lines leaving the bow at sharp angles to the side. The next evening, the wind increased and became gusty about the time of the current change. We think the line got hung up on either the prop or the prop cutter and as the boat pulled on the line, it pulled it across the sharp edge and chaffed through.

As it was now midnight as we went to bed, I asked Clark, "Will you sleep tonight?" It seemed unlikely.

30 October 2024

Depart: St. Simon's Island anchorage 10:05

Depart: Morning Star Golden Isles Marina (stopped for pumpout) 11:20

Arrive: Cumberland Island / Brickhill River anchorage GA 2:30

Distance: ~ 20 nm

At 7 something o'clock, I decided it was time to get up even though the sun had not yet made an appearance. I knew that Clark would want to tackle today starting as early as possible. I asked Clark, "How many times did you get up last night to check things?" His answer - "I lost count!"

Nice sunrise to start our day

Commuter traffic clogged up on nearby bridge

Flock of pelicans enjoying the early morning

It is amazing to consider how much time and money we spent this summer working on the boat to get it ready for our seasonal trip south. Even so, as of this morning, we have 3 serious problems - a dinghy that constantly loses air, a holding tank that we are not able to dump without going to a pumpout station, and now an anchor that decided to take a hike. If things come in threes, as the saying goes, I hope we are done!

Clark and I both grabbed a real quick breakfast. Clark was anxious to get the dinghy deployed to go "fishing" for the anchor. He decided I should go with him to assist. His attempt to grab any line or chain failed on the first fishing attempt, and I saw us out there fishing for a long while. Unbelievably, on Clark's second attempt, the anchor came up cradling a section of the severed line. How lucky was that!

I brought work gloves along, and I am glad I did. Pulling up the line and then the anchor chain was extremely hard work without a winch. I can't imagine how many blisters Clark would have gotten had he not had on thick gloves to protect his hands and improve his grip.

As he pulled in the line, we quickly realized that we had not lost 20 feet of line with the 55' of chain. We had lost over 100 feet of line along with the chain. Although he managed to get the line and most of the chain into the dinghy, try as hard as he might, with me working the dinghy helm per his directions to assist, he could not bring the anchor up off the bottom. He just did not have the strength to make it happen.

Noticing our proximity to "Sunset Delight" and seeing that we had 150 feet of line to work with, I suggested we tie the end to the "big" boat and then use the boat's winch to haul the anchor in. I steered the dinghy over to SD as Clark played out the line. He got almost to the bitter end, but had just enough to tie it off to the bow rail. Then we had to get back on board quickly to find a more secure arrangement. As soon as we got the dinghy in place, Clark jumped off and ran to the bow of SD to get the damaged anchor line tied to a cleat. I ran for the upper helm to work the engine controls.

Damaged end of anchor line tied
to dinghy cleat.

Clark playing out the anchor line
as he navigates back to Sunset Delight

Damaged line sitting in dinghy

Tying the anchor line to SD

So, once the damaged anchor line was attached to a cleat, Clark now had to deal with two deployed anchors. He first tackled bringing in the damaged anchor line. For a while he tried pulling the line in by hand. He built up some muscles doing that. It was just too hard. Eventually, he decided to wrap the line around the winch and use that to bring in the line, etc.

Wrapping line around winch to assist with
retrieval of the errant anchor

Eventually, he had the line in and then he had the chain wrapped around the winch to bring that up as well.

Bringing up the chain now

He threaded the damaged anchor line into the winch properly and down into the anchor locker because than enabled him to use the chain gypsy because when it got tight it began slipping on the top section of the winch. Even using the winch, he had a devil of a time getting the anchor off the bottom. The winch and the chain complained loudly at the abuse. He gave me hand signals at the helm to assist raising the anchor. When Clark could finally see the anchor, he understood that he could have never gotten it off the bottom without the winch. It was covered in thick mud making it weigh many more times than its usual exceedingly heavy weight.

Clark used the saltwater washdown hose to remove the mud. It took a long while to get it all off.

Runaway anchor back where it belongs!
(Like-magic saltwater washdown wand on starboard side.)

One anchor up and one to go. Clark still needed to pull in the emergency anchor, and its line was all over the place and had threatened to get entangled with the normal anchor as that was retrieved from the deep.

Clark had the regular anchor back in place at 9:45. Clark somehow managed the hard work of bringing in the also-heavy, emergency anchor (now with no winch available). Once done, we were ready to head to the marina for that pumpout we so desperately wanted to get done. We got underway at 10:05!

As we worked our way towards the marina, I saw a helicopter coming our way, so I quick grabbed the camera.

Having failed with the ocean holding-tank dumping attempt, we did not know if a pumpout station would work, or if it too would fail. Once we got started, it looked like it would be a fail. The marina dockhand assured us that the pump worked fast and well. Sadly, we did not find that to be true. Well, it took over an hour, but we finally got the job done at the marina.

Even a slow pumpout would have been acceptable, but we got basically nowhere. Clark tried blowing air into the tank using the vacuum cleaner trick. After that, some came out but not enough to mean anything. The dockhand kept reassuring us that the pumpout works well for all his other guests. So, do we translate that into we have a clog or they have insufficient pressure for our boat?

Clark taking the pumpout hose to try yet again.

We had basically given up. There was discussion between Clark and the dockhand about bad vents, etc. However, we knew we had at least one vent working well as the dockhand got a face full of scent when Clark used the vacuum cleaner trick earlier.

Clark thought of using one last trick. The dockhand said we could try one more time, but he had other pump-outs to complete before noon when he had a 70-foot boat coming in to dock right where we were positioned. He was very good about the whole situation - as helpful as he could be standing on the dock watching Clark struggle to make progress.

After debating it for a minute, Clark decided to give his idea a go. He attached the pump-out hose to the boat and then used the vacuum cleaner to push air into the tank via the air vent. Voila! I saw the numbers on the holding-tank meter start to go down and go down rapidly! We came in with 55% full and left with 6% full. We never can get it completely empty. Phew! Our boat just needed more suction than the marina pump could supply alone.

Over an hour after we pulled up to the pump-out dock, we were finally on our way to start today's travels.

As soon as we were underway, Clark announced that he wanted me to drive while he repaired the damaged anchor line. My reply, "But I'm starving!" He acquiesced and said we could eat lunch first. After a quick bite to eat, I took over the helm for the remainder of the trip to tonight's anchorage.

Over the 20 miles we traveled, Clark worked to repair / splice the anchor line. I am so glad he knows how to do these things. I traveled slowly, and it was a near miss thing, but by the time we reached tonight's anchorage, he had the anchor line repaired and ready to deploy.

Section of line cut out due to damage

Clark used a heater tool to tidy up the frayed lines
ready for splicing

He had to start over a couple of times. I heard him muttering behind me as I piloted the boat. Eventually he taped the ends of the strands with electrical tape, and that did the trick.

Showing off the spliced line -ready to taper down the ends

Spliced line tidied up and ready to be put to work

Three strands of about 3 feet of line that had
to be cut out due to damage

Spliced anchor line - deployed for tonight's use

The splice is precisely where the line was marked to show 150 feet deployed. We have to subtract about 3' now whenever we see this or a subsequent line mark, e.g. mark 175 now means 170' (give or take a couple of feet).

We dropped anchor tonight in new spot at Cumberland Island on Brickhill River, per a suggestion from our friend Steve that we saw recently in Port Royal.

Lighthouse as we approach Cumberland Island, GA

Chart showing Brickhill River
Tonight's anchorage destination

Lots of downed trees on shore approaching anchorage

Our neighbors for the night

Unbelievably, after everything we had done today, when we dropped anchor, it was only 2:30 in the afternoon. Ah, but we were not done yet! We still had to clean up the messes we had everywhere. The dinghy was uncovered and had to be "put to bed" (Fortunately, I had climbed in with a bucket to wash the mud out immediately after we set her down in her cradle.)

Clark had tools, pieces of frayed anchor line, and the emergency anchor to put away. I wiped down and put away the utility vacuum used for the pumpout. That's stored under the sofa in the salon, so that had to be put back together again. Afterwards, I ran the house vacuum cleaner over the floors to pick up the many, tiny bits of frayed anchor line that I saw all over the boat. We had boat cushions and life jackets to stow from our use of the dinghy earlier in the day. The cleanup list appeared endless!

Clark putting away the emergency
anchor line ready for another day

Three hours after we dropped anchor for the night, Clark was still cleaning and stowing. I, on the other hand, could not wait to run to the computer to capture our day's efforts in the Blog!

One wonders what tomorrow will bring!

As I finished working on the blog, Clark caught sight of a rainbow.