What an afternoon...

 

 

Another sailboat came in and anchored yesterday.  Today the wind starts howling again.  It's been blowing 15-30 for almost a week now....we've had 2 days in 7 when it's not been a good blow.  Well, this 40'+ sailboat puts out a 35lb anchor (it was small, I don't know the exact size) on line.  When the wind started up they started to drag.  And we wouldn't have a story if they didn't drag our direction.  Heather and I take up positions in the cockpit, getting fenders and lines ready; this boat was coming our direction.  We assume they will reset their anchor.

 

We were wrong.

 

We got a firsthand lesson in what not to do.  He tossed out a small Danforth style anchor and snubbed it up tight.  She went below deck.  He got in the dinghy and went to land!  WHAT?!?  Yessir, he went to land.  Didn't stop by even though we were less than 40' away and waving at him.  She stayed below deck until he got back. Then she started pacing the deck while he went below decks for a while, a good while at that, 20 minutes or more.  No action, nothing done faster than at a crawl, nothing evasive.

 

So when he comes back up I got in the dinghy and went over to tell him,

 "I think you're still dragging."

"Yeah, I'm waiting for a break in the wind and we're going to the dock."

 

That's fine and all but move faster than molasses in January.  Do something about your home which is aimed square at mine.  I'm happy to say we did not touch, everything worked out fine.  It was just quite the surprise to watch them basically abandon ship in an emergency.  I'm also happy to say we've talked and practiced this scenario so we're smooth in case of... but knock on wood it won't happen to us for a while.

 

Heather is feeling much better.  We're taking good walks every day and she's getting impatient to get back to normal.  She thanks everyone for their comments, prayers, and support.