Easy three plus hour motor through the canal anchorage and into the harbor of Portobello. We were surprised to see more than 50 boats anchored here – but most seem to be without occupants (read: stored or abandoned). Our usual anchoring antics adventure: We are anchored in 38’ of water, so we needed 200’+ of chain – no problem, right? Well, we haven’t anchored this deep in a VERY long time – after we passed the 175’ mark the chain links were rusted together!! The links jammed coming up the pipe, then jamming in the windless requiring us to use hammers to break the links apart (new item on the to purchase list – 300’ of anchor chain), take the windless apart, clean all the rust chunks out of it, grease it and put it all back together. Sigh. Did I mention the cleanup required after this chore? We vacuumed both the locker and deck top then waited for rain (next morning) so I could go out with soap and a brush to get all the rust/dirt off. Oh well. What is that saying about working on boats in paradise??
This is one of the very few sports whose techniques never quite match the demands. Throughout a sailing career, we never stop finding new skills to master and new problems to solve. John Rousmaniere