Hooray for Flopper stoppers
22 February 2018
David putting out our flopperstoppers at anchor in Hawksbill Cay.
In addition to the fish(or birds as some call them) that we run on the end of our paravanes while underway we also have something called flopperstoppers that we use at anchor. They are rectangular aluminum pieces that are hinged in the middle. The hang a few feet underwater to stop the roll that occurs in some anchorages due to current turning us sideways to the wind. When they sink down they close allowing them to go down easily but when the boat rolls and pulls them up the hinge opens making a large area that creates drag through the water thus slowing the roll. They were rather expensive and we debated buying them but now we are glad we did. They work wonderfully. We used them at both Allens Cay and Hawksbill.
Our paravane arms stick out 16 feet on each side and out boat is 16 feet wide so with the paravanes out we are almost as wide as we are long. Allens Cay is a rather small anchorage and we started not to put them out because it was somewhat crowded but we had plenty of room around us and we hate to roll so we decided to try it. Shortly after we anchored a boat anchored somewhat close to us. All was well until just at daybreak on the second day. The wind had been blowing 20-25 all night. I happened to wake up and heard a strange noise, then heard a woman yelling. I looked out the window and the boat next to us had dragged into us. The didn't hit the boat but their backstay was on our paravanes arms and their dinghy was in the flopperstopper line. We ran out and quickly pulled them in. They got their anchor up and motored away from us. No damage done but a scary way to wake up.
Wind has been blowing steadily out of the east at 20+ knots. Did some snorkeling on the west side of the island but didn't get to do too much due to the wind. Supposed to continue all week.