DAY 58 OF OUR GREAT ADVENTURE
EARLY MORNING POST - I awoke before the alarms went off. The wind was howling and the boat was pitching a lot. It was about 2:45AM and the clod fronts winds were building with strong gusts. At almost exactly a large gust started the anchor to drag. Pitch black and we are anchored near some derelict boats with solar powered garden lights being used for anchor lights. I have the anchor alarms set at 200' Both went off. Susan and I are trying to become alert from our sleep. We get dressed and I tell Suz to just wait a minute and see if the anchor resets. It does. The boat changed about 3 hundredths of a minute of latitude with the wind barreling out of the north. A minute of latitude equals 1 nautical mile 2000 yards. So 1 hundredth of a minute of latitude is 20 yards. So the boat had dragged about 60 yards and reset. From 3 AM until NOW. I have been checking the anchor coordinates and wind speed every 15 minutes. We are exactly where the anchor reset itself. I am making coffee and weather woman, who was checking all sources, is asleep. We are anchored in 7' of water in a bay about 2 miles across. I have 30' of chain out with 35' of nylon connected to the chain with a special clip. The nylon part of the anchoring system is called a snubber and allows for some stretch to take the shock loads of the surging boat in the strong gusty wind conditions. So, now its daybreak and after we get our wits about us we are hauling the anchor and headed to Marathon Key. I will have the wind mostly at my back in very shallow water in the ICW channel, much of the channel is under 10'. More later.. And I can't find my camera to take a picture of the waves in the anchorage.
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