Thanksgiving morning is spent lounging and preparing for dinner while it rains outside and the wind picks up. It is an armada of dinghys with yellow raingear clad inhabitants heading in for Thanksgiving dinner. We gave a lift to Phil and Cindy on CYN MATES as their dinghy engine was not cooperating. SEA JULES and OUR DIAMOND reserve a table and then report for volunteer duty of checking in guests (sign in, wet gear off at the porch and I’ll take the food, really it’s OK and I won’t sample it). The turkey hat that Lana makes me wear is a big hit and I think I showed up on several Facebook pages (great!). There are about 43 boats and nearly 150 people. Much food is eaten and much alcohol consumed (by some).

After dinner Phil and Cindy catch a different ride back so we continue the festivities. The early departure pays off later as Phil calls and says we may want to come back to OUR DIAMOND is being fended off by another boat. Panic ensues and we grab all our gear, dishes and such and head out in the now light rain. The Canadian boat PARADISE NINE has lifted anchor and is moving away to reset as OUR DIAMOND is making circles and appears to be out of position. We get on but the anchor alarm is not going off and the GPS says we are where we should be. This is really weird, but it is St. Mary’s. Last year we had similar events and the anchor rode wrapped the keel three times. That was the inspiration for putting on 200 feet of chain. Now that seems like that wasn’t the only solution required. As we are contemplating staying put, the boat does two more circles and gets quite near to CYN MATES so we decide to pull anchor and relocate. I mark the spot the anchor comes up on the GPS and we move down river to re-anchor. After getting settled I dinghy over to PARADISE NINE to make amends and all is well. Maybe we will see (not bump into) them down the way.

Afterwards I look at the GPS watch circle and the anchor down and up points and they are separated by 15 feet. This reminds me of the adage I learned racing in Colorado of always trust your instruments. One weekend I prepared for night racing the Catalina 22 by GPS marking all the race marks (they were county navigation buoys that typically did not move). We start racing after dark and I use the GPS to route to the first buoy along the western shore. In an unusual reversal of order we are in the lead to the first mark and on course per the GPS, but wait why is the rest of the fleet going to the next marker buoy that is about a quarter mile north when the second mark is south. Hmmm. After lots of onboard debate we decide that we have the wrong buoy marked and head farther north with the crowd. Now things are normal with us at the back of the fleet. But wait everybody is now changing course to the south as we all realize the real mark is my original route. Always trust your instruments. Our anchor came up 15 feet from where we put it down. All the circles and weird motion was just the timing of the current in the river and other boats anchored too close. Again, always trust your instruments. Another thing to be thankful for is not damage occurred to any boats in this anchoring story.