Saturday, March 05, 2011

A morning anchoring conundrum...

It's not always easy living on a boat...

For instance, while I was reading how the "tan man" wanted to steal some social security from folks who have been paying into the system all their lives, I notice that the Morgan that had anchored way too close to a mooring has hooked the mooring. No matter how hard they try they are not going to get the anchor up without:

  1. Resorting to getting wet and diving on the mooring to unhook their anchor, or
  2. Going with the brute force approach and wind up with a couple of sand screws on their deck
... It is somewhat distracting!

I could, of course, offer my services and get wet for them as the crew in question seem well on in years but I have a second cup of coffee and some breakfast to cook so if they are still here... Maybe.

But... Maybe not, as getting wet and having to untangle their anchor from some fire coral encrusted mooring tackle is just the sort of lesson that might actually give them a eureka moment that anchoring too near moorings and suchlike is not always a good idea...

We see an awful lot of tyro anchoring these days and it's some kind of scary. Once upon a time when you left your boat you could assume that when you came back if another boat had anchored near you they would be... well near you, not on top of you or banging into  your bowsprit.

Face it, we all expect this sort of thing from bareboats as they don't really care... It's not their boat and if they get up close and personal with another anchored boat that involves damaged gelcoat and mayhem it's not their gel coat... But, you'd expect folks sailing their own boats to take a little more care in the anchoring game if only to protect their investment...

Then again, maybe it is simply easier for some people to spend money, fix things, and sail from near disaster to disaster instead of learning a few simple basics...

Listening to Rod Stewart

So it goes...