Well hey, it's "H" season again...

In the praiseworthy department, a guitar that caught my attention, and Old Salt makes a very good point...

A friend up in South Carolina emailed me yesterday and asked about anchoring out for TS Andrea and made the point that, as he is no longer insured, he has a lot riding on his ground tackle.

Well, for a lot of us, our ground tackle IS our insurance...

Back when we lived in St Thomas and I was working in a marine store the hours right before a hurricane was always a real busy time with folks buying more line, chain, and anchors. One storm though, a guy we knew with a big 55-foot cat came in with a dock cart with a bunch of anchors and line that he wanted us to put on consignment for him...

I was surprised so I asked why he wanted to sell off the bulk of his ground tackle just before a frelling hurricane that looked like it was going to be a direct hit (it did). He answered that as he'd been trying to sell his boat for some time and no one seemed interested, the best thing that could happen to him was have the storm do a total loss number on his boat because it was worth more to him as an insurance payout than he could get selling it.

So, his plan of putting his boat in the middle of Long Bay on a small 20-pound Danforth seemed like a good idea to him. Never mind the danger to other boats in the anchorage...

What can I say... he was an asshole but, at least, he was an honest asshole.

Fact is, every storm and hurricane we have ridden out at anchor the greatest danger we've faced is boats that come in, drop a single anchor, jump in their dinghy, and run to shore with the mindset that if their boat rides it out OK they're OK and if the boat drags and winds up on the beach the insurance will take care of them and they might even make a profit or be able to upgrade to a better boat.

Now, I'll give some the benefit of the doubt and admit that there are folks who own boats that are idiots and they are not putting their boats in harm's way for profit or gain but that they are simply stupid. Even so, a lot are not and they know exactly what they are doing.

If only Karma actually worked...

Speaking of which, about that guy who left his 55 foot cat on a 20-pound anchor in the middle of a hurricane. His boat survived without a scratch while a half dozen boats anchored near him either sank or wound up on the beach all total losses...

Listening to Boz Scaggs

So it goes...