Splash and drag.

After about 5 days in the work area of Marina Seca dry dock here in San Carlos the Liahona is back where she likes it best…in the water.  The tractor/trailer ride from dry dock always makes me a little nervous but everything went well and by about 9:30am we were all wet and floating on the high tide that had about a foot and a half under the keel.  I tip toed past all of the slips in the shallow marina and then out to the bay where I dropped the anchor. 

After picking up Jesus in the dinghy we quickly went to work on the various projects that needed to be completed before leaving San Carlos.  The wind was blowing pretty hard in the bay, around 20 knots most of the afternoon.  While we were below, another boat hailed me on the VHF radio and said they thought I might be dragging anchor.  I poked my head out of the compainionway and discovered we indeed were dragging anchor and we were only about 75 yards away from the rocky shoreline and closing.  Holy crap!  I instantly started the motor and winched in the chain and anchor.  We repositioned at the head of the bay and dropped the anchor again.  It was obvious immediately that we were still dragging anchor.  WTH?  There are marks on my anchor chain every 50’ that tell me how much chain I have out and in 30’ of water, 150’ of chain would give me about a 5:1 scope, which under normal circumstances would be plenty.

So up came the anchor and chain again, back to the head of the bay and let’s try this again.  After a brief head scratching trying to figure out why the heck my anchor was dragging the light finally came on.  The aha moment.  The awakening. Or as Homer Simpson would say “DOH”!  Those marks on my chain that are, I previously thought, 50’ each…ya...well…each mark is 25’.  So that meant I had a whopping 75’ of chain in 30’+ of water.  Last time I checked a 2:1 scope is not so bueno. Or in other words, the angle of the chain from the boat to the anchor was WAY to steep for the anchor to grab hold of the bottom.  Dang, how stupid could I be?  So, after putting the anchor down and putting out 200’ of chain…viola…the anchor held like it was tied down to the Empire State Building! 

In reality, I dodged a bullet with that mental lapse.  It would not have been dangerous for me personally but my boat, bank account and ego would have taken a serious blow.  Whew.  Pretty sure that mistake won’t be made again.  On a side note, if Tarren would have been aboard, I can pretty much guarantee that would never have happened.  She is the bomb anchor chick!

 

On the trailer leaving dry dock.

 

 Down the ramp we go...

 

Anchored safely in Bahia San Carlos...after two failed attempts. ha