Position changes!

Excitement abounds in the Barra de Navidad Lagoon today. A little land breeze came up this morning and the boats were off and running. The usual is for mornings to be quite calm and sometime in the afternoon the wind comes up from the west or northwest. It tends to funnel down the channel and it’s not unusual to see fairly high gusts between 2 and about 5. Then, after sunset, everything quiets back down again and we can get a good night’s sleep.

This morning when I woke up and looked out the ports to make sure we were in the same place, I noticed that a new boat had anchored slightly to port of us. It was a MacGregor 26 with no mast and looked vaguely familiar. Last year a similar boat had dragged around the anchorage (and was rescued) numerous times. Turns out it is the same boat and not much has changed.

We were busy today as Chris was running the morning net and we had ordered 100 gallons of water to be delivered at 10:00. Chris finished the net and Maria arrived right on time followed shortly by the French Baker with our morning croissants. We had just finished filling the water tanks and were sitting in the cockpit enjoying our pastries and the last cups of lukewarm coffee when I looked to port and realized the little MacGregor wasn’t in the same place. I asked Chris if I was imagining things (when it comes to dragging boats I tend to do that) but he confirmed that the boat was definitely on the move. Clearly, no one was aboard so Chris put out a call to the fleet and he and several others jumped in their dinghies and went to the rescue to secure the boat before it ran aground or hit someone else.

While all this excitement was going on, another, larger, boat to starboard of our starboard neighbor was also in the process of drifting. I could see the owner and our neighbor having a rather long discussion and finally the dragging boat pulled up his anchor and moved to a new (presumably more secure) spot.

Once the errant MacGregor was re-anchored, Chris was back and just finishing up his breakfast when another call came over the radio. This one was a larger boat with a deep (bulb) keel that the owner had just realized was aground. We have an exceptionally low tide today. There was much advice given over the radio, all to no avail, so Chris dinghied over to help the owner put out a second anchor abeam to, hopefully, keep the boat from tipping completely over. He was considering having a panga pull him out but the fleet advised strongly against this tack because of the possibility of damaging his rudder. As I write this, I can see the boat canted at an unnatural slant. I do hope the owners have decided to just relax and have a glass of wine while they wait for the tide to change.

While Chris was off helping the grounded boat, the radio came alive again. A large trawler was now dragging down on a 50’ sailboat and no one was aboard. Off went the dinghies once again! A couple people got aboard to see if they could start the engine (nope) or raise the anchor (fortunately there was very little chain out and they were able to raise it by hand). Meanwhile, the little inflatables worked like a group of tugboats moving the trawler to a better place in the anchorage. They then re-anchored the boat with much more chain out so he wouldn’t drag again.

This anchorage is well known for it's slippery-slidey bottom so those of us who have been here before know to follow a few simple procedures. 1) Always put out 100’ of chain…even though you are only in 10’ of water. 2) Always leave your key in the ignition and your windlass controls fully accessible. 3) Don’t leave your boat until you are absolutely sure your anchor is holding. 4) Take a VHF when you do leave and turn it on!

Even when you do everything just right, sometimes things just happen. Someone new may come in and drop his anchor on top of yours, unseating it. The wind may pipe up substantially from a new direction and swing the boat around so the anchor comes “un-stuck”. Those are only two of the myriad possibilities. Who knows…your boat might just decide it wants a change of scenery and it is time to go walkabout. Still…even though this anchorage is known as a place where anchors drag, it is a lovely spot to visit.

Fortunately, the world of cruisers is full of good Samaritans and you can always count on help when you need it. We are all in need of all the Kharma we can build up.

Dragging anchor seems to follow the same maxim “the boys” used to tell me about running aground on the Columbia River, “Its not IF you run aground…its WHEN.”