HAPPY NEW YEAR!! Dan and I celebrated New Years with another cruising couple we had met when anchored at Allen Harbor. They also were sailing an Island Packet, making a natural conversation starter when we approached their boat in our dinghy. We had conversation, snacks and drinks together to welcome the New Year, but as boaters do, we were in bed late, around 10:30PM! And recall that we hadn’t slept the night before.
The weather changed; it became windier and again the current switched and we could feel the surge coming in from the Atlantic Cuts we had sheltered in the harbor against. The dinghy was banging the hull and the boat was straining at the anchor. Then it became even windier and the wind shifted and so did the boats-all the boats in the anchorage were suddenly on the move somehow. You couldn’t tell which boats you had gone to bed with around your boat.
There were rocks on the shore line and shallow spots to be careful of but there was poor visibility. A few boats apparently dragged anchor. Others had to pull up anchor to avoid the loose boats, and then could not easily re-anchor, not knowing where you would be safe, if anywhere. Some people just motored their boats around in the dark, windy night shining a flashlight to see where other boats were. Again this was NEW YEAR’S EVE. At least on Sea Star the Captain was not in the best shape, although competent to assess the situation and get us through the night to –again 3:00AM when the wind and current again aligned, boats re-anchored one at a time and we finally went to bed. Our Spade anchor with 100 feet of chain and 40 foot snubber line, held fast. Happy New Year to all!
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