Yesterday a 34 foot monohull boat (not charter) anchored pretty close to me a...

Yesterday a 34 foot monohull boat (not charter) anchored pretty close to me and I was slightly annoyed. Slightly.

When they dropped their hook they were a beam of us. When they set their snubber, they were still a beam. I thought to myself what chain did they put out? Maybe 30 feet? In 18 feet of depth?

Should I have said something to them? I think so. But I am reluctant to tell another captain what to do unless there is going to be an impact on me.

I woke up this morning and they were 1.5 boat lengths back. Huh. Seems like a dragging boat because I didn't hear them pay out more chain.

Kyle and I went for a snorkel and the first thing I did is go check their anchor.

They were so fucking lucky. Their anchor was upside down and clearly dragged through some coral rubble. Then it lodged itself between a huge boulder and two helper rocks.

Without the smaller rocks acting as a wedge to assist catching the big one they would have dragged over a rocky shelf before leaving the protection of Pigeon Island and getting the full swells in the middle of the night and whatever bottom damage.

Scope? Practically none. The chain was on a diagonal towards the anchor with one other larger rock partially holding the chain down a little.

I swam over to the captain and explained in detail how his anchor and chain lay. Suggested that he motor a bit to port to free it and offered to dive and free it if it doesn't come free normally.

He was grateful. Belated, and polite, I shared with him my thoughts on his scope. He didn't disagree and was pleasant, but I swam away with the feeling that he still did not quite get it.

Got lucky that the upside down anchor dragged this rock into the large boulder like a wedge.

And here is that rock!

Originally posted on Facebook on March 09, 2017.