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| Storm Clouds over Key Largo |
It's 6:45AM and dawn is breaking. "Get up, we're dragging". I prefer "Get up, coffee's ready".
Matt's favorite part of this story is how I ran to the helm in my underwear. I soon realized that, at 49 degrees (this is Very Cold in Florida) and with a gust front of 30 knots, I was going to freeze to death before we re-set the anchor.
Hastings had been left alone in our cabin and, rightly worried about what his silly humans were up to this time, began to howl. Matt was hoisting up the anchor chain, which decided to jump off the gypsy (the gypsy is the mechanism that holds the chain on the windlass, which is the workhorse that hauls our chain and anchor) (no, I don't know why it is called a gypsy).
Now the chain was just letting itself pay out willy-nilly, helpfully hurling us at neighboring abandoned boats. It was like fun, only different.
Less than a week after the botched sail to Bimini, and the other cold front with the police harassment, I really began to see how people have enough, sell the boat, and move back to land, where perceived mortal peril usually has the decency to wait until after coffee.
Matt placed his hand in danger and grabbed the chain. (Yes, we had words about this. Matt is a wee bit more important to me than this boat, which one wonders why we are trying to save. What has it ever done other than cause trouble?)
Back to me - yes, my teeth were chattering. We finally got the anchor up, shook out a load of grass, circled back to re-anchor, couldn't hold into the wind between the other boats, and headed downwind and away from the other boats to be by ourselves.
We'd been at it about 15 minutes now (seemed like an hour or two) (I was really cold) (don't forget the dog howling!) and our overnight guests finally woke up. They either slept through the entire ordeal or willfully chose to pretend this saga was normal. "Good morning", they said. "New vista?" "Yes, that's right. We were sick of the other spot". No mention was made of my non-attire.
We then settled back in the salon, drank coffee, and watched the other cruisers re-set their anchors. We're trend setters.
Lesson learned? Even though the anchor set well originally and was buried in the sand, after the wind shifted it found grass, filled with grass, released it's hold on the earth and gave us a free adventure cruise through the anchorage. Or you could say, we were screwed.
Also, I need to learn to grab a towel on my way anywhere. You never know what larks await!
We then settled back in the salon, drank coffee, and watched the other cruisers re-set their anchors. We're trend setters.
Lesson learned? Even though the anchor set well originally and was buried in the sand, after the wind shifted it found grass, filled with grass, released it's hold on the earth and gave us a free adventure cruise through the anchorage. Or you could say, we were screwed.
Also, I need to learn to grab a towel on my way anywhere. You never know what larks await!
What was the coldest, most miserable you've ever been? Did you at least remember to dress appropriately?
