It was a idyllic scene. Big cliffs surrounding a sandy beach, Waves lapping on the beach, big cliffs, picnickers picking and nicking, people jogging with dogs, Kids were sliding down a steep sand hill on boogie boards as I pulled in and dropped anchor last night. The day had been pretty quiet, very light winds, and I didn’t make it to Newport like I thought I might, but Emerald Bay seemed just right. Emerald Bay is about 7 miles north of Dana, (about halfway to Newport) a small bay protected by big cliffs jutting out a few hundred yards on either side. Very protected from the normal winds from the north and West. If only the winds would have come from there instead of clocking around and coming out of the south all night., I might have gotten some sleep!

I was in about 20 feet of water, and I set my anchor with plenty of chain and rope (when tied to an anchor, a rope then becomes known as a “rode”. ) to ensure a good set., and used the engine to really dig it in tight. I was ready for a peaceful nights rest. My GPS has this “anchor drag alarm” setting that lets you know if you have moved more than some amount you can set , based on the amount of rode you have out and how much you might expect to swing around. It is normal to swing around your anchor a bit, but if your movement exceeds the amount of rode you have out, it assumes you are dragging anchor and sounds the alarm. I set the alarm for 80 feet, even though I had 150 feet out. (I figured as small as the bay was I wanted to know about any movement at all! I went to bed early and was awakened about midnight by the alarm. The winds has shifted to the South and so I had moved beyond the limit I set. The anchor was not dragging, but the winds were blowing a good 15 knots and the bay was a boiling. A wind of 15 knots it not a storm by any stretch, but it sure got that bay a rocking and my boat was a bucking and kicking. It is normal in conditions like that to assign someone to stand watch just in case and I drew the short straw, so I bundled up and stood in the companionway for most of the night keeping an eye on things. It was a very dark night, and I couldn’t see much except a few lights from the houses built onto the cliffs around the bay, and I could hear the waves crashing on the rocks just a 100 yards away . If my anchor were to pull it be only moments before I would be on those rocks. In hind sight I should have pulled up anchor and sailed out of there, but under those conditions I wasn’t sure I could pull that off without mishap, so I stayed and trusted my anchor and watched and waited and planned for if I was forced into that action.

Only my top half was exposed to the wind and I bundled up on top, but it seemed like good seamanship to pull on pants as well. It seems like it would be hard to be brave when you are not wearing pants.

I can see it now at the family reunion in 2072 :  “Grandma Kenzie, was great grandpa Kyle brave when his anchor pulled and he lost his boat on the rocks at Emerald bay?”

“No Billy, he wimpered like a baby. You see, he wasn’t wearing any pants and we all know you can’t be brave if you are not wearing pants.”

I confess after several hours of keeping watch and nothing bad happening, I did lay down and cat nap a bit. Many of you know of this trait I have of being able to grab short little naps and wake totally refreshed. That came in real handy here.

The wind slacked a bit by dawn so I tucked in for an hour of real sleep and after a quick breakfast I pulled up and sailed out of there with no problem. It was a bit surprising how easily the anchor came up after holding me so well during such a night!

Sailing back to Dana was a challenge because with the winds out of the south I had to tack all the way back. Plus, those south winds were pushing contrary against the prevailing current which flows in a southerly direction so it caused a really broken and chaotic sea-state: Short steep waves in no real pattern and it kept slapping me a round, but No Bad Days is a pretty beefy boat and she plowed on through and handled it pretty well. Plus it was cloudy and cold. I had on long pants (for the first time in 3 months, I wore long pants!) and 3 layers of fuzzies with the hood pulled tight over my ears. The clouds broke as I pulled into Dana about 1:30 and it got so warm so fast I had to peel off those layers as fast as I could to prevent over heating! Wow how that changed. Back in my slip I actually put a sunshade tarp over my cockpit and laid down for a real honest to goodness nap.