One of the first things we were almost immediately dealt in our madden year on Vuja De was extraordinary wind and anchor issues. The 5th time we were at anchor, almost immediately when we arrived in Florida, while bringing our boat back from the Abacos Bahamas, the anchor swivel broke and we lost our anchor to the murky waters of Indian River Lagoon. You can see the video of what was left below.
Our friend skipper Dave Hurd likes to say ” you can solve a problem with one or a combination of 4 things; brains, brawn, bucks, or do nothing”. We chose bucks… Our $580 solution to that problem was a Mantus Anchor and Swivel. The swivel seemed like over-kill but we never wanted a broken swivel again and breaking swivels must be a thing because they designed a special swivel. With new anchor and fancy hardware attached we were good to go… or so we thought.
As we setup to go back to the Bahamas we spent a few nights anchoring in the Inter Coastal waterway. One day Danielle ( she’s in charge of the foredeck which includes anchoring) noticed the windlass (motor winch that makes the anchor go up and down) didn’t seem very strong and would intermittently not work when she pressed the button. A trusty hammer and properly placed thumping on the windlass motor got the anchor to go down. However, it was clear this was not a reliable solution. Another $500 fix later, we had a new motor.
By this time, Danielle was starting to take the whole anchor thing personally and the anchor anxiety was really starting to rise. We had visions of all of the crazy things that might happen if our anchor dragged or we broke another swivel etc etc. In our minds, we could any minute be careening off into a rocky shoal or worse yet, over the edge of the earth.
This uneasy feeling was compounded as we waited for a weather window to cross the Gulf Stream. The wind in Florida would not stop blowing from the north at over 25 knots consistently. There were small craft advisories every day. Whenever a window would open, it was small and then the wind looked horrible on the Little Bahama Bank… our destination. The wind just kept blowing. We finally got a three day window and across we went on day two. Paradise must begin right? Hold on a minute.
This is where the real life cruising experience starts to happen.
We have spent some time on charter boats and we spent two months moving a boat across the South China Sea to Phuket Thailand. We ran into some squalls and crappy weather but that experience did not prepare us at all for the constant wind with which we were about to experience.
Now, we know 20 – 30 knots is not a hurricane and apparently people in Australia consider that a normal day sail. For us, when something is called ” gale ” and small craft advisories abound, we get pretty uneasy about bobbing up and down and testing our skills. Especially since that test includes our new home and all of our belongings. We also got a bit antsy about where we could anchor at night.
In the Sea of Abaco, there aren’t a lot of places to hide from a north and west wind. At least for us, it didn’t look like there were. We spent more than a couple of nights bumping around in the bunk and waking up with a sore back because of dumb anchoring choices. However, through all that, we started to understand that even when we’re anchored and exposed to some waves from a 20 knot blow, if we can make sure the boat stays into the wind and doesn’t get caught by a cross current, we are pretty comfortable. Darn it if that big anchor doesn’t hold really really well.
We also started feeling the anchor set and that made us much more comfortable when one of the bazillion storms from the 2018 would pop up.
It was during one of those storms that we had an anxiety break through. Vuja De swung around quickly as a storm blew in from the north. The anchor let loos of it’s precarious grip on the bottom. We were in marl (hard rocky coral stuff) which is terrible for anchoring. However, our Mantus grabbed hold in the different direction and we barely moved. The only reason we know this happened is the next day, the wind stopped for a while and we floated right next to our now facing the opposite direction fifty five pounder clinging to the hard bottom.
By having confidence in our ground tackle gained through experience, we are now able to sleep pretty well through just about anything. Our anchor anxiety has subdued and we look forward to the times we get to be in remote places with the only thing keeping us from certain demise being fifty five pounds of pointy confidence, a huge swivel, and as much chain as we can let out.
Here’s