More Anchor Dragging – Not Us!

Fortunately, we haven’t dragged since getting our new anchor, but we were witness to another boat dragging that could have ended up much worse than it did.  To add a little context, there aren’t that many charter boats here in the Sea of Cortez when compared to places like the Caribbean or the Med, but there are a few, and cruisers quickly learn to keep their distance because the experience level of charter sailors varies widely and the quality of charter vessels and equipment does as well.  While staying at the North anchorage in Isla San Francisco we five kid boats had a perfectly spaced, staggered, anchoring constellation when a Moorings boat plopped right between us and Star Passage, a little too close for comfort.   Don Pedro actually politely suggested they move just a bit, which they agreeably did, and by the way, they were a very nice couple from Switzerland that we enjoyed getting to know at our potluck that evening.  Well, when I got up the next morning and was enjoying my coffee at the salon table I saw the Moorings boat’s stern aft of our port stern.  That wasn’t where I would expect to see it given where they had anchored.  So, I went out and looked around and watched them, and sure enough, they were dragging.  I tried multiple times to hail them on VHF Channels 16 and 22 with no response.  Even if they had their radio on I wondered if they would recognize their boat name since it wasn’t their boat.  I certainly don’t remember the names of the boats we chartered all those times to Catalina.  So, at this point, I woke Tim and he went outside and started yelling to try to wake them up.  Still nothing so he was getting ready to paddleboard over to their boat when we hear Max from Fluenta on what sounds like a bull horn trying to rouse the people on the dragging boat.  He had heard Tim yelling and took a personal interest since if they kept dragging Fluenta was right on their probable path.  This worked!  They came out and reset the anchor, and all was good.  In hindsight, the bull horn part was pretty comical, and it turns out it’s not a bullhorn but a PA system they have on their boat.  We’ve gotta get one of those.