We plan to spend most nights at anchor over the next year so I bought an oversized modern design and it passed its first test the other day. The story begins with me not checking the forecast because we were almost out of data, having let the kids stream a movie We anchored in a spot where the wind was blocked by the land but it turned (as per the forecast I had not sought) and began blowing hard from the direction of open water where it had plenty of fetch, or room to pick up speed. A local restaurant reported a gust of 70mph. We could gauge, by lining up buildings on shore, that our anchor was not dragging but still put out a second anchor. The problem was that the waves were steep and fast, causing the bow to lift and dive, making my two young crew members sick.
My focus was how I could get the kids off the boat. Kate was right that we should not try to make it to shore the inflatable dinghy with its outboard motor. Our current situation was uncomfortable but getting in the dinghy would be dangerous. The kids were the most calm when I started reading a book out loud, but I would still be distracted checking to make sure we were not dragging the anchor. A loud crashing sound jolted my mind to other concerns. After a large wave the boat had come down on top of the rowing dinghy which had been pulled alongside so it did not damage the windvane mounted on the stern. In my haste to simplify things I just set that dinghy free. Of course I immediately regretted that decision as I imagined it being battered by waves against the shore. Now my mind was really a mess as I worried about the sick kids and my poor dinghy. I did not get back to reading and things began to unravel.
Kate and I decided that I would take the inflatable ashore, rescue the rowing dinghy and see about bringing Gryphon into the harbor. It’s a good thing I did not bring the kids on that dinghy ride, but inside the breakwater it was calm. I anchored the dinghy, waded ashore and ran back along the beach, exhausted by running on sand. The dinghy survived, but was missing one side of the teak floor boards, an unfortunate loss. I then visited the harbor master who did have room for me inside the harbor. It was left to my judgement whether I could get the boat off anchor, underway and maneuver into the harbor.
As I returned to the boat in the inflatable I could see that the line tied from a post on the boat to a point 10’ down on the anchor chain had parted. This line is called a snubber and takes the tension off the windlass, the winch attached to the boat end of the anchor chain. Ordinarily I attach this line to the chain by a hook, but that had gone missing so I had tied it on, submitting it to chafe. The pressure put on the windlass by the parting of that line may or may not have had a bearing on what happened next.
It was now blue sky but windy with steep waves continuing to pitch the boat. We waited for a bit of calm then, as Leif drove the boat forward I cranked our manual windlass and Kate relayed messages. The wave we were trying to avoid then lifted the bow up and the windlass gave way, releasing about 10’ of chain. Then it stuck in place. After that it was jammed and would no longer crank up the chain. I thought for a second about bringing in the chain by hand, something I had done many times before in calmer water, but wisely considered the risk of losing my fingers should another wave grab the chain before I could release it.
As I walked back from the bow to reconsider our options, I saw our inflatable drifting to shore just like our rigid dinghy had done only an hour before. This rubber boat was going to fair even less well in the surf. I stripped down, donned a life jacket and swam to shore. I swam like mad, thinking about Jaws (which was filmed here), could barely stand when I reached the shore, saved our second dinghy, but could not relaunch it in the surf so could not get back out to the boat.
Shoes full of sand, wearing only a swimsuit and a life jacket, and without a boat to get there, I was ferried over to the harbor master by the bike ferry. The assistant harbor master now offered to go pick up the kids in their boat. Why had I not thought of that hours ago? But arranging that was going to be delayed, so we checked in with the Coast Guard to see if they could do it. I was concerned at this point that the kids and Kate are on the boat with a broken windlass holding one of the two anchors and I could not get back out there.
The harbor master did end up retrieving Kate and the kids. But I had expressed concern about raising the anchors to the Coast Guard and they were out at the boat before I really consider solutions. Two of their guys on Gryphon, with their 47’ cutter towing, could not raise the anchor. They ended up dragging my anchor out with a shackle around my chain. The rode to the second anchor broke as they were doing this and I lost it.
As the winds and seas settled down that evening I went looking for the dinghies. I could see two people way down the beach by the rowing dinghy. By the time I got there just the man remained, having a smoke as he sat on the boat. “Am I sittin’ on your boat?” he asked. I said I was just happy to be retrieving it and wished I could find the floor boards. It turns out he and the woman had been speculating on how the boat got there and she had seen the floor boards while walking her dog. I kept walking and caught up with Maureen, a year-round resident who avoids the grocery store during tourist season. She pointed me further down the beach and had words of encouragement for my family adventure which was feeling doomed.
The next day found me fixing the windlass on a picnic bench outside Edgartown Bike Shop. It turns out my manual windlass works via two larger than usual bicycle chains, one of which had broken. The owner was cheering me on. He had leant me his smallest chain tool and had found some of the right size chain in his back shed.
Looking back, the first mistake was not knowing this weather was coming. The second was releasing the rowing dinghy which started a cascade of events. The equipment issue involved not having a anchor hook for snubber line which resulted in extra strain on the windlass before it broke, too, though ironically I knew I had lost the snubber hook and had actually ordered a new one the day before. My focus on the kids’ comfort was good but I failed to realize that when I was reading to them we were safe and they were ok. I should have kept doing that while monitoring the situation. I also should have considered the option that someone else could come take the kids off the boat. It is good that I did not try to pull the anchor in by hand. That anchor was in hard. There is a steep learning curve for this adventure. Hopefully we won’t have too many punishing days like this one.
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