The Adventures of Francesca
Part 9
Green Cay, Something of an Ordeal
I don't know why, but at sea, the really serious weather usually hits after midnight. This night was not quite typical though as it became ugly by 10 PM and continued all through the night. Neither Heide, the fishing trawler "Long Island Lady" or Francesca had a wind gauge on board, but we all agreed it blew greater than 40 knots for a long time. Anchored in the only practical location for 40 miles, we remained exposed to large deep ocean waves coming off of the Tongue of the Ocean. Francesca's bow moved vertically 10 and 12 feet, hour after hour after hour. Occasionally a combination of wind gusts and wave peaks would snatch the anchor chain hard raising questioning thoughts about the strength of our ground tackle.
Rain during the night varied from none to torrential. Always, during bad weather we rely heavily on radar to check our position with respect to land and other boats and to show where the rain is. It can, as experience has shown, give the best early warning that the anchors have pulled free. A second line of defense against the consequences of slipping is the anchor alarm on the GPS (satellite navigation system). But, the system is reliable only for movements greater than about 500 feet, and thus, less useful. In our present location, by the time the GPS could give alert, Francesca could be history. On this night, we continued to hold fast.
Not so for the Long Island Lady. She began slipping onto the banks soon after midnight. A radio call to them confirmed that they were aware of their condition. The captain confessed that they had only one anchor aboard and it was a grapnel (oops). That type of anchor is great on rocky bottom, but almost useless in the sand. Long Island Lady continued to slip. The captain said that this was only his second time in the area and that he was not familiar with the local banks. We discussed the coral head field a mile or so behind them and also the sand banks on further. On they slipped, hoping to snag a coral head preferrably with the anchor. The captain sounded quite calm on the radio; almost as if this was no big deal. I suspect his condition was otherwise.
Watching a boat like that slip, mile after mile, made me more concerned for their well being than ours. After they had moved 7 1/2 miles onto the banks they ran aground, broadside onto the sand bank. The captain admitted they were struggling, but shortly and surprisingly, they were free and
moved back up to their original anchoring position. After a bit, Long Island Lady said they had enough and powered out into the Tongue. For them, there would be less risk staying 'bow to' in
1
(Note: Since the elimination of "Selective Availability", on May 1, 2000, the GPS anchor alarm works well down to an anchoring radius of about 100 feet. For a constant wind/current direction the alarm can give a drag warning in about 50 feet. The chartplotter graphic output also gives good early drag warning.)