Shoot! We Got The Anchor Dirty

We're frequently bashed by one of our marina buddies, Ann, for not leaving the slip very often.  This weekend two Customs and Border Patrol guys were walking the docks and stopped to talk with me.  I started asking them questions pertaining to foreign travel, and one of the guys asked if we sailed in and out of the country very often.  I responded, "Not very often", to which Ann commented, "Hah!  They never leave the slip!".  Well, I want everyone to know that we left the slip yesterday, AND Carla was at the helm.  She did an excellent job despite her nervousness and my 30-minute pre-trip technical lesson on pulling forward out of a slip.  This is all part of the preparation for the unlikely event that I become incapacitated or otherwise unavailable.

Anyway, back to the dirty anchor story. 
Winds were perfect for a leisurely sail around the harbor and a few lessons on steerage.  By the time we had made it out to the beach near Fort Sumpter, it was time for lunch.  We decided to "drop the hook" and grill some dogs.  This was the first time the new Mantus anchor had been deployed, and it performed just as advertised.  The bottom was hard mud, and the anchor dug in immediately and held well with only a 3:1 scope in 15-knot winds and 3-knot current.  Mud came back up with the anchor and Carla wanted me to clean it off, but I insisted we leave it as proof that we actually left the dock.

I read a blog or a forum post last week about "paying it forward".  There was a movie a few years back about the same concept; do something good for someone with the only expectation being that they will do something good for someone else.  Yesterday we had the opportunity to pay forward by helping Walter up the mast of his Hunter 326.  This was his first time to be hoisted up a mast, but he handled it with courage.  The end result was that he and Victoria now have their VHF antenna back where it belongs, and they have a new spinnaker halyard installed.  I also benefitted from a renewed appreciation for how difficult it is for Carla to hoist me up the mast.  Of course, now that she's the Captain, I'll probably have to find someone else to help me go aloft.