Mark saw these ginormous fenders at the chandlery today and fell instantly in love. Let’s just say it got a tad windy the other day and this may have been what sparked the romance.
Last week we had strong winds in the forecast and all the boats were headed to protective bays with a good hold. At first we opted for a bay with no one in it but we just couldn’t get the anchor to set well, so we joined what seemed like a million other vessels and began to cram into the same anchorage that offered a really great hold and better protection. As more boats showed up, they infill spaces that already seemed uncomfortably close and the bay begins to look like a debris field of flotsam and jetsam.
This is always nerve wracking. Mostly because all those anchoring boats are skippered by sailors with varying degrees of skill. Most captains around here use what Mark and I have dubbed “The Plop and Drop” method of anchoring—they find a spot, plop the anchor down, and then drop enough chain so it barely hits the bottom. Sadly, we don’t see very many boats setting their anchor—this is when you reverse or back down on it so the anchor digs in for a really good hold. Nor do we often see people letting out very much anchor chain.
Anchoring near “The Plop & Drops” is like parking on a hill where nobody sets their parking brake.
The winds got wild, just as predicted, but we held fast. But holding fast while others don’t, is only marginally reassuring in a crowded bay…
…which, brings me back to the chandlery and Mark’s little amour with the giant fenders.
After watching boats drag around the windy bay, those jumbo fenders looked like the greatest invention he’d ever seen.
And with a new wind prediction for this coming weekend showing another stronger blow headed our direction—he was fumbling for his wallet. If he’d had his way he would have bought enough of them to surround the entire boat like bubble-wrap.
Thankfully the UPDATED FORECAST is now significantly better so I talked him down.
Because as Bedouin’s Bosun, I can guarantee you that I’d be the one having to pull those monstrosities out of the lockers and heft them over the rail. Mark came back to the boat dejected and fender-less, but I feel like we saved a Bosun’s back today.
Mark also had a heyday in the chandlery’s electronics department.
