Anchored in Punta De Mita, Keep vigilant not complacent, lost boats - 2013

Middle of April 2013 - Anchor in Punta De Mita  in Banderas Bay in Mexico

 While we were in La Cruz two boats went aground. One was a 30 or so foot sail boat which was lost.

We did go to the beach sale and picked up a couple of Garhauer blocks and cars for the jib track. Ours is a 1 ¼ track and we got lucky and we found two that fit.

The Garhauer blocks need a good cleaning, they have sand and grime but still spin. Nice ball bearing blocks. Another item to make life a little easier. Also the pin just pulls up to slide them and lock them down. Our current blocks need to be unscrewed and some times you need a rag to turn the knob, they get stuck. 

Ours are currently the original 30 + year old blocks, no ball bearings in these puppies!

He said “Now I know how to sail I just need to know how to anchor.” His sail boat broke anchor and ended up on the beach (he was not aboard). After several people tried getting it off the boat ended up being lost.

The second boat s\v Flying Dragon 

Now another story is that the boat was way too close to shore and lost it’s engine because of a dirty fuel filter. They tried to raise the sails but did not have time so they went back to trying to start the engine. Only at the end when they were almost on the beach did they decide to drop the hook. The anchor was not ready so it took long. That was probably their first choice to prevent the grounding.

That is just another story.

 We have had a problem once anchoring. We were varnishing the chain locker louvered door in the head and had hung up a small towel to cover the empty door frame. We went out to anchor and as the anchor chain was going out the Lewmar H3 Anchor Windless windless the chain picked up the towel and shredded it while it jammed in the windless. From that day forward we use the chain locker only for chain. The anchor is always ready to deploy. Also our stern anchor is always to deploy. OK we may need to move the outboard motor gas tank but within 30-60 seconds that anchor can be on it’s way to the water.

 When we did the Baja Ha Ha in 2012 our crew taught us how to set the main halyard so the sail is always ready to deploy. We do that always unless we are tied to a dock.

We drain our Racor fuel filters every ten hours of engine run time and check for dirt.

There also was another sail boat that went on the beach here recently but I forgot the info on it.
Note:
 As it tuned out we had to have our fuel polished because we had water in our fuel tank.

However it is easy to get complaisant. It is especially easy while sitting at the dock in a Marina.