We woke up early, listened and then took our sweet time getting together. The night had not been as good as we hoped. Just as we were getting into bed the anchor alarm went off, and we checked, yes we were dragging our anchor. We were in about 7 feet (or less water) with our great anchor (Rocna) on the bottom, with about 50 feet of chain out, even counting the level from the surface of the water to the bow roller (5 feet) we should have had plenty of anchor chain out, as I usually count the length of chain at the end of the snubber to the anchor. So, we had to reset the anchor and put out more chain before going to bed. So, when we reset the anchor we put 75 feet of chain, Then went to bed. I stayed awake for about a half hour watching to see if we were dragging. In the morning it did not look like we had moved (MUCH!) so, we asked about it on the net in the morning, and after the net someone suggested more chain, as in 100 + feet. So, we put out almost 150 feet of chain, and watched for an hour or so, then went ashore, and played in the pool.
When we got back to the boat, we checked and decided, yes we had drug again. Okay so let’s talk about this, we are in very shallow water, with a mud bottom with clay under the mud, we have a great anchor that when it comes up is filled with mud. So, it is sort of like trying to stand on ice. While there was no wind blowing, there was a tidal current (not huge but still there) and I think that was what was moving us. After discussing this, we decided to suck it up and pay for a slip in the marina. As we pulled the anchor up, I used the wash down system to wash the mud off the chain and then the anchor. What a mess! We tied up and felt much better about the boat not moving! This is the first time/place our anchor has not held. We took a walk into town and finally calling it a day played a game and went to bed.
