After we arrived in Smuggler's Cove on Sunday morning, the winds continued to build until they were in the 40+ knot range. Throughout the afternoon they just kept on coming. At least the swell action was much less being in the lee of the island. The wind howled for the rest of the day.
About 1630, we decided to set a second anchor even though the first was doing just fine. With no idea what the weather was to become other than windy, we felt it better to err on the side of caution. I went forward to drop it overboard as Tracy motored forward to the left of the primary anchor. Over it went and down to the bottom. The wind grabbed hold of us and pushed us back quickly. I set the anchor line and waited for it to set. Suddenly, there was a loud explosion in front of me right at the stem fitting on the point of the bow. The line and snubber that held the primary anchor had broken!!! The wind had created such a force that there was too much strain on the line and even though I had installed a rubber snubber(a long piece of rubber that the line wraps around that acts like a spring)the line snapped. The anchor was set so well that it didn't come out. It made the line break instead!! We quickly pulled out a back up snubber and attached it to the chain. I wanted the strain off the stem fitting(where the chain passes through on the way to the bottom) on the bow. I didn't want it breaking off of Zephyr's bow. Once that was done, I made sure the second anchor was secured and we settled back for a windy night but with less swell action. It was an easier night at anchorage than Saturday night in Prisoner's Anchorage.
The winds died during the night and settled into an easy 14 to 16 knot wind. A piece of cake after the 40+ knots we had been in. It had gotten so windy during Sunday afternoon, that I had stopped the DuoGens propeller from spinning. It was having a stroke trying to keep up with the winds. Better to stop it than break it.
Monday was a pleasant day with lots of sunshine and gentle winds. I pulled up the second anchor and after the line had dried, I marked it with a Magic Marker at 30 feet intervals like the anchor chain is. There's 21 feet of chain and 200 feet of line. The same overall length as the primary anchor chain.
We met with a neighbor boat--Jeff and Fiona--and had a nice chat. They've sailed down from BC and are working their way south the Mexico like us. His wind generator had blown during the big winds of Saturday night. Apparently, the wind was clocked at 71 knots at Anacapa Island(it's just east of Santa Cruz Island). They said they had clocked the wind in Smugglers at over 55 knots. Boats all over the anchorage had been dragging their anchors through the night. Theirs, luckily, had stayed planted in the sandy bottom. We'd watched Jeff scope out the shoreline in his dingy looking for a place to safely pull it ashore. He rowed back to his boat(stopping for a chat) and picked up his girl friend and in they went. They were smart to put on their life jackets as they made their final approach to the shore, the waves caught them and into the water they went. The dingy stayed up right but took on water from the wave. Being an inflatable, it didn't matter getting water in it as it wasn't about to sink. Once the two got ashore, Jeff over turned it and got the water out and pulled it up safely on shore. Off, the two of them went to explore on shore. Wet, but all right. Now getting back out was another matter. The swells had built while they were exploring and it would prove to be much harder getting off the shore than getting on to shore. They tried it several times and finally settled with Jeff at the oars and Fiona swimming out behind the dingy and he helping her on board once they were out safely past the breakers. They stopped by on the way back to their boat. They both have a broad sailing background having already sailed to Hawaii and back. A very nice couple. They saw another Liberty 458 a few days ago heading south.
We read and worked on our tans, quickly becoming slight burns, through the rest of the afternoon and settled in for a nice dinner and some DVD watching.
This morning(Tuesday)about 0700, we heard a helicopter buzzing the anchorage figuring they were taking more pictures of the boats in the anchorage. Little realizing what they were actually here for. Over night, a fishing boat--commercial--dragged his anchor and was ashore pinned to the rocks. We're not sure when he washed up, but as we came out on deck about 0800, he was clearly in distress. The waves just kept on bashing him higher and higher onto the rocks. Low tide was quite a while ago and high tide isn't until after 1100 so he has a few hours to wait. If he doesn't get off the rocks then, he will never recover. Numerous fishing boats and dingys have made their way over to see if they can help but we have seen no activity on board by anyone on the boat. No one on shore either so we're not sure what is going on. No chatter on the radio on either channel 16 nor the Coast Guard channel of 22A. All we know is that this boat is in big trouble if it doesn't get off the rocks soon. He may have a hole in his hull with all the bashing he is taking. He just keeps rocking on the rocks with every swell that breaks on the shore. Vessel Assist showed up about 1000 to try and get him off the rocks. A swimmer went over to the boat from Vessel Assist and tied several lines to the boat at the bow and amidships. They were getting set to pull him off the rocks.
About 1100, Vessel Assist finally pulled the Lady Francis off the rocks after several attempts. The way she was wedged into the rocks, as she was pulled by the bow line, she swung around and hit another set of rock just to her port all with a resounding crash we could hear from Zephyr. The lines were checked and Vessel Assist waited for a big swell and pulled again. Slowly the Lady Francis swung around and broke free of the rock and was towed away from the shore. Unfortunately, about 200 yards later she sank. The holes in her hull were just to great. There was just to much water inside and she went down by the stern in about 10 feet of water. Her bow is still bouncing in the swells. Just as Vessel Assist got her loose, the Coast Guard showed up. Too late to be of assistance. We saw a cloth over the bow that was to stop the water from coming on board that way, but I guess there was just to much already below that there was no hope of floating her to freedom. Now will come the salvage boats to haul her on board and take her back to the mainland. It was a sorry sight to see. In time, I think there is a chance that you will see a boat in jeopardy but we never thought we would see it so soon. Currently, Vessel Assist and a small Coast Guard boat are standing by waiting.
A second Vessel Assist showed up after a while and brought air bags to put around the boat and try and get her raised so she could be towed over to Ventura. In went the divers and the bags got inflated and her stern rose off the bottom. Once loose, she was towed around Zephyr's bow until the Vessel Assist boats could tie up to the Coast Guard buoy a bit farther off the coast. Now the diver took 4 more bags into the water and attached them farther on the stern and up she came until it was safe to be towed across the channel. There was no way to pump the water out of the boat as the stern was gone. It had broken off when Vessel Assist had pulled her away from the shore and she had pivoted and slammed back onto the rocks. If they had simply pulled her backwards off the rocks, the stern would have still been attached and she might have stood a chance of being pumped out. Now there was no stern and no chance. She was a total loss.
It took till almost 1900 before they were ready to leave. One of the Coast Guardsmen joined the Vessel Assist crew for the long trip back to Ventura. They were told to maintain a radio check in schedule with the Coast Guard station in Los Angeles every 30 minutes. As they checked in, they were doing 2.2 knots across the channel. With it being about 15 miles, they had a long night ahead of them.
It's sad to see a boat come to its end in such a needless way. A well set anchor would have saved that boat.
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