Day #3: With high winds I always worry about dragging anchor. A big fear is being woken up from a deep sleep by the sound of rocks or pilings grinding on the hull. To help prevent this Nellie has several anchor alarms on board. All but one is high tech. It was the low tech method I employed last night after the winds abated. Having an all chain anchor rode means there's lots of noise when the chain rubs against the hull. But this only happens when the winds or currents are strong enough to really move Nellie about. To prevent this noise, and to take the load off the windlass, we normally put a rope bridle on the chain. Not using the bridle is actually like setting a very sensitive anchor alarm--the slightest amount of noise means we might be dragging. So, no noise means there's nothing to worry about. In last night's still conditions the low tech alarm worked like a charm.
As today's picture shows, it was another tortuous day on the ICW. Once in Fort Lauderdale we headed up the New River. This narrow, twisting waterway is chock-a-block with beautiful homes, big boats and passes right through downtown. In the heart of it all we pulled over and tied to the seawall. 16.6nm today and 38.6nm for the trip. DBH
