On A New Tack

A Clean Anchor Chain? Okay, so why would you want a clean anchor chain?  Two reasons, really.  First, if it's muddy, we really don't want all that muck getting in the anchor locker, and second, it's no so much clean, the goal is really to have no salt residue left on the chain. Chain is zinc galvanized, so it is corrosion resistant, but there is only so much zinc on the steel chain, so the less work that zinc galvanization has to do to protect the underlying steel, the longer it will last! Manual Cleaning Up until now, we have been able to use a fresh-water hose and multi-position sprayer set to mist, which I would lock into "On" and then position the sprayer so that it would spray down through our bridle access opening to rinse the chain on the way up. When you are in sandy anchoring spots, that is pretty much all you need; just enough to get the saltwater off. Now, there have been times where we anchored in thick mud (the Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, USA and Cocori...

We made it to Grenada! Quick note: Jump to the bottom if you want to help us cruisers help those impacted by Beryl in the West Indies After an overnight sail from Martinique, we finally got all situated on a mooring ball in True Blue Bay and then I dinghied over to get us cleared-in.  I went back to the boat.  A tropical wave was very far east of Grenada, but those always turn north of Grenada or fizzle out this early in the year...  This was on the morning of Friday, June 28. This Tropical Disturbance is not doing what its supposed to New updates and projected tracks are available every 6 hours, so every 6 hours we would take another look and make sure we were in the clear.  As we went to bed Friday night, after our 25 hour sail, we weren't feeling in the clear. By the next morning, things were not looking better.  Actually, they were looking worse. Most of the tracks had the eye of the storm going north of Grenada, but there was always a straggler or two that ...