Frenzy in the Laguna

Hello all

Well, yesterday was a very interesting day in the laguna here in Barra de Navitad. Woke up to a wind out of the east and quite quixkly noticed that the boat dpwn wind from me was 10 feet away from my stern. Rreceived 2 calls on the VHF in the next 2 minutes to lety me know. When that boat anchored 2 days before I mentioned to him that I was a little concerned about his anchoring close to me and could he please keep a good watch as the wind in the afternoon quickly could build to 20 knots out of the west. He acted somewhat responsive and said he would set a good watch. he then left and went ashore for the day and 1/2 the night. Tom. Ron and I had to stay there and drink beer all afternoon just in case, Fortunately the wind did not blow and all was well. Yesterday morning he did not answer on the radio and it toot my yelling and a friend pounding on his boat to gbet him up. He did them re-anchor, but only after a discussion as to who was the cause of our closeness. I reminded him who was there first and my concerns when he first anchored. He dithered a bit but finally re-anchored, but in a place too close to another boat. I do not understand the herd instinct to place your boat close to another when there is enough room for all. Similar to parking your car in the far corner af a parking lot anf return to find 3 cars parked next to you. There was sufficent space for all actually to anchor correctly.
Next a large power boat started drifting into the pack. It took 8 of us to corall her ( 4 dingies pushing and tuggung, Carl on the anchor windlass and me on the wheel steering the power boat). Was left open but there was no key in the ignition. If we had not been able to stop her she would have taken out 2 sailboats downwind. It does not take much to get a bunch of yachties working together to protect our homes. The owner came back to his boar sometime after 9 pm to find it anchored in a different place.
2 other sailboats were aground and 3 re-anchored as a result of the east wind. Just goes to show that we should always be alert and not complacent.

The worst part of the day was that I was planning a trip to Melaque to get paint to work on Allymar, and was late and the paint store was closed for siesta. Bummer.
Went back there today and had a great time.
Today was great with warm sunny day and good friends.

Ken