So last night I go fishing. I paddle out beyond the reef and drop anchor. I er fish. Meantime the weather changes for the worse and there are quite large swells generally hissing by as once again I fail to catch anything. Time to go and I pull on the anchor rope but the hook would not move.

Not going anywhere

It is tricky even dangerous trying to dislodge an anchor in highish seas. If you have the anchor rope tight as the boat rises on a swell the you risk capsizing, or burning your hands as you let the rope run through,  or losing your fingers as the rope winds itself around them and snaps taught on the rise. A passing health and safety inspector advises me to untie the anchor and come back to retrieve it. This is what I do.

I worry quite a lot about the long length of rope floating around at propeller depth and first thing this morning I am up and off. The plan is to take scuba stuff and dive down to free the anchor.

Ready to rescue.

My first concern is finding it again and I spend quite some time paddling around where I thought I like had been. However suddenly I spy the yellow rope floating on the surface rather than wrapped around some poor fisherman`s propeller. Phew.

Anyway I give it a tug and the anchor frees immediately.

Damn thing

I was rather pissed by this as I had built myself up for a much more adventurous slinging of the hook.