A Is For Anchor | Nancy Drew Investigates {A To Z Challenge}

During April, we're participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. Every day (except Sundays), we'll be doing an alphabet themed post starting with "A is for Anchor" and ending with "Z is for Zodiac." Each post is an installment of "Nancy Drew Investigates the Case of the Missing Anchor" - so you may want to read the posts from the beginning in order to follow along with the story (click here for an index of all of the posts). At the end of each post, you'll also find some random thoughts on the day's particular topic.

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“I can’t believe we get to participate in the Grande Isle Regatta this weekend!” Nancy Drew’s blue eyes sparkled as she looked around at the sailboats in the marina. “This is going to be so much fun." She turned to her two friends and asked, “Aren’t you excited?”

George Fayne grinned and said enthusiastically, “I can’t wait to try out the new spinnaker you were telling us about. Imagine how fast we’ll be able to fly across the water. We’ll definitely win the race.” George nudged her cousin Bess Marvin and pointed over across the water. “See those sailboats out there. That will be us this weekend.”

Bess tucked a lock of her long blonde hair under her pink sunhat and gazed out at the boats anchored in the sheltered bay. She looked nervously at Nancy and George and asked, “But, what if something goes wrong? What if we hit something and our boat starts to sink? What will we do then?”

Nancy smiled at Bess and said, “Don’t worry Bess. The people who we’ll be sailing with are really experienced sailors. They’ve even crossed the Atlantic twice. We’ll be in good hands. Why don’t we go over to their slip now to meet them and then you can see their boat.”

The three girls walked down the dock to the far side of the marina, which was located in Pine Tree Bay on the outskirts of their hometown of River Heights. Nancy and George were regular visitors to the marina where they crewed on a friend’s boat during the weekly Wednesday night races. They had tried to convince Bess to join them, but the thought of zipping along on a sailboat while it was heeled over at an uncomfortable angle was too much for her and she signed up for a cooking course instead.

While Bess was busy daydreaming about the various pastries they would be making at next week’s class, Nancy pointed over to a white boat with red racing stripes. “Look, there she is. She’s called the Scarlet Slipper. Those are the boat’s owners, Marvin and Shelley, over there.” They saw a distinguished looking man with dark brown eyes and closely cropped gray hair standing next to his wife, a petite woman with green eyes and blonde hair streaked by the sun.

“It was really nice of my father to ask them if we could sail on their boat during the regatta. Marvin and Shelley have been his clients for years,” said Nancy. “Wait a minute...it looks like they're talking to a police officer. I wonder what’s going on.”

Nancy hurried over to Marvin and Shelley and asked, “Is everything okay?”

“Oh, hi there Nancy. It’s nice to see you again dear,” said Shelley. “And, these must be your friends. Unfortunately, you’ve come at a bad time. We’ve had something terrible happen.” Marvin put his arm around Shelley's shoulders. “Don’t worry honey. The police will catch the guy.”

Nancy turned to Marvin and asked, “What happened? Are you guys okay?”

Maurice walked over to the boat, pointed at the bow roller and said angrily, “Would you believe it – someone stole our brand new Rocna anchor!”

Tune in tomorrow for the next installment of Nancy Drew Investigates – B is for Boatyard. 

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That's our old Rocna anchor, which we used on our old boat in New Zealand. One of the first things we bought for our new boat, Tickety Boo, was a Rocna anchor. They might be pricey, but they bring good peace of mind when you're anchored.

Last summer, a bloggy pal asked me to take a picture of her boat, which was in storage at Indiantown Marina. By the way, if you’re new around here, I live aboard a sailboat at a small marina in southern Florida, east of Lake Okeechobee, smack-dab in the middle of alligator infested swamps and sugarcane fields. Why am I here? Well, it’s a long story – you can read about it here. But, let’s get back to the photo of my bloggy pal’s boat.

Other than the grime on the decks from the continual burning of the nearby sugarcane fields and the usual mold and mildew, which you can’t really escape in southern Florida, everything seemed fine when my bloggy pal initially looked at the picture of their boat. That is, until she had a closer look and noticed that their Rocna anchor was missing from the bow.

Yep, someone stole their anchor. That sort of thing will piss you off on several levels: (1) Rocna anchors aren’t cheap to replace; (2) the folks who stole the anchor probably knew a thing or two about boats, which means they were one of us, fellow boaties and cruisers; and (3) stealing stuff is just bad form.

Someone else had an outboard motor stolen from their lazarette and I wouldn't be surprised to find other folks had stuff stolen as well. Perhaps it was some sort of midnight raid by bad people who went around plucking all sorts of goodies off of unattended boats. I can only hope one or more of them stepped in an anthill full of fire ants and suffered for days afterwards with a painful allergic reaction to the tiny burning bites.

More likely, they just flogged the stuff on eBay and Craig’s List and then spent the money on beer and cigarettes somewhere in the Florida Keys. You’ve probably seen them hanging around in their dinghy somewhere in Boot Key Harbor, smoking, burping and scratching their fire ant bites (and other parts of their bodies which really aren’t polite to scratch in public).

I still get mad thinking about the anchor incident. Not just because it happened to a really nice couple, but because, if you refer back to point #2 above, it was likely one of our own. Cruisers (like RVers and other nomadic traveling type people) stick together. They help each other out. They have each other’s backs. Except for those yahoos who helped themselves to other people’s stuff. They’re not worthy of the cruiser label.

If I was mean-spirited, I might hope that their dinghy springs a leak and they find themselves slowly sinking in alligator-infested waters. A dinghy that they probably stole from somebody else, I might add.

If only we had had someone like Nancy Drew around when the "Case of the Missing Anchor" took place. Nancy would have solved the case in no time, all the time while looking immaculate in her twin sweater set, pearls, faux alligator pumps and matching handbag, without ever breaking a sweat (which is next to impossible in southern Florida). The anchor would have been recovered and justice would have prevailed. Even the alligators would have bowed down to her poise and intelligence.

Instead, my bloggy pal and her husband had to shell out for a new anchor. On the bright side, it inspired my theme for this year's Blogging from A to Z Challenge. An odd theme, but there you have it.

If you want to read the real account of their stolen anchor, check out the scoop here.

Have you ever had anything valuable stolen from your home, RV or boat?

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