118: Dragged Anchor into SHIPWRECK CORNER in Simpson Bay Lagoon, Sint Maarten

At some point, every sailor will deal with anchor dragging or hitting a sandy shoal. It's just the way it goes. Let's just say that we are overachievers. After almost 8 weeks on the FKG dock we were elated to head out to the lagoon and set our brand new, 85 lb Mantus, aka "The Beast". We thought, and were told, that there was no way that would ever drag. We tried to anchor two times, but wind gusts of 35+ knots were quite challenging. On the third try, we finally dug in...or so we thought. At 2 am, I awoke from a deep sleep to an unusual noise. I woke my husband and he went to check. Thankfully he did as we had dragged about 200 feet in 4 hours to shipwreck corner, the area just in front of the airport jetty. Thankfully, our keel dug into the sand first and then the rudder. We were sideways, starboard side to the rocks. There were rocks scattered on the sand where our boat was pressed by the wind. What a scary thing to wake up to and address as new sailors. This video will show you some raw footage of our good and some not so good decisions that we made in our doped up adrenaline state. We will share what we have learned and how thankful we are for this incredible learning opportunity without much damage to the boat. #sailing #sailboat #sailingprojects #stmaarten #sintmaarten #shipwreck #shipwreckcorner #mantus NEW TO OUR CHANNEL? We are Eileen and Brown Councill. Welcome to our channel and a glimpse into our life adventure! 2020 was a year of uncertainty and change (for all of us, right?), but we overcame the challenges and decided it was time to chase our dream, to sail around the world! Did I mention that we had very NO sailing experience? Before leaving Qingdao, China, our home of 4 years, we sold almost all of our earthly possessions and started our international search to find the right sailboat that we would call "home." After 5 months of unanticipated twists and turns, we found what we were looking for, a used Leopard 44' Catamaran located in St. Lucia. So, here begins our journey, filled with unmatched excitement and honestly, a bit of trepidation as well. We have much to learn as we travel the world on our floating home and we intend to document that journey and share it with you. We are so glad you have decided to join us, and we hope that you will find our story so compelling that it will inspire you to chase your dreams too! As a viewer, we consider you to be part of our family and look forward to getting to know you. Don't hesitate to comment on our videos and ask questions. We will do our best to answer every correspondence! All we ask is that you have patience with us as we work really hard to improve our camera/video techniques and ability to tell a story. Hopefully, you will be as BLOWN AWAY from watching, as we are in experiencing and producing our adventures! HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT US? If you wish to support our video efforts, all we ask is that you SUBSCRIBE, give a THUMBS UP, SHARE our videos with your friends, AND COMMENT! WOULD YOU LIKE TO GET TO KNOW US MORE DEEPLY? It would be an honor and pleasure to deepen our relationship with you as a Patron. Please click on the following link to see how: https://www.patreon.com/sailingblownaway WOULD YOU LIKE TO FOLLOW OUR JOURNEY? https://www.noforeignland.com/boat/6040796987916288 WHERE CAN YOU FIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIA? Instagram - @sailingblownaway Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/SailingBlownAway Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/eileen.dietrich/ YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/sailingblownaway