La Conner Weekly News - Your independent hometown award-winning newspaper

Sometimes the most important lessons are learned, or reinforced, by the most harrowing experiences. I hope the following experience, shared with me by a highly skilled boater, serves as an important safety reminder for everyone out on the water. The tale began at four in the morning when the anchor alarm went off; instead of being secure for the night they were drifting with the tide.

They had to take up and re-set the anchor before anyone on board would be sleeping again. She shrugged on a jacket and went to the bow to work the capstan. As the capstan finished she reached for the chain an...