Just after entering Hopetown Harbour, boats are careful to avoid a shallow spot to starboard, near the lighthouse, which is marked with a red buoy. Here’s the red buoy.
Although, in truth, chartered boats have been known to tie to it, thinking it’s a mooring ball. Until they find themselves sitting on the bottom, askew, at low tide.
But this morning, a mega-yacht, leaving the harbour, churned up a wide trail of light sand from the bottom of the harbour. Because it was right over the shallow spot. Where was the red buoy? Not there.
A boat from a nearby boat-rental dock started slowly motoring back and forth in the location where the red buoy used to be.
The men on board said the buoy had been found near their docks, but without the three cement blocks which anchored it to the bottom. They thought a power boat had run over it, mangled its mooring line, and left the buoy untethered.
Soon more dinghies from the harbour joined the search, including Goldwin. Peering into the water, trying to find the elusive blocks so the buoy could be re-moored.
No one found the lost blocks. But soon replacement blocks were located, tied to the red buoy, and dropped in a suitable location.
Problem discovered – problem solved. Thanks the immediate, direct volunteer work and good sense of the rental-boat folks and local boaters.
SAIL MOTU ITI 