As every cruiser knows, dragging anchor is, well, a drag, particularly if you are off the boat exploring a new landfall. Well, now, there’s an app for that.
At the end of May, the New Zealand firm Predictwind, which has more than a million users worldwide, introduced a new app called Anchor Alert that lets boat owners monitor their boat’s anchored position remotely on a smart phone.
“Anchor Alert is built for essential peace of mind, and its seamless integration with the PredictWind DataHub truly sets it apart,” says Jon Bilger, PredictWind Founder. “This combination delivers unparalleled remote monitoring, a comprehensive real-time dashboard, and pinpoint N2K accuracy, ensuring you know instantly if your anchor moves to take action quickly and avoid danger.”
Predictwind is a weather and routing provider for sailors and is considered by many to be the most advanced software in its category. In combination with satellite communications, sailors can have in-depth weather forecasts and routing information aboard their boats anywhere and in real time.
The new Anchor Alert app synchronizes with the Predictwind platform and displays live data on your boat’s position, the wind speed and direction, water depth and more. The only catch is that you have to leave your marine electronics switched on when you leave the boat so the Data Hub can harvest the information and pass it along to the app.
This is no small innovation. In the age of smart phones and satellite comms, it seems an inevitable app. And, there are times when I would have killed to have this technology.
Notably, once at the Greek Island of Sifnos during a Meltemi, we anchored our boat, Clover, snugly at the head of the harbor and went ashore for the morning. Riding on the bus back to the harbor, we caught a glimpse of Clover out in the middle of the harbor and dragging backwards slowly toward the open sea.
When we got to the quay, we jumped into the dinghy and raced out to the boat which was still dragging. We got aboard, raised the anchor, which was fouled with sea grass, and re-anchored in an even more secure spot.
It was just sheer luck that we had decided not to have lunch in the hilltop village. Clover would have been on her way to Crete with no one onboard.
Anchor Alert would have warned us the instant the boat started dragging.
