Skip, your commentary on using the Redcrest rekindled some memories. A few years back when in the Channel Islands I used my Redcrest as a tool for anchoring and exploring. I can report that on this same cruise I had the misfortune of meeting the nautical equivalent of the Lone Outdoorsman. (For those who do not remember the Whole Earth Catalog, the Lone Outdoorsman was introduced to the world in a little novella that was printed in the bottom corner of each page of the Catalog. He was a guy who carried a small cannon as a side arm and had a strong dislike for Hippies; he “camped” with an RV fully equipped with generator, TV, dirt bike, etc.)
I met the nautical version of the Lone Outdoorsman one evening while at anchor in Pelican Bay at Santa Cruz Island. He arrived in a power boat with outriggers for stabilizers, diving gear strewn about the deck, and had a dinghy racing around the anchorage even before his anchor had touched bottom. He anchored tight against the cliff wall and about 10 minutes after he had dumped anchor and chain into a pile on the bay floor the breeze shifted and the skipper and crew were scrambling to keep the boat off the cliff face. After buoying their anchor, retreating to open water, sending the dinghy in to fetch the deserted anchor, and regrouping they proceeded to anchor directly upwind from Libations and over my anchors. Dodging the outriggers that gave his boat an effective 50-foot beam, I rowed my little Redcrest over to note my intent to leave about mid morning and advised that I may need to ask that the boat be moved if I couldn't get to my anchors...the response was one of scathing incredulity.
Next morning when I was ready to leave, the Lone Outdoorsman was still on top of my anchors. My solution was to retrieve one of my two bow anchors with my Redcrest and row it to windward to serve as a kedge. When I was in the process of retrieving my second bow anchor the powerboat came to life, raised anchor, and motored away.