Every boater has fought a stuck anchor. The line goes tight, the boat won't move, and there's no good way to free it without losing time, or worse, losing the whole rig. That frustration is exactly why SARA, the Stuck Anchor Retrieval Attachment, exists. Here's why Noel Gonzalez built it, in his own words.
The Problem
"Many times, I'd drop the anchor on what looked like the perfect fishing spot. But the wind or current would slowly move the boat, leaving me off the spot I wanted to fish. The only option was to retrieve the anchor and reposition. That's when the real frustration began.
The anchor would get stuck on rocks, reefs, or debris below. Instead of fishing, I'd spend valuable time trying to free it. The recovery methods out there all had major drawbacks. Once the anchor was released, you had to re-rig it before you could anchor again, and it often came back upside down or backwards, impossible to slide back into the anchor well. More time, more work, more frustration, every single time.
That's when I said, there has to be a better way."
The Moment It Clicked
"One Saturday morning, I went fishing alone in Key Largo. Normally I go out with a few buddies, but that day I wanted to relax and enjoy the cool morning by myself.
Our usual method is to tie the anchor to the front as normal and secure the rear to the chain with a zip tie. If the anchor gets stuck, you move the boat forward, the zip tie breaks, and the anchor comes free from the opposite side. It works well with a few people on board to manage it manually.
Since I was alone, I used the windlass instead. Because I skipped the zip tie, the anchor got stuck and I couldn't free it. I lost the anchor, the chain, and about 80 feet of rope. With no anchor, my day was over. Replacing it all cost about $1,800.
The next trip, I went back to the zip-tie method but kept using the windlass. The anchor got stuck again. This time I broke it free, but it came up in reverse and wouldn't fit into the roller. Fixing it meant leaning over the bow to hold the anchor while someone else re-tied it by hand, which wasn't an option alone.
I looked for a product that solved all of it and couldn't find one. So I started experimenting, and that's how SARA came to be."
Building the Solution
"It took much longer than I expected. I built more prototypes than I can count, and every version taught me something new. Finding a manufacturer who understood my vision and could produce the quality I demanded was a journey of its own. There were setbacks, and moments when it would've been easy to give up. But I'd lived the problem, and I knew thousands of other boaters faced the same frustration every day. That kept me moving forward."
Why It Matters
"SARA is about more than recovering an anchor. It's about giving boaters confidence: to anchor where the fish are, even around structure, to boat alone knowing they can recover a stuck anchor safely, and to get back underway quickly without re-rigging or wrestling with an anchor that won't fit back into the well.
I want people to spend less time fighting their equipment and more time fishing, exploring, and making memories with family and friends."
"I created SARA so boaters can spend less time fighting a stuck anchor and more time enjoying the water."
"SARA wasn't created in a boardroom. It was created on the water, from real experiences and real frustrations I faced as a boater. I wasn't trying to invent something just to bring another product to market. I simply wanted to solve a problem I knew thousands of other boaters faced every day."
Want to See It?
SARA's patent has been filed, and the full breakdown of how it works is already live on our How It Works page.
Get on the list at saramarine.com to be the first to know when SARA is available.
SARA Marine, Designed for boaters. Built to perform.