Noel Gonzalez
Founder & Inventor of SARA
My name is Noel Gonzalez. For as long as I can remember, I've been drawn to the ocean, the beach, and the smell of salt air.
I've been fortunate to own my own boat, which has let me spend countless hours doing what I love most. There's something special about being out at sea: the freedom, the adventure, the connection to nature. Those experiences shaped my passion for boating, and my appreciation for reliable, practical equipment that makes every trip safer and more enjoyable.
The Problem
Many times, I'd drop anchor on what looked like the perfect fishing spot, and the wind or current would slowly move the boat off the spot I wanted to fish. The only fix was to retrieve the anchor and reposition the boat. That's when the real frustration started.
The anchor would get stuck on rocks, reefs, or debris below. Instead of fishing, I'd spend valuable time trying to free it. There were recovery methods out there, but they all had the same drawback: once the anchor came free, I had to re-rig it before I could anchor again. And it usually came back upside down or backwards, so it wouldn't slide 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.
So I set out to design a solution that would let one person recover a stuck anchor quickly, without re-rigging, without losing the anchor, and without it coming back backwards or upside down. Ready to deploy again, immediately.
The Moment It Clicked
One Saturday morning, I went fishing alone in Key Largo, my usual spots, but without my usual crew. Normally I go out with a few fishing buddies, but that day I wanted to relax and enjoy the quiet.
Our usual method was to tie the anchor to the front as normal and secure the rear to the chain with a zip tie. If the anchor got stuck, we'd move the boat forward, the zip tie would break, and we'd retrieve the anchor from the opposite side. That worked fine with a few hands on deck.
That day, since I was alone, I used the windlass, the powered anchor winch, to deploy and retrieve. I skipped the zip tie, and the anchor got stuck. I couldn't free it, and I lost the anchor, the chain, and about 80 feet of rope. No anchor, no more fishing.
Next trip, I went back to the zip-tie method but kept using the windlass. The anchor got stuck again, right on schedule. This time the zip tie did its job: I moved the boat forward, it broke, and the anchor came free. But now it was pulled in reverse, from the front, and it wouldn't fit into the anchor roller or the well. I couldn't redeploy it without someone leaning over the bow to hold it while another person re-tied the zip tie at the rear, just to get it back into position. Awkward, slow, and not something you want to be doing alone out on the water.
That was the real problem: nothing on the market solved all of it at once. So I started experimenting, and that's what eventually became SARA.
Building It
It took a lot longer than I expected. I built more prototypes than I can count, and every version taught me something new. Each test got me one step closer to something that actually worked in real conditions, not just in theory, but out on the water where it mattered.
The challenges didn't stop at the design. Finding a manufacturer who understood the vision and could deliver the quality I wanted was its own journey, with plenty of setbacks and moments where it would've been easy to walk away.
But I believed in it because I'd lived the problem. I knew thousands of other boaters dealt with the same frustration every day, and that kept me going until it became real.
Why It Matters
Beyond what SARA does mechanically, I want boaters to know it was designed by someone who's faced the same frustration they have. Every feature exists because I lived through stuck anchors, lost fishing time, and the risk of losing expensive gear.
SARA is about more than getting an anchor back. It's about confidence:
Confidence to anchor near structure, where the fish actually are.
Confidence to boat alone, knowing one person can handle a stuck anchor safely.
Confidence to move on quickly, no re-rigging, no wrestling an anchor that won't fit.
Most of all, I want people spending less time fighting their gear and more time doing what they came out for: fishing, exploring, making memories with the people they love.
Time on the water, with the people who matter most.
Looking Ahead
What excites me most is knowing that years of work, testing, and persistence are finally becoming something that can help other boaters.
For a long time, SARA was just an idea in my head. Then it became sketches, prototypes, failures, improvements, and a lot of days testing on the water. Seeing it become a real product is incredibly rewarding.
But what I'm looking forward to most isn't the launch itself, it's hearing from boaters that SARA saved their anchor, made their day easier, or gave them the confidence to fish places they used to avoid.
This is only the beginning. My goal is to keep building products that make boating safer, simpler, and more enjoyable for everyone who loves being on the water.
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.
Every idea, every prototype, every improvement came from real experiences and real frustration I faced as a boater.
Curious how it works?