I vividly remember the sense of awe I felt the first time I went scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef, and just as vividly, the heart break I felt upon seeing a giant hole smashed in a a beautiful coral bed and the ensuing line of destruction dragged outward from it as a result of some boat having dropped it’s anchor right in the middle of it.

A decade later I am learning to free dive on the coast of Bali and witness more destruction at the carelessness of boat anchors. I talked to a local dive instructor and learned this is a huge issue. It is impossible to enforce any legislation about anchoring coraled waters and we chatted about solutions to help preserve what remains of the worlds coral reefs as ocean acidification intensifies.

It can take over a decade for the coral to recover after one careless anchoring, and this is happening thousands of times a day. We need an affordable, intelligent anchor that can hold a boat in place without destroying our beautiful reefs.

We are experimenting with the following concepts:

Concept 1

A thin rod that is propelled deep into the floor and inflates a balloon at the end underground to anchor. The Balloon bladder is deflated to release the anchor. Even if it hits coral, it will only create a small hole that may actually create opportunities for life, almost like a pruning. Concept 2

Smart, lightweight Anchor that propels itself into the ground. Uses sonar to quickly map the ocean floor on its descent and locate sandy bottom between reef structures to avoid damaging coral.

Concept 3

Thin Rod that easily penetrates the ground using either inertia, a drill bit, or a prop. The rod fans out like a drywall anchor underneath the ground, once firmly planted.