starting out and ending early

Sunday evening we retrieved Ram. from the airport.
We returned to the boat rather late so by the time we got there, it was already dark and so we turned in.
Monday morning we ran to the IGA to get missing supplies, bug repellent toothpaste etc.
Captain Murphy's boat goes out at 10:30 everyday. I talked to the skipper and he said he'd guide me out so I would nothave to worry about running aground. Although the bay outside of marena is deep everywhere.
Once we were in the Laguna Madre and before we crossed under the bridge, I had Ram take the tiller, while I pulled out the jib and raised the main. Since Ram was unable to keep the boat pointed into the wind, i could only raise the main 3/4 of the way up.
The day was pleasant all day. Ram and I would switch off on the tiller, for a while, i drove the boat from the wheel house. I found it difficult to steer there.
Every once in a while we'd get off course but never ran aground.
As the time neared 3pm we were coming up to camp 1.
Camp one is situated upwind of the channel since the wind was blowing out of the Southeast. I figured we could only get there by motoring up the channel so I dropped the sails. 
As we motored up the channel the wind  blewing us off to the north of the channel. There is a spoil Island, north of the channel whose Eastern shore has been armored with rocks. As we headed towards camp one, we kept getting blown further and further north into the shallows. So I thought I could get out of the situation by gybing  this was  a bad idea. By Gybing, i placed the boat further downwind and closer to the island and the rocks. 
As we tried to motor South into the Southeast wind, back to the channel, the wind kept blowing us closer and closer to the rocks. As I went forward to unfurl the jib, in the hope that that would give us enough power sail past the island I could tell that we were going to get blown onto the island before I could get any sail out.  I dropped the anchor. Since the wind was blowing us north West and  we were motoring south, the anchor fell behind the boat.  As the boat went over the anchor rhode, the prop grabbed it and wrapped the rhode around itself.  
 We were stuck! We were stuck so that we couldn't move, but we were not going to go into the rocks. We were not going to be able to move anywhere at least under our own motor power.

First thing I did was to try to call the coast guard on the VHF. I called MAYDAY three times on channel 16 notating my location. I got no response. I decided to call Progressive insurance since I had signed up for Sign and Glide towing. After a few attempts I was able to get in touch with Sign and Glide. 
We had some difficulty establishing my location at least for them because the GPS that the computer program (OpenCPN)  that I used, stated my latitude and longitude in degrees minutes and decimal seconds but Sign and Glide expected the location in decimal degrees only as can be found on Google maps for your location.

So finally i was able to give them my location in the format they needed.

They were able to dispatch a tow boat to come and get me this is at 3:00 p.m. There was plenty of Sun out. they advised me to put out a second anchor so I got my second anchor and I put a rope on it. I first I tried to put it in the dinghy and motor out to where I could drop it but of course the dinghy motor ran out of fuel before I was even 10 yards from the boat so after I had drifted back to the boat and secured the dinghy to the boat, I jumped overboard in  2 ft of water .
I walked out to the end of the rope and dropped the anchor in the mud.  I pulled hard on it. Then I walked back to the boat climbed in and proceeded to communicate with dispatch for Sign and Glide, they told me that a tow boat was on its way. About sunset we saw the towboat sail by.  He had told us that he had to go rescue somebody else first who was on a boat with children and the boat was sinking.
We were stuck, but safe.

About 10:00 p.m. when it was pretty dark he came back to get us. I jumped overboard and retrieved the anchor I had placed. Then I went out to the original anchor to try to pull it out of the muck. However it was very deep and I could not pull it out.  I thought I'd go back to the boat and cut the rope and tie a float onto the anchor line so I could perhaps retrieve it later. 
 But the towboat Captain,whose boat that drew 3 ft and the water was 2 ft deep, started to panic. He began  towing my boat away from me, so I quickly cut the anchor rope and grabbed on to the dinghy and was dragged through the water by the captain on the tow boat. I had quite a bit of fun trying to get back to my boat while being dragged through the water at maybe four or five knots. It was exciting! Eventually I was able to clamber aboard the boat and we set off for Port Mansfield harbor. The towboat Captain had considerable problem pulling my boat because of the wind that was blowing the boat around. It was hard for him to maneuver and keep us heading towards the harbor. As a consequence we ran into a day marker with the boat.  In the process of towing and ramming into the day mark, he bent the bow pan eye.
 I asked that he put us in the Port Mansfield Marina so that it would be easy for us to get the boat in to the ramp the next morning. He had some difficulty doing that. Eventually we got into a slip.
I asked Ram what he wanted, now that we were safe. I suggested that he go to a hotel since he was kind of stressed. he went to a hotel and I went to bed.

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