Draft
More pics etc likely to follow.
The afternoon at anchor was quite peaceful although the boat
was a little lively from the wind which was swirling down off the hills, it was
not helped by the shallow water, whilst a scope of about 7:1 gives a good angle
on the anchor it allows the boat to swing more. I had considered backing the
anchor up which would reduce this but decided that it the wind changed more to
the south (as it did) I would not have time to get the anchor up before hitting
the shallow water or rocks 150 – 200 yards away.
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| The scene of the crime: Left initial attempt at anchoring in a recommended location. Right where I was for c 12 hours. Centre when I ended up. Note the channel into the head of the loch is =< 100 yards wide. |
I was tired so was in my bunk by 21:30 to be rudely awakened
at about midnight by the boat cavorting all over the place and healing
significantly.
After a quick look outside I got dressed, including waterproofs
although it was not raining and at the time quite warm, and only for the second
time in over 300 nights at anchor sat anchor watch.
The sky was clear but with no moon and I could see nothing except
the loom of the mountains and the intruder alarm lights on the adventure training school that would later be helpful
in getting orientated. I turned on the chart plotter and got an iPad on deck
with the Antares chart active so I could see where I was and were I was going
if things went pear shaped.
The problem was the wind, rather than 20 knot winds, as the
instruments came on line there was a gust of 39 knots. That was exceptional but
the wind was going from 12 knots to over 30 pushing the boat about with the
bows swinging through about 70 degrees. There was not a lot I could do but
hope, trying to change anchorage in those conditions, in the dark and in a
relatively small anchorage was not to be contemplated and where to go? I ran the engine
for a while to warm it up and ensure an instant start if needed and I set an
anchor alarm on a second iPad as a backup and kept the plotter and instruments
on. Then waited.
By about 01:30 things were calming down so I went to my
bunk, fully dressed and with the wash boards out so I could get on deck quickly.
20 minutes later an alarm went off and I was slowly moving
back and missing the 100 yard wide passage to the wider and deeper
anchorage that had been down wind. The wind was back up to near gale force
after a lull. I guess a sudden increase after a calm caused the anchor to fail.
I tried resetting the anchor and it gripped once for a while
but then let go. There was nothing for it but to get the anchor up (in case it
was choked with weed or something else; it was clean) and try again. Not easy under pressure,
in the dark and with the engine controls at one end of the boat and the anchor
at the other where I needed to be raising the anchor, although I can lower it
from the cockpit you do need to be forward to see what is happening before
setting the anchor.
The first problem was the snubber which somehow had got a loop
of chain round the chain hook so I had to haul the chain in far enough to get
the fouled section over the bow roller and past the chain stopper but before it
got to the windlass. With chain stopper engaged and the pressure off it came
undone easily and I got the anchor just clear of the water before dashing back to the cockpit to get
into deeper water, I now had to decide where to go, I could not see the two
large ribs moored a hundred yards away from my original position and it was
dead low water with only just over a metre under the keel at times. The best
move was to try and get sea room by moving west which I managed by GPS and with
difficulty in the strong swirling wind.
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| Big splodge: at anchor, top left struggling, bottom the escape. |
I had considered a shallower area in the large section of the loch coming in, but the wind was as gusty there as at my original spot behind Eilen d’Chadh-fi that I had moved out of when I started to drag there on arrival. But it had to be the best option and with the slight change in the wind it was no worse than any other place.
I tried three times to anchor there, the problem being the speed the boat was making downwind when the anchor hit bottom causing it to “skate”, the first held for about 10 minutes and would not reset when it dragged so up it came, the final attempt worked after I lowered the anchor from the cockpit for 25 seconds, about 12m of chain in 7 metres of water, whilst motoring slowly ahead then dashing forward. Trying to rig the snubber in those conditions would have been asking for a crushed finger or worse so I suffered noisy chain movements and some snubbing until daylight.
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| Three attempts to anchor, the big splodge where I ended up. Squiggles bottom centre, the first attempt. Just left of the final position the 2nd attempt, trying to reset. Incomplete as I turned the alarm off when manoeuvring. |
I’m now short of sleep and cold from trying to sleep with
the wash boards out, even fully dressed in the sleeping bag.
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