Time for Neptune to laugh again
Salsa af Stavsnas
Ellinor Ristoff Staffan Ehde
Tue 11 Nov 2014 06:10
Maybe he was bored, maybe he wanted to celebrate
that it is almost 2 years ago we were preparing the ARC start in Las Palmas and
that reminded him of the trip Ellinor made outside the boat, I have no idea, but
last night it sure was a show here in the bay.
Thank god we are all by ourselves and had not to
answer any questions to any other yachts.
As you probably read already this bay is very
unprotected. It reminds actually about Rarotonga but here we are only at
anchor.
Big challenge as the wind is almost dead but the
swell keeps on coming in. So the day before yesterday we decided to put a second
anchor in to force Salsa aginst the waves. When she gives the swell her side
evrything on board becomes messy, we almost roll out of the beds.
Well to have 2 anchors out is not always the best
and it can become messy in a few maneuvers. After dinner last night we had
decided to play yatzy with the kids but as Salsa was showing her aft to the
waves it was making a lot of noise and splashes on the bathing
platform.
So Ellinor and I started to discuss on how to turn
Salsa around with the smallest effort possible.
Finally we decided to let the 2nd anchor go with a
buoy and pick up the main anchor, reanchor and then pick up the 2nd from the
dinghy.
So we did and when the main was in place I jumped
in the dinghy to collect the 2nd. Well it was stuck and soon I could feel that
it was the chain from our main that was holding it in place. So of all palces in
the bay we had managed to anchor on the only other anchor possible.
Thank you! Back on board, took the line with me as
Ellinor suggested that when we have the first up we can pull the second from the
boat deck (as I was almost sinking the dinghy when pulling the
anchor).
OK, up with the first anchor again, but left it 5
meters down in the water so we could drop it quick.
It was becoming dark, very dark and orientation
becomes stressfull, we know we have reeefs on both sides and we want to be in
the middle...
You can hear the waves crashing around you and in
the dark it becomes more dramatic.
We started to pull the second anchor from aft deck
as we thought it would be good to have it in the right spot for dropping
again.
We pulled like crazy, and it is here Neptune must
have laughed his belly off... We even put the rope on the big winch and as we
were pulling absolutely nothing happened, I took a torch and looked in the
water, the line was not going down, it was disappearing forward along the
hull.
So we let go and to make things worse the line
layed itself around the propeller.
Remember to add waves that lifts the boat 1-2
meters and let her down with a swoooooosh! Darkness and a tired
crew....
I jump in with a underwater torch that s brand new
and has never been used, it decides to shine when I'm up in the surface and to
go dark under the water. The line is not tangled in the propeller because we
have not engaged any movement on it, but as long as the line is around we could
not use the machine to take us away from the reef. So here I am under the
boat as she goes up and down and I try to follow the line and ask Ellinor to let
it go so I can bring it to the bow. As I get it under the keel and move it
forward I find the problem, the line is wrapped around the main anchor chain. So
when we pulled like crazy, we just tried to pull the main anchor from the
bow....great!
Got it untangled, up on deck again, soaking wet and
we start to pull the line again, now we get to the top of the anchor and it is
stuck in the bottom.
I pull like crazy and finally it goes loose and
when we get it on board we are exhausted but the boat is loose for new
adventures.
We try to calm down and just stay on the spot with
the engine and think.
Can we anchor with just one and in that case where
will it be most safe?
Finally we dropped it and after we dropped almost
dead. Andreas last question before he fell asleep was:
"why did we do all this as it was getting
dark?"
Why does a six year old ask the right
question?
Ellinor said today, that it is extremely seldom we
do this kind of things, I agree (knock on wood)
Tomorrow we plan on leaving and head back to
Savusavu. WP
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