A  boat takes it’s freedom and the chase is on!

Without going around every boat near you and asking what actual length of anchor chain they are using (in another language and if they really do even know what length they are using) you just do not know what amount of anchor chain they are using – you just have to hope that the internationally accepted standards are used. If the person next you using a length longer than you then they will swing into your nice new boat – fact. I find this very frustrating and even in our short time of sailing we have learnt that people anchor in all sorts of ways! The net result is a quiet wait on tender hooks until everyone has actually swung about and you can actually see what is going to happen. We tend to wait on the boat for a few hours anyway for just this reason and to ensure that our anchor is actually holding us firm. Even though we bought an oversized anchor the cost of a dragging anchor can be huge so we are still concerned for a good while.
..perhaps the skipper anchored 100 meters away from us should have waited on his boat for a little while too

Anyway, we found the ‘best’ spot we could though not great. It was say, 30 meters from a disused submerged cable that went from the island to mainland France. We were in sand surrounded by weed.

We had been sitting I our cockpit for a few minutes when we noticed a sailboat arrive and anchor 100 meters away from us. This is always an event for an anchored boat (despite what people might tell you) because you are always interested in how close they might be. Suffice to say we notice their position.  All the crew excitedly lowered their dingy and promptly motored ashore no doubt looking forward to the treats at the beach restaurant!
The next time we looked up we remarked that the boat must have a lot of anchor chain out and that the boat had moved position a fair amount taking up the slack (that in itself would be weird) – best keep an eye on it.

The next time we looked up the boat was clearly drifting  off into the Atlantic Ocean – the anchor had not dug into the seabed and was now hanging from the bow of the boat!
Then we heard a little dingy engine at full power from the shoreline doing it’s best to catch the boat as it mad a dash for it’s freedom! The poor little dingy was gaining on the sailboat, but so so slowly – the skipper must have aged 20 years!
Lesson:
Never leave an anchored boat without a crew member on board for at least 2 weeks! (..just to be sure)

I don’t know how islands in Brittany clear their waste but there was definitely a pong in the area hmmm..

Early the next morning we lifted our anchor for the next leg of our journey. Except this time the anchor brought up with it a long brown branch – a very long branch!
Oh, S@#@! We were lifting the old cable from the seabed.

..at least we weren’t going to drift last night, huh!

Having learnt our lesson from “Anchorman!” we implemented the following well recognized procedure

1.      Subtly look around to see if anyone else had noticed!

2.      Pretend nothing is amist.

3.      Loop rope around the cable

4.      Lower anchor to free cable

5.      Release cable to allow drop to seabed

6.      Motor away V E R Y quietly.

7.      Vow never to speak of it ever again.