Klaus came over first thing to show us some good anchorages on the chart but his daughter untied the dinghy and started to leave without him!

The forecast was for stormy weather coming in later on Saturday from the East, an unusual direction. We decided to stay in the anchorage, but almost everyone else left. We debated whether we should stay anchored where we were or move over to the pool on the east side of the bay and anchor there. We spent too long making our minds up and another big yacht came in and chose the favoured spot. We moved further over and tried to anchor but it dragged and I quite liked the look of a shore side rock, that appeared relatively flat and of a height that would enable me to jump onto it.

The die was cast and we put into action all the information we had on how to attempt this sort of mooring. You choose your spot, nose up to it to make sure there is nothing lurking just below the surface that might cause trouble, then back up 3-4 boat lengths and deploy the stern anchor. All went like clockwork. The Fortress was retrieved from its resting place and attached to it warp, the steps (such as they are) were attached to the bow and the longest warps were extracted from the locker. Luckily, although I was poised on the steps ready to jump onto my chosen rock, the guy from the boat tied up along the shore came over to help, so I was saved the ignominy of falling between rock and boat or alternatively flat on my face, as he took the warp from me.

Unfortunately, yet again the Fortress dragged, so we had to substitute the bow anchor, this time on the rope we normally used, which Ted took out on the dinghy. (It was fortunate it was already inflated). After that everything was fine and the wind did blow very hard and the rain was torrential but the shelter was excellent, even though the wind direction had a lot more North in it than we anticipated. Ironically the big yacht, anchored in the favoured position, moved in the night to the spot we had previously occupied in the middle of the bay. We decided he had been caught out by the change of direction and swung too close to the moored boats.

Proof that we managed it!