Jamesuk
Well-Known Member
We have just had a great cruise around the islands north of Zadar, but not without incident.
PORTIC ISTRA 7-8th JULY 2013
At around 2300 we noticed a motor yacht with his steaming lights on, we thought at the time they had just left them on a frequent occurance in the Med. Conversation went back to the other motor boat (party boat) blaring out Guns and Roses hits, but having had a busy day We all went to bed.
Between 2300 and 0200 the wind speed increased from 15knots to gusting 30. A quick check to see if we had dragged confirmed we had not moved at all but looking up on deck the motoryacht with its aspect lights on was no longer there. We spotted him ahead of us motoring around with his aspects lights showing us he was going round in small circles for about 30 minutes, he would try and anchor and in the wind we could just hear the squeal of the windless and the rattle of chain but stopping far short of what we would all consider 'an adequate amount out'. He then went back to where he was before, we then saw in the distance what appeared to be someone jumping off the boat, SPLASH.
A little while later he came back around heading out of the bay between us and another yacht, the other yacht (Moody 45 (new one)) got up and put some lights on but qucikly went back to bed. On the way round we had a strong gust and it put the motoryacht a boat length away. Fenders out, people on deck "whats he doing?".
Luckily, we were ready with our Raymarine loud hailer as they passed (being used for the first time in 2 years) we hailed them in English then in German (good to have a German speaker on board out here in Croatia) to put their VHF on and call us on 16. Which they promptly did.
MOTORYACHT: Wir haben Probleme mit dem Anker und war verwirrt es mit einem anderen Anker
Not really userstanding this as they were quite clearly driving around.
SAILING YACHT: Wir werden jemanden schicken, um Ihnen zu helfen
Coat on, life jacket on, LED lenser on head, petrol, killcord on: so off I went.
Arriving at this lovely brand new 36-40ft motoryacht, i spoke to them in English at which point they both replied in good English (educated people then, what ever did they do wrong) i went with one to the bow as the other could not leave the helm as the wind just blew him at speed towards the rocks (as soon as he put it in neutral).
What i found was indeed two anchors, the bow anchor and the kedge anchor; the splash we saw earlier was a last ditched attempt to anchor the boat by throwing it in as well.
At this point, I worked with the 'friend' of the skippers to get the two untangled, luckily they were only about 20KGS each so easy enough to shake out from each other.
With both anchors up on deck I asked for a winch handle as the anchor and chain were im sure lowered "too slowly' before and not enough either, also I didnt know if the skipper could handle the boat to use the windless. They found one (they use for the fuel caps). With the wind howling now and not much room either side, i told them to put the boat in the centre between "the rocks over there and rocks over there". The skipper was struggling with the ferry gliding of the bow from side to side and the swell.
(I will mention I did ask how much chain he had: "50 metres" of shinny stainless steel chain with of course the shinny Delta to go with it, the crew said 'the anchor is no good' i replied we have the same on the yacht and it is excellent.)
The skipper centred the boat, he put it in neutral and the anchor was dropped, the chain flew out in the 6metres of depth as we flew back at what felt like 2-3 knots. When we reached about 30metres I slowed the chain to dig in the anchor a little but thought to keep it going as I want it to be a one hit wonder example of anchoring! At roughly 40 (no anchor markings) with 10ish to go, i straightend out the Motoryacht which was abeam to the wind and creeped out the last 5 retaining 1 metre in the locker.
We waited for a few minutes and added the 'astern' of the engines to the mix. It was in.
A large bottle of local 35% was awarded for my efforts as I jumped back into the dinghy and blasted back to the yacht to get some sleep.
The next morning with the motoryacht still in place when we departed, the skipper saw the ensign and amongst other things shouted out "God save the Queen" which was fun.
To add they actually had two wives below deck and 4 children. I like to think tho, now the crew/skipper have learnt a few tips on anchoring in strong winds, they will be safely at anchor for the rest of their Motoryacht days in any wind.
I left them with this "If you have the room drop it all out". I picked that up from a celesital 180,000 mile skipper.
PORTIC ISTRA 7-8th JULY 2013
At around 2300 we noticed a motor yacht with his steaming lights on, we thought at the time they had just left them on a frequent occurance in the Med. Conversation went back to the other motor boat (party boat) blaring out Guns and Roses hits, but having had a busy day We all went to bed.
Between 2300 and 0200 the wind speed increased from 15knots to gusting 30. A quick check to see if we had dragged confirmed we had not moved at all but looking up on deck the motoryacht with its aspect lights on was no longer there. We spotted him ahead of us motoring around with his aspects lights showing us he was going round in small circles for about 30 minutes, he would try and anchor and in the wind we could just hear the squeal of the windless and the rattle of chain but stopping far short of what we would all consider 'an adequate amount out'. He then went back to where he was before, we then saw in the distance what appeared to be someone jumping off the boat, SPLASH.
A little while later he came back around heading out of the bay between us and another yacht, the other yacht (Moody 45 (new one)) got up and put some lights on but qucikly went back to bed. On the way round we had a strong gust and it put the motoryacht a boat length away. Fenders out, people on deck "whats he doing?".
Luckily, we were ready with our Raymarine loud hailer as they passed (being used for the first time in 2 years) we hailed them in English then in German (good to have a German speaker on board out here in Croatia) to put their VHF on and call us on 16. Which they promptly did.
MOTORYACHT: Wir haben Probleme mit dem Anker und war verwirrt es mit einem anderen Anker
Not really userstanding this as they were quite clearly driving around.
SAILING YACHT: Wir werden jemanden schicken, um Ihnen zu helfen
Coat on, life jacket on, LED lenser on head, petrol, killcord on: so off I went.
Arriving at this lovely brand new 36-40ft motoryacht, i spoke to them in English at which point they both replied in good English (educated people then, what ever did they do wrong) i went with one to the bow as the other could not leave the helm as the wind just blew him at speed towards the rocks (as soon as he put it in neutral).
What i found was indeed two anchors, the bow anchor and the kedge anchor; the splash we saw earlier was a last ditched attempt to anchor the boat by throwing it in as well.
At this point, I worked with the 'friend' of the skippers to get the two untangled, luckily they were only about 20KGS each so easy enough to shake out from each other.
With both anchors up on deck I asked for a winch handle as the anchor and chain were im sure lowered "too slowly' before and not enough either, also I didnt know if the skipper could handle the boat to use the windless. They found one (they use for the fuel caps). With the wind howling now and not much room either side, i told them to put the boat in the centre between "the rocks over there and rocks over there". The skipper was struggling with the ferry gliding of the bow from side to side and the swell.
(I will mention I did ask how much chain he had: "50 metres" of shinny stainless steel chain with of course the shinny Delta to go with it, the crew said 'the anchor is no good' i replied we have the same on the yacht and it is excellent.)
The skipper centred the boat, he put it in neutral and the anchor was dropped, the chain flew out in the 6metres of depth as we flew back at what felt like 2-3 knots. When we reached about 30metres I slowed the chain to dig in the anchor a little but thought to keep it going as I want it to be a one hit wonder example of anchoring! At roughly 40 (no anchor markings) with 10ish to go, i straightend out the Motoryacht which was abeam to the wind and creeped out the last 5 retaining 1 metre in the locker.
We waited for a few minutes and added the 'astern' of the engines to the mix. It was in.
A large bottle of local 35% was awarded for my efforts as I jumped back into the dinghy and blasted back to the yacht to get some sleep.
The next morning with the motoryacht still in place when we departed, the skipper saw the ensign and amongst other things shouted out "God save the Queen" which was fun.
To add they actually had two wives below deck and 4 children. I like to think tho, now the crew/skipper have learnt a few tips on anchoring in strong winds, they will be safely at anchor for the rest of their Motoryacht days in any wind.
I left them with this "If you have the room drop it all out". I picked that up from a celesital 180,000 mile skipper.
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