Job ended today.. Peregrine is
on the hard just East of the Corinth
Canal till the owner gets back from some commitments back home.
A great sail from Patri to the West entrance of the
canal where we anchored behind the breakwater to await
passage through..
Wind was gusting to 30 knots and waves breaking over the breakwater.. not a lot of room but it was sheltered.
Call came to go and we started hauling
anchor to follow another
boat through.. owner shouted back the
anchor was free so I put the
helm hard over and gunned the
engine.. next thing the owner shouts back that the anchors not coming up and the chains running back along the
hull.. I assume the burst of speed has driven the anchor back and its hooked on the
keel so I throttle down and tell him to let more chain out and let gravity take effect...
Wrong.. what had happened was the
windlass motor had died so we now had 10metres out in 7.5 of
depth.. no way we could go through.. so I turned round and got as close to the breakwater as I dared then we re-anchered.
Control were pretty good and once we had explained the situation said no problem.. stay till you get it fixed.
By the next morning after a night of 2 on 2 off anchor watches we resorted to the line to
winch tactic and finally lifted the hook in time to follow a motorboat through at 8am..
Fly home tomorrow via Zurich-Porto then its work out a flight to
Miami to collect a
Lagoon 450 to take to Lisbon.
But a good job done.. 2700 miles between May 26th and June 29th.. including 9 days in Portimao for
rudder repair.. a night in La Coruna.. La Linea..
Malta and Patri.. not counting the last night above.
Owners comment.. "I never realised what an endurance trial a
boat delivery is.."