Some of our stupid
mistakes we don’t want to tell the whole world, but enough time has went by that I feel ok about fussing up to how I almost
lost my
boat on the rocks--Ive posted this here before , but it might help some understand how bad things can get quickly-- on June 1 2009- I dropped my main anchor with all chain rode over the edge inside the crater of Santroni- just under OIA- then I dropped a second one to be sure ( the second anchor had 40 feet of chain and the rest was ¾ - 3 strand rode)& tied the stern with 5/8s line to the rocky shore, 50 feet away-
This area is usually well protected from the meltimi that blows from the North but will still get 25 knots of
wind with no seas bouncing off the inside walls- I had spent 2 months the summer before in the same place- so I knew the place well- On June 1 an unforecast storm out of the south blew up and with winds increasing eventfully to a sustained 50 knots- with gusts 60 -65 knots – the hole in the Southern end of the Calder was wide open but the seas and most of the big waves were hitting in a way where I was not directly impacted unless the
wind changed direction- and the wind was slowly clocking around-and I was getting 6 ft sharp choppy seas with about 15-20 feet seas outside I would guess-–my stern was only about 50 feet from the rocky shore and I was not sure what to do –
I waited too long to get out of there being so close to the rocks-now I was in trouble- I had a few hundred feet of chain out on my Manson Supreme with 5/8 3 strand snubber taking the shock off the anchor rode- 1 of my engines was not working because I was waiting on a
water pump">raw water pump belt that was nowhere to be found in the EU at that time so I had 1
engine in forward running - I was at the
helm all night
steering trying to keep the boat facings into the wind/waves-as the wind got up to 60 knots- -
My 5/8 snubber chaefed thru and the shackle deformed and was destroyed in those few moments it took me to get another line on the chain the force of it all cracked the FB Glass around the cleat and would have ripped it off in no time- had I not run a snubber through the chain and secured it-I went through 3 snubber in 24 hours because they kept chafing through- daylight came and the wind was still blowing with no sign of letting up – I had one guy onboard with me so this helped-I was very worried that this chain was going to fail as the seas were increasing as the wind kept clocking around to give me more of a direct hit through the South opening- My
dinghy broke its painter in the night and was long gone- and I had to make a decision , drop the anchors and rode and try and make a run off the rocks using both engines or sit there and pray the chain/shackle did not break -with the wind slowly creeping toward a more direct hit I decided to make a run for it- (to this day I’m not sure what I would do if I had to do that again,) I could use the second
engine for a little while long enough to get out of there I thought- So this was the plan- anyway we dropped the first anchor rode off and let it clear the boat, then I freed the chain and let it run free and ran back to the
helm both engines were running and as luck would have it we pulled forward about 20 feet.
Then one prop got caught in a small
mooring line and hung us up and we
lost power and steerage as the wind now caught us on the side and within seconds we would be in the rocks , I looked down and we were within 10 feet of the rocks now and I managed to pull the
Jib out and it caught the wind with a bang that sounded like a shot gun - we shot out of there like a cannon ball, all the time keeping the wind close to the sail as not to blow it out- I made it – I was very did I say VERY lucky- that mistake cost me a few thousand in chain and anchor and dingy but that was a
price I happily paid- the locals said they never seen a storm come up from that direction with that severity in 50 years-
I went back to recover the anchor & chain, using
scuba I went down as deep as 150 feet and could see to 200 or so but it was nowhere to be found-For a moment there I really thought I lost the boat and would have, but luck was with me- The reason I waited too long to move was its normal to get 25-30 knots in that area from the North and at that time it was not coming in from the south-but this time it clocked around -I spent many of sound sleeps with that set up – so I was thinking ok soon the wind will die down but, it increased and in a few hours it was so strong I could not move without putting everything at risk- and I could not stay either-anyway _ bought a new & bigger Mason Supreme, chain & Dinky - then 2-3 weeks later passing through I saw the dink tied to a
mooring and picked it up - Now I had 2 of them -Everyday I’m out there is a blessing!-