Thursday, December 09, 2010
At around 1am the wind started to howl outside and I went up to take a look. It had not only gone to above 30 knots but had changed direction a bit and now I had a boat just downwind of me and no room to let out more scope on the anchor chain. The boat was bucking around from side to side and I was worried that it would jerk out the anchor; so for the first time I held an anchor watch, staying awake and partially in the protection of the dodger as the storm passed by. After about 3 hours it abated and I had some fitful sleep while the boat tossed to and fro.
I departed Anegada since the anchorage was uncomfortable and opted to go straight to Jost van Dyke for the night. It was an uneventful passage with the wind at 120° so I just set the sails, turned on the autopilot and relaxed during the journey.
I anchored in time to do some work on splicing the forward starboard top lifeline while watching the anchoring antics – while Great Harbour did fill up the show wasn’t a particularly interesting one as everyone seemed to know what they were doing and no mishaps occurred.
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