Too uncomfortable to stay put

Robinetta’s motion at anchor when we went to bed last night was not too bad, but by 02:20 she was rocking so violently that I was wide awake, and unable to get to sleep. We knew swell would get into the anchorage, but this was much worse than we had hoped. There was no way we could stay here.

By 02:30 Julian had the anchor on deck, and I was helming Robinetta back along her outbound track. Neither of us had the energy to raise sail, and with the lines frapped up Julian did not even think of getting the cover of the stay sail as he came back to the cockpit. Only one of us was needed, so after he wet the tea I had boiled the kettle for Julian stayed below, and got back under the covers. Every now and then he popped his head up, and asked if I wanted spelling, but I did not feel at all sleepy, so stayed on the helm the whole way.

The half moon was reasonably clear of cloud, but no stars appeared for a long time. I kept on the line as I steered past the dark shapes of Mingulay and Pabbay simply enough, by keeping the moon’s glow on the starboard bow. At some point I would need to leave that line, to head for the anchorage at Vatersay, so I called Julian up to put in a course to steer.

The clouds to the north cleared away at about 04:30, and I suddenly had a star to steer by, or at least a planet, as I was pretty sure this was Venus. The horizon began to brighten, and by the time I called Julian up at 05:10 it was light enough to pick out the yachts at anchor in Vatersay Bay. Spotting the crab pot markers was not nearly so easy, and Julian thinks we ran one down. Nothing wrapped itself round the prop….

By 05:32 we were anchored again, in 6m under the keel at the bottom of the tide. Julian put 30m of chain down, which should be enough to hold us with a rise of tide of 2.5m. To our surprise we were not the only gaffer there, in fact the gaff rigged yachts outnumbered the bermudan ones!

Once I was sure we were secure I went to bed, and slept like a baby until 09:30. When I woke up the sky was blue, the sun was shining, and there was a slight swell running...

North Bay, Vatersay