Bahamian Moor

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After such a restless night I was desperate to get our anchoring arrangement a little more secure and reduce the swinging radius.  Somewhere in the distant past when I was dreaming about sailing and reading everything I could lay my hands on on the topic, I had come across the concept of a “Bahamian Moor“: two anchors with the boat moored in between. I suspect it would have been in one of Hal Roth’s books.

Anyway… As I was still carrying the 36lb Lewmar Delta anchor that came with the boat and 20 metres of 10 mm chain,  I decided to have a go.  First I had to re-position the primary bower (a 60lb Manson Supreme).  I could not do this without Gilli’s help as it was still gusting 25 knots.  It was hairy as it was nearly low tide, but (me driving and Gilli working the windlass) we managed to get the anchor secured without ending up on the sand bank or colliding with another boat.  I shackled the secondary chain to the primary, veered an extra 20 metres of chain  and took the anchor out with the dinghy.

Once the second anchor was in, I winched us the 20 metres back towards the primary anchor, tightening the chain between the two anchors. The result: a swinging radius equal to a mooring! The screenshot shows the new swinging track (yellow) over the previous 36 hours (grey).

As an added bonus the boat is now unable to sail around the anchor as it did last night.

Bahamian Moor
Bahamian Moor Screenshot

On a dark and stormy night…

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Daylight again, thank God.  The southerly really kicked in overnight and I’ve been up since around 2AM, watching us stagger around our anchor like a pissed cockroach.  A 20 to 25 knot breeze would not normally worry me, but we’re anchored in a hole the size of a tea cup, with a sandbank down wind and moored vessels, including the 100ft+ Lady Musgrave cruise boat, everywhere.  To make matters worse, it was low tide just after midnight.  On the flood, the current and wind pushed us in opposite directions, with the strength of the wind dictating which way we would swing.  Of course, all the neighbouring vessels are affected differently, so there is no way to predict which direction any of them will swing.

The tide turned again at 6AM, so now everything’s fairly steady.  Everything looks better in bright sunlight anyway!

1770 Anchorage Screen Shot

1770 Anchorage Screen Shot

Final afternoon at Monkey Beach, Great Keppel

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We’ve had a fabulous time at Great Keppel – and finding ourselves in such a lovely bay with reef for us all to snorkel over has been an added bonus.

As a treat we took the dinghy round to the island ‘Haven’ to buy ice-creams. Gerhard took the dinghy back and the boys and I walked over the top of the peak and back down to the beach, for a final play on the beach and a swim. A really magical day..

The headsail’s poled out to give us more speed!

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We’re heading for 1770 today (named after the year of Captain Cook’s first landing in Queensland).

Gerhard weighed  anchor shortly after 4.30am after a rolly night at Monkey Beach. He didn’t sleep well due to the wind and rolling boat, and debating with himself whether we should sail today and, if so, how far? We passed Cape Capricorn shortly after 8am in relatively calm seas and little wind. We caught a Spanish Mackerel mid-morning so we’re all set for fish for the next few days: that smoking kit for the BBQ was an excellent purchase.

Dinner, breakfast, lunch…

We are though trying to beat the southerly change and strong winds forecast for later today. We haven’t been into 1770 before; it’s a river anchorage so we need to go in on the high tide and be safely anchored before dark – hopefully whatever strong winds they forecast will come after that. However, at the moment the air is warm, thick and oppressive; there’s a haze across the mainland and the clouds are thick. I feel nauseous with a headache – maybe not from the rolling of the boat but the apprehension that we’re about to have another horrid sail for the second half of this passage. We’ve poled out the headsail to make the most of the wind from behind.