Christian Cruising Connection (3ceas)

We were anchored in the bay at Curieuse Island in the Seychelles.

A cyclone was going over the top of Madagascar and the winds in the Seychelles were NW gusting up to 35 kn. The anchor was holding and had been for a few hours and we had dived on it to make sure it was properly dug in.

A friend of mine, one of the best skippers I know, who was skippering a 56′ charter cat came and anchored in front of us. in the early afternoon. ”He knows what he is doing” I thought to myself, so I was not concerned.

I happily went to bed without any concerns.

At 00h30 a voice woke me up. “Gunter is going to drag” it said.

I quickly rushed on deck. the wind was no stronger and all the boats were the same as when I went to bed. No one else in the anchorage was awake

I stood on the foredeck and watched, getting slowly colder in the wind. “I must have been mistaken” I muttered to myself but it was an audible voice, at least it was to me.

I turned to go back aft and as I did so the wind came through with an extra shreik. I knew before I turned round that the boat in front had started to drag.

“Gunter, you are dragging” I yelled on the top of my voice. I kept yelling for a minute or two as the boats got closer and the hatches on my boat flew open and the owner and his friends appeared.

Gunter came on deck and started his motors and put them in gear. By this time there was only fender space between the two boats.

Thier dinghy line fouled a prop and it cut thier dinghy loose. by this time they had managed to turn and pass us and managed to avoid the other boats in the crowded anchorage and were anchoring at the back of the fleet.

I launched our dinghy and retrieved thier dinghy for them.

“You were on deck waiting for him to drag” the owner remarked when I got back ” How did you know”

“God told me” I replied and went back to bed.