Slipping anchor (1981)

When I was younger I spent some time as the designated slave labor, er...first mate, aboard a sail boat (a 54 foot schooner ridged ketch if it matters). As a matter of course I slept on deck (if anything went wrong at night I had "watch"). We sailed the South Pacific, mostly around the Kingdom of Tonga.

One night we anchored in probably the best anchorage of the tour, forty feet of water with a sandy bottom. The anchorage's only problem was that it was very narrow and the shelf plunged very swiftly. We arrived early in the afternoon to let the passengers play on the sandy beach while we (er me) fixed a barbecue.

We turned in after sunset and set the evening watch. The night was a crystal clear moonless night. All aboard went to bed (or deck as the case may be) and most slept soundly. At about 6 bells (3:00 A.M.) I suddenly awoke. I looked up to find out why I woke up. As I looked around I noticed that the stars were moving relative to the islands in front of them. Hmmm, stars don't move that fast, neither do islands. I went forward and saw that our anchor line was limp. I went back to the captain's quarters to explain our problem (we were drifting into the Pacific). Using star light alone we sailed back to the anchorage (about 1 hour). When we got back we redropped the anchor. In order to make sure the anchor was set I dove in 40 ft of water and physically set the anchor. Everyone, save me, went back to bed. I baby sat the anchor.

I did not get paid as it were for the job, instead I was given 3 weeks in New Zealand and Australia. Meet lots of great people and had a wonderful time. I look forward to going back sometime.

As a side note, I found out this Christmas that my brother was an environmental consultant for the Sydney Olympics. He spent a few months touring Australia, ah...studying the environment, yeah we'll go with that one.