30 May 2009 - rough Silva Bay

Pretty scary here...wind changed from almost dead calm to 25 knots blowing through the crowded anchorage. All the 'permanent' structures suddenly make strange holding patterns on the water. Where to anchor? And all these boats with nowhere else to go?
Last night, one sailboat snugged in behind me, even closer to the shoals and rocks - and held fine.
One 40 foot powercruiser anchored beside me (I was not on deck to see arrival) and owners had disappeared into the bowels of their vessel to do whatever...
One 80 foot long, and 2 stories high gin palace with two ancients aboard dropped anchor amongst the mess and immediately got into trouble - even before the wind started. Lots of explosive noises from the engine, and huge black clouds rising from the exhaust. Almost looked like fire aboard...anchor winch doing overtime!
After some worrying ups and downs of anchor, they finally parked the monster in the middle of the narrow fairway leading into the Bay - and right in the pass for the strong predicted winds...
Overnight, the powerboat that had anchored beside me dragged and drifted towards rocks quite speedily, wind by now pretty roaring. Owners came up and - not without difficulty - got out of their spot and headed towards a dock in the marina.
I sat in my cockpit for a while, dressed in woollies and covered with a sleeping bag, but nothing untoward happened - I was holding my ground, 100 feet of chain out on my 35 pound Bruce anchor.
This morning, Saturday, it is still blowing and howling, but now - at last - one can see!
One newly arrived large sailboat, singlehanded, was surveying the anchorage, and the Captain just said one word: 'Awful' when he motored past me, referring to the deplorable number of obstructions.
Just then Millennium escaped being run over by another huge power cruiser 'Champlain', maybe 60 feet long and half as high, whose 20 foot 'dinghy' was dragging sideways behind his broad stern. He had been anchored in an open part of the bay overnight, and obviously dragged, and now made frightening moves to anchor somewhere else, like 50 feet in front of me. The wind pushed this mountain closer and closer. There was not much missing and I could have touched his broadside from my bow. Driver was not paying attention....I had to do some unladylike shouting, as a collision with that huge heap of fiberglass would have spelt Millie's certain demise. It was a little too close.
The single handed sailor, previously mentioned, motored close, and said, 'Do you know what he is doing?'
I answered, 'It does not seem that he knows himself, I would not even dare a second guess...'
All for the best, power cruiser docked somewhere, sailboat tucked himself into a rather challenging spot - hats off to him.
I just hope that I keep holding until the wind abates - predicted to last another 24 hours.
Time to read and contemplate...
Sun is shining brilliantly.