'Anchorphobic'.

Hello, my name is Al and I am anchorphobe.

We have never dropped Awaitea's anchor.

For this reason our overnight destinations are very limited in this harbour, with only a few pinkies* available to pick up. I was soon to discover that all my ugly traits would rear their heads again whilst attempting to anchor -

swearing
panic
yelling
panic

(not to mention the look of complete and total fear).

You see, the last time we anchored was on a 31 ft fibreglass charter boat in the Whitsundays.The first few times I convinced myself that we were still moving whilst at anchor, and obsessed about watching the distances between other yachts and ourselves -

(all night).

We got it in the end, and ended up sleeping (a bit), but a 31ft glassy is a LOT lighter than a 50ft steely.

But that is what we own, and we NEED to be confident anchorers. So, with our sailor savy friends on board last Sunday, we were (rightly) told to suck it up and give it a go! Which we did.

On Sydney Harbour.

On a Sunday.

The busiest bloody boating day of the week.

And at a very crowded spot beneath the zoo.

It all happened so quickly, Nick said 'righto', xave flicked the switch, and suddenly the anchorage was filled with the sounds of an almighty PIGGERY!!! The anchor gear hadn't been used for such a long time that it squealed excruciatingly loudly. We don't know how much chain we let out as our chain is new and we haven't marked the metres yet. Anyway, I was told to take the helm whilst Xave and Nick frigged around trying to unjam the jammed something or other. (This is when I learnt of my ugly traits resurfacing). We were floating very close to the boat behind us, the boat beside us, indeed all the boats were edging in on us, so typically I started FREAKING OUT.

Of course I'm over exaggerating (really?!), but you get the gist.

In the meantime, about 3 other boats had anchored heartbreakingly simply and beautifully (without fanfare, without fear, without raised voices from panic stricken wives) in the spot where we had intended to 'end up' and a pinkie had suddenly become available anyway so we hauled anchor and took it.

We did however have a wonderful afternoon despite all my hysteria, but WE STILL HAVE NOT SUCCESSFULLY ANCHORED OUR GIRL.

As they say, practice makes perfect. Just not on a Sunday, beneath the zoo, in Sydney harbour.


*public mooring.