A Rough Day at Anchor

When we anchor to avoid bad weather we try our best to be tucked away in a sheltered anchorage. Sometimes in Western Australia that can be hard to come by.

Having just lived through two days of really crap weather at anchor, it feels pretty fresh in my mind to write about it.

Charade is what we call a tender boat. She is sensitive and rocks and rolls around if the waves and winds are strong. Imagine a rubber ducky in a washing machine, now imagine sleeping on the rubber ducky during heavy wash cycle!!

Okay maybe it’s not that bad all the time, but it can be. We have had our tea pot fly across the cabin and have to hold onto our plates as we eat off them so they don’t fly into our laps.

Sleeping is a challenge in these conditions, but overtime you get more and more use to it. The noise is what kept me awake at first, the clings, bangs, dings… of random things moving around. You hunt down one noise and then head back to bed and then another noise begins.  It goes on and on like this.

I try my best to sleep, but during these rough nights but Base is on alert and barely sleeps, not because of the noise or rolling… but because there might be a chance that we drag anchor and the alarm goes off. So he sleeps lightly, ready to jump into action at a moments notice. I try to sleep lightly… but I have been known to sleep through an anchor alarm before.

Base putting out a second anchor before a storm hits.

Waking up after a rolly night feels like waking up after a night of partying… but you didn’t get to go out and have fun!

Everything is more challenging when it’s rough. Making tea takes effort. There is no on deck escape when the wind is howling, so we stay down below in the cabin.  Just Base and I in 18 sq feet of space.

It’s days like this that the boat feels small.

We try our best to make the most out of ‘in cabin days’. We play cards, read books, write, make elaborate meals  (if the rolling isn’t too bad), and watch movies. We have mandatory dance parties, (even if the last thing you feel like doing is dancing) if someone calls dance party the other person has to join in for a whole song. This is a great way to burn off some energy and is a good pick me up.

Cabin fever starts to set in between 48 and 72 hours in the cabin without getting off the boat. That is when costumes come out and rum gets drunk.

We don’t talk too much during these cooped up times. We stick to ourselves and I take a lot of time to journal and write. We try not to step on each others toes both literally and figuratively. But inevitably there will be times. What would you do in 18 sq feet of space that you can’t leave. Well you go silent…. Or you get over it very quickly. Mostly, if we had an argument we would move past it and let it go.

Possibly the best way to test a new marriage is to spend 7 months in a tiny floating home with circumstances well out of your control. Hahaha.

A pick me up – Big breakfast of coconut banana pancakes and hand ground coffee!

We didn’t kill each other and we still like each other. So I think we did ok. Humor helps too. Base is always out to make me laugh and he usually does.

Days stuck with Bad weather while at anchor stretch you in many ways… let’s just called it Character Building.

Now a day like this at Anchor is completely different from one when we are sailing.

Here is a day in the life of Salty Times when we are Day Sailing.

xx

Jamie