It was around midnight, as it often is
when things go awry.
We were safely anchored in Te Pana
Inlet, Vavau Tonga. Earlier in the evening
the wind had increased from the south
east, so we let out some more chain as a
precautionary measure and retired for the
night. We had plenty of room around us
and no boat astern. All was well in our
corner of paradise – or so we thought.
A charter sailing catamaran was
anchored to windward of us, that
evening we’d seen the occupants
rowing across to the local restaurant on
the hill, laughing and carrying on.
So back at around midnight we heard
the scream “watch out”, just seconds
before an almighty 'bang.
We awoke with a start, our hearts
pounding and eyes suddenly wide
open. “What the hell was that” we
both enquired of each other virtually
simultaneously. Poking our heads out of
the hatch above our bunk, we saw the
40 foot sailing catamaran previously
anchored ahead of us, now straddled
across our bow – the engine revving
wildly from forward to reverse and
shouts of confusion coming from its
cockpit and bow. “Bloody hell, what are
you doing” we yelled, with some other
words added for effect.
The cat finally managed to wriggle
free and proceeded to cavort around the
bay for about 40 minutes, looking for
somewhere to reanchor. In the dark, in
the tropics with the wind up: perfect!
“Just stay the hell away from us
you idiot” (or words to that effect) we
continued to yell at the troubled skipper
as our emotions took over. We shone
our torches so he would stay away.
“We see you” he screamed over the wind.
“Pity you didn’t before” was our reply.
Anxious minutes ensued as we
sat in our cockpit to ensure they
had anchored well down wind of
us. We had a sneaking suspicion
they were all fairly well lubricated.
The cat finally did reanchor and to
our absolute astonishment they just
continued on partying!38 Februar y 2015high seas
All types go sailing but some types just can't handle their
alcohol and, as Neil Bailey explains, those that can't
usually do not grasp how quickly things can go wrong.
Happier times, with
no other boats to
worry about.Things that go
bump in the night
or should that be ‘bang’?