We spent the last 3 weeks in a little side bay of Spanish waters that is quite protected from wind and swell, but experiences gusts from unpredictable directions, so most boats have either a stern anchor, or a line ashore to keep them from swinging against each other or the shore. While our engine didn’t work we had 3 anchors out which kept us in a stable position.
On Friday we took the mechanics for a test run around the bay (with the turbo now running again Pitufa does well over 8 eight knots 
) and anchored then with just one anchor (free swinging in order to be able to leave anytime without a big hassle towards Columbia). That worked well on Saturday (unusually calm conditions), but this morning, right when we were about to go out hiking with friends, everything packed and ready to go we had the feeling that Pitufa was blown too close to the shore.
Safety must always come first, so we dropped the rucksack and the hiking sandals, got up the anchor and dropped it a bit further away from shore. Waited for the next gust–shit. Again too close to shore. Got up the anchor again, dropped it a bit further out. Shit. Too close to the neighbouring boat. Got up the anchor again and dropped it at the entrance of the bay. We’re safe now, but no longer very comfortable in the howling wind and waves building up across Spanish Waters. Doesn’t matter–we’re leaving on Tuesday anyway, the grib files predict fair winds for Wednesday and Thursday. Got under deck, looked at the new grib file. Shit. They’ve changed the forecast to strong winds throughout next week.
