After several beers I returned to the boat. I was stowing stuff below when I noticed a dramatic increase in wind. I checked the wind speed and it was at 45 knots! I looked over at Rex’s boat and, alas, she was sideways onto the wind and dragging anchor! A few expletives were expressed! “Pequod” is a CAL 46, could be described as a 15 ton motor cruiser with a lot of windage, and poor visibility from the wheelhouse. I climbed into my inflatable dingy and raced over to the drifting boat, tied the dingy on the stern, then tried to figure out what to do and how to turn on the engine. The boat was almost upon a floating fish platform or fish farm with styrene floats, wood and corrugated iron sheds. By the time I figured out how to start the engine my dingy was sandwiched between “Pequod” and the fishing platform! When I tried to move Pequad forward the dingy flipped upside down and caught on the platform. I was dragging the platform by my dingy – not good. More profanity when I saw my 5 horse power outboard motor upside down in the water! I raced back, (46 feet is a lot of boat) managed to untangle the dingy and put it right way up. In the wind and rain I gingerly moved “Pequod” forward and managed to get away from the platform, without fouling the anchor lines holding the platform in place and with my dingy in tow. During the storm chaos I kept an eye on Sadiqi, noticed several other boats were sliding and having to be re-anchored. The wind and rain had abated a little. I had not managed to raise the anchor on Pequod and was dragging it through the mud until I could find space amongst the other boats to go forward and raise it. I noticed that another smaller fishing platform was following Pequod astern! I managed to raise the anchor and untangle the anchor line for the smaller fishing platform. I was covered in sticky ooze from the anchor chain. Fortunately, Pequod had an electrical anchor windlass. I had lost my sense of humour by this time. I finally managed to find enough space between other boats to drop the anchor. I made sure the anchor was bedded by going astern on the engine. I rowed over to the fishing platform and noticed that one of the sheds had a decided lean. I luckily managed to recover my shoes, fuel container and carpet that had been in the dingy, then rowed back to Sadiqi. I was not game to try and start the outboard after it had it had been drowned. I was busy trying to wash the outboard with fresh water and dry it out when Rex rowed by and asked if I had moved his boat – Jeez you think!. What an adventure.
The next day I thought winter had arrived in Thailand the maximum temp was only 27 degrees Celsius, the wind howled and it rained pretty much all day. It was too wet and windy to do anything on the boat. Fortunately, the winds were not as strong as the day before. Sadiqi’s anchor (B-anchor) dragged only a few meters. The leaning shed on the fishing platform/fish farm that Pequod and attacked the day before blew over during the day.
Thursday was a little dryer. I had the opportunity to take the two stroke outboard motor apart and attempt to resuscitate it. Earlier attempts at starting it had failed. When the carburettor was apart I found that the engine had been full of sea water. The service manual advised; that in the event of submersion the motor should be immediately taken to a Mercury Service centre. Hmm. After a painstaking few hours the outboard was reassembled and ready for a test. It actually started first time, however it sounds like an angry cement mixer. The motor will never be the same again. Rex was conspicuous by his absence. There is a moral to this story and as with this whole adventure I have learned another lesson.
