Stern Tied

We left Ganges at 9:35am with our destination being Wallace Island.  Skylar is now doing a great job of preparing the boat to dock and putting all lines and fenders away when leaving.  Its nice having another able crewmember!

We headed north up Trincomali Channel running almost 8 knots.  Wallace Island his two main anchorages, Conover Cove and Princess Cove.  Conover has a small dock (we have stayed there before) and some anchorage space.  Princess only has a dingy dock so you have to anchor.  This island used to be owned by a famous photographer who first discovered Marilyn Monroe.   The first anchorage we came to was Conover Cove.  We pulled in and looked around but the dock was full and not much more room to anchor.  We decided to keep going to Princess Cove because we have never stayed there before and thought it would be fun to try it out.  At 11:50pm and 12.18 nautical miles traveled we arrived in Princess Cove.

Both of these coves are extremely small and require you to stern tie when anchoring.  Stern tying is a technique used to keep you from swinging on anchor.  You drop your anchor then back your boat up toward land setting your anchor in the process.  Then you grab a long line, jump in your dingy with one end of the line and head for land.  At many places where stern tying is routine there will be metal eyes bolted into the rocks along the shoreline.  These eyes are used to loop your line through and take it back to your boat.  When its all said and done you have one line going from your boat to shore, through the eye then back to your boat.  This allows you to adjust how much tension you have on your anchor and makes for an easy get away when its time to leave.  With this technique a lot more boats can fit in a small anchorage without the risk of swinging into each other.

It can be tricky to complete the whole process.  Preparation is important and we still have some kinks to work out before we have it down.  Today things went pretty smooth though anchoring and stern tying in Princess Cove.

Skylar took the Kyak out for some fishing in the cove while Julie, Ava and I relaxed on the sun deck.  

Trip Log 179.45 nautical miles

All the boats lined up and stern tied

Our boat stern tied to shore

This guy came in looking for a spot to anchor.  Is that
underwear he is wearing?

Sunset from Wallace Island