sorayacat

Still in patong, anchored in the same spot without moving for 4 weeks.
Last night a thunder storm came through, the wind changed direction 180* instantly.
We were blown straight over the top of our anchor, the boat accelerating in the 35-40kts of wind.
When the chain snatched tight it ripped the anchor straight out
Because it was set 180* to the new forces.
We were unaware that this was happening till 10min later when I noticed the anchor alarm on my iPad was flashing. On checking the boat had formed a rough circle with the 5 days of tracks recorded, then one track straight across the circle & out the other side & almost off the screen.
Looking around confirmed it.
This wind hit us with no warning just instant 35-40 kts
Time to pull up the anchor & move, right in the middle of the storm.
I have to drive the boat forwards to put slack in the chain, while Soraya is on the foredeck operating the winch & directing me.
Anyway the anchor came up without problems.
Piloted Soraya to a new location with more room & started to put the anchor down again. But this time the chain counter has stopped working so I don't know how much I have out ???

End up to close to another boat so now we start all over again.

Second time around all is ok, by now the worst of the storm is over.
This took the best part of an hour to accomplish.

It's now the next day

Time to investigate why the chain counter isn't working.
This is an important piece of equipment.
The amount of chain out is according to the depth & described by a ratio of depth to chain out typically 3-10 x the depth in this case about 8 to 1 .
The higher the ratio the more holding power. Eg 8 or 10 to 1
Is generally used for storm conditions.

The drum that the chain runs over (called a gypsy) has a magnet in one side & every time round it is counted.

This had completely rusted away , hence no counting.

The mission now to find a replacement of a particular size ????
2 hrs of shopping around turned up one slightly bigger.

Now it's time to machine a new hole because there is not room to make the old one larger.

This is already to long so.

The magnet is epoxied in place on the gypsy
Winch reassembled & ready for the final test when the epoxy has cured.
I'm 99.9% sure the repairs are complete.

Life goes on all of us are good
Having a few storms the last week
Thunder storms are fairly mild wind typically 25-30kts