Our supplies were running low and we needed a good supermarket, something that is in limited out in these islands so we decided to return to Vathi. We knew there was a good store there and it would give shelter from the stronger winds that were forecast.

We dropped our lines around midday expecting a F5/6 from the NW which would allow us to hoist a foresail and run down to Vathi with the wind just behind us. Unfortunately the wrong wind had read the 'blow hard' instruction and we found ourselves motor-sailing at 30 degrees to the wind with two reefs in the main into a south westerly blowing 25 knots with the highest gust at 34 knots. It took us a rather bumpy 3 hours to get to shelter in Vathi.

We were able to anchor near to our previous position but in somewhat deeper water. We had 50m of chain out in 12-13m of water but the other boats restricted us from dropping more. We spent the afternoon monitoring the boat in gusty 20 knot plus winds but seemed secure. It's when you relax that the wind gods get you - at around 21.00 hrs just as it was getting dark our 'transits' suddenly looked wrong (transits are fixed points you line-up on the land that enable you to tell if the boat has moved when it shouldn't eg a tree aligned with the edge of a house) and we could tell that a gust had moved us around 10 m towards the rather solid shore of the nearby island.

In the dusk we had to up-anchor and reset, a task made more difficult with the number of other boats anchored around us. Luckily we managed this first time and the anchor seemed to hold, nevertheless Chris sat up until 02.15 hours until the wind abated to make sure there was no repeat. Our ROCNA anchor has performed well overall, this was the second time we have dragged after a good set since we left the UK. We normally find we can set first-time, on only two occasions this year have we had to try more than once to set the anchor.

The stocking up was achieved this morning and the boat now has enough bread/fruit/cheese/cold meats/other food/wine/beer etc to last us a while. It will be a day of catching up on chores, hopefully including a haircut for Chris as the locks are getting a bit long! Carolyn's shearing skills will be put into practice whilst we sit out another windy afternoon/evening.

Main Photo: Wind clouds gather over the large hills surrounding Vathi