11th August 2023 Friday
It certainly now looks like a long stay in Allen Bay. Will was dropped ashore to walk to the Narwhal Inn for weather and ice data while we carried out various boat tasks. I drew the lucky straw with some interior decorating and blacking the stove whilst Arthur and Dan grafted outside in the bitter wind.
Arthur made a splendid cabbage soup with noodles to warm us up. Will returned with some encouraging news about the ice but sadly grim news about the weather. It was already blowing a force 6 and was basically liable to remain that way or stronger until Thursday next week.
It was decided to double up the anchors by adding a second 35 kg Fisherman’s to the one already deployed. This involved motoring into the wind while the anchor was raised and the new anchor shackled and moused in place. The new anchor with 10 m of 1/2″ chain is then manually heaved over the side whilst trying to hold the boat into the wind under power.
The boat turns easier to starboard but takes a bit of power to turn to port. We re-anchored in 7 m but drifted back into just shy of 5 m and set an alarm for 4.5 m (it was low water). Last night a fair bit of ice entered the bay with bits knocking gently on the boat. We hope more ice doesn’t drift our way whilst we shelter in the bay.
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