Will your anchor hold?

Last nights exercise was, for my crew, a chance to practise the evolutions learnt last Sunday in the dark. Darkness has a way of making previously simple and instinctive tasks seem somehow awkward and foreign. That said the crew coped very well, the anchor was set, the salvage pump was rigged and run and a man-over-board was recovered. All very satisfactory!

The highlight for me was spending some time with the superb Jo Bowry delving into her knowledge of where items are stowed on the boat. This is, in a way, basic stuff. But it is also ever so easy to forget. It turns out that Jo is a walking encyclopedia of lifeboat stowage arrangements..........there is nothing she could not put her hands on if you were to ask politely enough! A good student backed up by a good brain.

Will your anchor hold in the storms of life,
When the clouds unfold their wings of strife?
When the strong tides lift and the cables strain,
Will your anchor drift, or firm remain?
(Priscilla J Owens)