Dragging anchor onto the rocks of Spitsbergen!

It looked like a peaceful anchorage which we shared with one other yacht (above).

This was Virgohamna, which has a remarkable history. For it was from this sheltered bay, towards the north-west of the Svalbard archipelago, that several attempts were made to reach the North Pole by balloon.  One was the incredible 1898 expedition by Swedish engineer S. A.  Andree in which all aeronauts died under mysterious circumstances. The site is protected and it is necessary to get permission from the Governor of Svalbard to land.

I was looking forward to seeing the remains of this - and other - expeditions, but it was not to be. For one, I was feeling pretty sick by this point and for another the weather turned for the worst.

From gentle 10 knots all of sudden the wind veered and strengthened, maybe some sort of katabatic wind. Going ashore on the inflatable was a challenge and so some (e.g. me) were left on the boat as the skipper took the mate (with the gun) ashore as a first run.

While they and the inflatable were away we looked over at the other yacht and to our horror saw that they had dragged their anchor across the bay onto the rocks. They were all too aware of it and came on deck to do the international distress signs of repeatedly raising and lowering hands on either side. Then the VHF sprang to life on Ch16 with urgent calls for assistance.

It was a difficult moment as actually there was very little we could do apart from signal to the skipper that rather than coming back to us he should head over to them, which he did.

By now the mast was clearly leaning to one side and things were looking a bit grim.

However it turned out that the skipper had been talking via VHF to the Governor of Svalbard's support ship overnight which meant it wasn't that far away. So he was able to call them up and, yes, indeed, they were in range and could send a fast RIB to assist.

There was an anxious wait for it, but then an orange dot appeared in a ball of spray that approached and spotted us. It was able to get a tow line on the other boat and slowly drag them back to safe waters:

In the end nothing was seriously damaged and the yacht could continue on its way. Note that I've edited the photos to remove their name.

The previous post noted the downside the Svalbard's stream of cruise ships and yachts, but this incident showed the positive. Even when things were really bad, help was on hand. In Greenland this could have been more serious, though things could have been done (e.g. use the inflatables to pull off or kedge off).

As to me, my lurgy hit bad so I retired to my bunk while the others explored ashore at Virgohamna and the relics of adventurers a hundred years ago...