Summer 2011, W Coast Sweden, Varberg towards Oslo

The previous night was tough. Had a long day, found a perfect anchorage, lots of other boats there, a couple of moorings. Some of the other boats seemed a bit casual about the way they anchored. I did my usual 5 minute routine of gently backing the anchor in, increasing the revs in reverse to ensure it was set. Then I relaxed, had a meal, a drink, turned up the music to drown out the sound of the rising wind. Next think I knew I could see a mast fast approaching - I was dragging! Shot out of the cockpit, dressed in shorts and t-shirt, into a squall of horizontal rain and huge wind, engine started first time, to cries of acclaim from the boat behind me where the couple aboard were standing at the bow, ready to fend me off. Missed them by a couple of feet. Had something of a quandry: needed to steer the boat into the wind, needed to get the anchor up, needed to avoid falling back on to the rocks. Procedure - rush forward, wind up the anchor, rush back, steer a bit, rush forward etc. Eventually got the anchor up with what looked like a hedge attached to it. Meanwhile I was soaked through and cold. The autopilot couldn't cope with the conditions. Had to get some sail up to be able to engage the wind vane to steer the boat for long enough to be able to get to the chart table to work out where we could go, get some clothes on etc. The sail cover was on the main. No longer wished to be in this particular anchorage, and couldn't face the neighbours. I thought it would blow over quickly, but it lasted an hour. Eventually made it to another anchorage. Took 3 attempts before I was happy that the anchor was set, even then not completely happy - some poor holding (like silt) in some of these places. But by then the wind had gone, and it had cleared up, and in the morning it was nice again. The non-slip on the decks rubbed the skin off my knees when I was trying to get the anchor in, had a couple of nice scabs for the next couple of weeks, to remind me.