Big scare: Muring buoy went on drift at night together with Hallberg-Rassy 26

Mr Schlotz-Pissarek, why do you take mooring buoys with you? ...

I'd like to know that too! They don't really fit on board. But it wasn't planned to drift about half a mile and then run aground somewhere on a flat in the middle of the night.

What has happened?

We had moored at a mooring buoy east of Bågø. The wind picked up at night and shifted. It got a bit rough. We could hardly sleep and I checked the lines several times. When I finally fell asleep, I was woken by strange bumps and the boat rumbled in a strange way. At first I thought my wife was jumping around on deck and asked out loud what she was doing. She replied that she was lying in her bunk. That's when I knew something was wrong. I went out and saw the buoy. The chain was hanging from it and our lines were secure, only one was hanging strangely under the hull. But the anchor lights of the other boats that had been moored next to us were very far away. Our boat was lying slightly on its side and hit the bottom with every wave.

How did you react?

I untied the lines and tried to simply motor away, which didn't work at first. We then asked Lyngby Radio for help. After a while, we got free on our own and were able to set off. I didn't want to just leave the buoy there - I didn't want anyone to accidentally tie up to it. But my wife didn't think it was a good idea to take it with us in our 26-foot boat. She was probably right.

That must have been a big scare?

Oh yes! I realised how nervous I was when I couldn't give Lyngby Radio my own phone number. It got better when we were able to sail out in the Little Belt again. Fortunately, everything had remained intact. Despite the night and the six-strong wind, it was good to have the boat completely under control again. We were able to sail relaxed into our home harbour of Wackerballig.

What happened to the travelling buoy?

We informed the Dansk Sejlunion the very next morning. I don't know if the mooring buoy is back in place now. But I would be very interested to know!

Are you still mooring at the mooring buoys?

I like these buoys and think it's a great service that they exist! It's so easy to tie up to them. You've never heard of them travelling. But I would approach it with, let's say, a healthy suspicion and at least think about the wind and weather conditions in which I would moor there. I will probably also use the anchor alarm more often in future to recognise such situations earlier.