If you don't know how to anchor... DON'T !!!!!!

[sailingdog]

Of course, the swing radii is partially determined by the depth of where you're anchoring and what scope you're using. If the anchorage changes depth radically, you'll have boats anchored in very different depths...so asking about scope doesn't always answer how large a swinging circle they're going to have.

[Boasun]

By the way! If you are dragging anchor, you are considered to be underway because you are no longer anchored.
This Tibit was brought to you by Been There!!

[deniseO30]

A couple of weeks ago some of the sailboaters in my club went up river to raft up, watch fireworks from the boats. When we got there with my boat I saw it wasn't going to work well by rafting up with 6 boats that were already drifting. So I dropped the hook. Thought things were ok, had a margerita.. (ok 2! ) then later after my friends were feeling no pain we started drifting ???? It seems someone loosend the rode. duh! I just retied it and went back to the helm. I did't see a reason to yell at anyone even though I had become one of "those sailboaters" drifting into a power boat. Of course, the people in the boat I was drifting into just sat there in silence waiting to see if I would actually let my boat hit them. So I can imagine someone somewhere is ranting about me!

[dquack]

Hi Guys,

First of all, I have read several of your posts and you obviously have a wealth of sailing knowwledge and I want you to know that I am aware of that fact. That said:

I guess I am confused even more than I thought. I thought that proper anchoring technique required me to anchor so that no part of my swing circle crossed any part of the swinging circle of the boats around me.
If I anchor in such a way that swinging circles cross, then boats with different windage or underbody shapes could end up hitting each other.

I thought the whole idea of proper anchoring etiquette was to be sure that no one can reach me in any conditions and I can't reach them. If I anchor with overlapping circles, how do I pull up my anchor when the wind or current shifts and now a boat is over my anchor.

By my way of thinking, anchoring where boats can reach me, where my circle overlaps another boat, where I depend on all boats to shift exactly together to keep us from hitting each other, is poor etiquette and dangerous.

Anchoring where no one can hit anyone else without dragging is proper etiquette.

If I am Securely anchored and another boat comes up behind me and anchors within my swinging circle I usually feel that they do not understand anchoring very well and now my boat is at risk if the wind or current shifts.

I had a boat partner once that always pulled up too close to boats already anchored and dropped the hook, and after the little boat swung into the big boat enough times, I finally stopped him from doing that.

Don

[camaraderie]

DQ...Obviously correct IF the harbor conditions permit but in crowded harbors which tend to be where cruisers go...the idea is for everyone's circle to overlap their neighbors but not pose any danger as all the boats will swing in PRETTY MUCH the same manner within a short time despite hull differences. Also obviously...you want to think twice about catamarans when they are gonna be cclose to your circle!
My point was not to contradict your very good normal etiquette DQ...but to point out that MOST popular cruising harbors in season do not allow for that kind of space and that a Bahamian moor in crowded conditions is both dangerous and bad etiquette unless the boats around you are using the same system.

[soulesailor]

Originally Posted by dquack

If I am Securely anchored and another boat comes up behind me and anchors within my swinging circle I usually feel that they do not understand anchoring very well and now my boat is at risk if the wind or current shifts.

Yes, your boat will be at risk. This is why everone in the anchorage should try to anchor the same way. If you are on a smaller swing radius because you are on a bahamian moor, but nobody else is, you won't fall back enough on a current/wind change to give the other guy the room he was expecting.

[sailingdog]

Multihulls often swing differently than monohulls, due to the much shallower drafts and greater windage, which means they are primarily affected by wind and not so much by current—which usually affects monohulls, with their deeper drafts fairly greatly. Avoiding multihulls at anchor is probably a wise idea.

[dquack]

Thanks a lot guys,
I'm really learning here.
I can see your point. I have sailed mostly in the Pacific and Sea of Cortez for the last 15 yrs. Those anchorages are rarely crowded. It honestly never occurred to me that anchoring technique could be different in different areas based on local conditions.

That's a lesson I won't forget. Thanks again,


One question:
Do you take into account the fact that when the wind or tidal current shifts it may trip your anchor and it may drag for a distance before resetting?


Don

[Freesail99]

Avoiding multihulls at anchor is probably a wise idea

Ahhh, the start of a rumor to keep those beautiful anchorages to themselves.

[MIKEMCKEE]

I looked into the web site to search for a boat by using the boats name and it's really is great. I had a dumb XXX a few weeks back who wouldn't move his boat, that I thought was way too close after he anchored way after I had set my hook. I ended up moving because like my ol dad liked to say (you can be dead right). I ended up writing this XXX a nice letter asking him to understand why I asked him to move, since he had arrived at the cove well after I had anchored, and would you belive it he had the nerve to reply to me that he thought that since his boat was bigger he had priorty when he achored. What a load of crap, I couldn't belive what I was reading, I mean this guy really thinks this load of BS. I didn't fire back a E-mail because I really think it wouldn't do me any good even if I did. I'll just remember the XXX and if I see him again I'll take a picture of his boat for everyone to be on the lookout for.

Chief