Anchoring

hamiam · #1 (**permalink**) 07-01-2004

Had an interesting experience last weekend while sleeping on my boat on the mooring in Three Mile Harbor which is in East Hampton, NY. Winds were forecast to be out of the North at around 10 knots. I was awoken at 2am to the sound of the wind HOWLING. I found out later it was gusting to 35+ knots. I went on deck to check my bridle and, low and behold a 40'' Tartan and another 37'' sailboat were dragging anchor off my port bow. Through using my flashlight and screaming at the top of my lungs, I was able to wake someone on the boats as they dragged by me. The point of my story is two fold: 1. The NOAA is not always right. 2. If your going to raft up for the night each boat shud have her own anchor. By sheer luck these guys missed hitting me by mere feet.

GordMay · #2 (**permalink**) 07-02-2004

3. We''ve just discovered a reason for the "Sound-Making" device the USCG demands we carry.

hamiam · #3 (**permalink**) 07-02-2004

Oh, yes, my neighbor was using his airhorn liberally. Mine was below and I was fending off the boats.

mdougan · #4 (**permalink**) 07-12-2004

throw a bumper down if you want to fend off, but don''t get in the way yourself... a woman was recently crushed to death when she tried to fend off a boat dragging into theirs... you can replace a boat.

hamiam · #5 (**permalink**) 07-14-2004

Thanks for the advice but the point of my post was to the idiots out there who fail to put down enough rode, fail to set an anchor alarm on their gps, and fail to set anchor(s) of an appropriate size. They risk not only property damage but injury.

maxcontax · #6 (**permalink**) 07-16-2004

any idea what sort of bottom you were in? anchor type or scope set? just curious. Anchoring seems to be such a big hairy deal but when you get a little further into what happened, more times than not it has to do with the anchor set than the weather.

thanks, Max

hamiam · #7 (**permalink**) 07-19-2004

Me? Im on a mooring. I havent moved an inch. My point, which seems totally lost, is that if one of going to anchor out it is good seamanship to: 1. if you have the room, you need to layout more scope than, say, if its daylight and you are awake. Anticipate changing in wind direction and strength. 2. Each boat shud have her own anchor out 3. Set an anchor alarm on your GPS. 4. Get up once in a while at night and check your position.

mdougan · #8 (**permalink**) 07-19-2004

If you just want us to nod our heads in agreement about how big of idiots these "other" boaters are, great! No contest on that... however, I think you missed my point... by attempting to fend off several tons of other boats you or your crew could have been seriously injured, and perhaps someone would have written a post about what an idiot you were for trying...

The best advice I can give is to sail like you''re driving a car in New Jersey... expect the other person to make every conceivable wrong move... and then plan accordingly... sure, it would be great if everyone did all the right things all the time, but it''s just not going to happen.

jbanta · #9 (**permalink**) 07-19-2004

I think sailing like you drive is a good idea. When I am convinced that ALL the others drivers see me. They know my intentions 100%. Thing is they all WANT to kill me....

Billpjr · #10 (**permalink**) 08-04-2004

I''ve had the same thing happen at 2am and used a hand held search light to wake up the offending captians. Lighting up their cabins in the middle of the night does wonders.