mooring

[kms]

Here's the question. You want to moor your boat with two anchors,but no stern anchor, so the boat can stay into the wind but can't swing on a huge radius. How is it done?

kms

[gtod25]

Anchor on one anchor as normal. Dig it in well. (Lets assume the first is the port anchor). Prep the second anchor. If there is wind there should be some yaw (vessel swing in a small arc). Wait until the first anchor is pointing to its maximum angle off the port bow. If no wind just use power. Put the wheel to stbd. and power ahead slowly. The angle of the first anchor to the bow should increase. When you feel it has reached the maximum (you will feel the vessel being pulled to port), drop the stbd. anchor and back down. Balance the scope of both anchors as necessary. QED.

[Slipkiller2]

http://www.pelicanpower.com/abacoguide/bahamianmoor.htm

[sailingdog]

I was going to mention the Bahamian moor...but Slipkiller already did that.

[Plumper]

The problem with the Bahamian moor is that if the wind/current does circles you twist the anchor rhodes around each other making recovery very difficult. If you are going to stay Bahamian moored for a long time it would be advisable to put a trip line on one of the anchors so you can get it up after dropping all the rhode.

Gaz

[paulk]

The twisting together of the anchor rodes in a Bahamian moor can be a hassle, but it's a trade-off for the security of having two anchors down and a reduced swing. It was worth it for us when we anchored one dark night and found in the daylight that if we'd swung 10 feet further, we'd have been hung up on an unlit weir. If you're anchoring, you're probably not planning to stay there so long that the lines get too tangled. Otherwise, you'd pick up a mooring or drop a single, really heavy and solid hook.

[Omatako]

I've anchored this way (Bahamian) many times, never ever knew that it had a name. We learn every day

Andre

[camaraderie]

The other way to "unwind" from a Bahamian moor is to hop in the dinghy and push the stern of the boat around to unwind the twists.

[chucklesR]

Port anchor off the port bow, starboard anchor off the starboard bow, stern anchor off the stern

[sailingdog]

The OP didn't want to use a stern anchor, much less three anchors... And your port bow and starboard bow are separated by enough that you'd have some serious problems if the rodes started to get twisted together.

Originally Posted by chucklesR

Port anchor off the port bow, starboard anchor off the starboard bow, stern anchor off the stern