Most Sailors Can't Anchor Properly!

[sailorboy1]

The reason most boats can't anchor properly is because by far most boaters don't read CF.

[Pelagic]

I finally figured out why the problem with Anchoring?..

Sailors are by nature
Drifters!...[emoji4]

[tarian]

Great debate people, and as always hugh difference of opinions, the most I get from this thread is you need years of experiences to learn to anchor properly , but why does this not count to other aspects of our lifes I have seen car drivers with many years of experience actually being the worst out there , and the other scale I passed my test 2 weeks later drove 4000 miles around Europe opposite side of the road , in an old VW camper chasing waves for 3 months , no accidents or issues , although a different scenario it justifies the fact that it is not experience that makes a good anchor dropper , it is a thoughtful, considerate , and knowledgeable person , all does not need experience , although this can help if you fail to meet the other criteria.

[barnakiel]

This must depend on where you anchor.


I find most sailors who anchor, anchor pretty well.


Those who do not anchor (charter boats, marina queens, etc) do not anchor well.


Then again, that's about what we expect in any walk of life.



Experience comes from doing something often enough and making mistakes.


b.

[tarian]

1.Knowlwedge
facts, information, and skills acquired through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject.

Yes I agree experience and knowledge i.e the understanding of the anchor process and the angles and scope needed to play out and radius prediction are part of knowledge , when dropping the anchor and reversing and getting a feel for the hold is experience.
so one could argue that educating those that don't know might help or just getting away from them

[Suijin]

Originally Posted by Richard5

That's the kind of thing a person tells themself to cover for their own ignorance or lack of experience. It belongs right there with, 'two kinds of sailors, those who have run aground and those who lie about it'.

But wait...the saying about going aground is true lol.

I’m pretty conservative about anchoring based on an experience when I was 19. We were 5 kids sailing through the Grenadines in 1979 and I forget precisely where it was but a harbor protected by a good sized island, the harbor open at both ends and curved like a ”C”. We arrived and dropped anchor a respectful distance at the back of the pack.

Middle of the night there is s huge crash and scrambling on deck we find ourselves pinned broadside to another boat, our hard dinghy in between and soon to be reduced back to chopped strand. The current was ripping and we were finally able to get off by tying our rode to a fender and letting it go. Dinghy survived but there was considerable cosmetic damage to both boats.

We had failed to notice when we arrived that everyone was anchored bow and stern. When the current, which was considerable, changed we swung right into the boat ahead of us. To this day we still can’t figure out how we did not notice how everyone was anchored. It was just careless.

A bunch of years ago I totaled a car at night hitting a deer that almost seemed dropped by aliens in front of me it was so unavoidable. I now see deer lurking behind every tree when driving after dark. That anchoring experience was my maritime equivalent of hitting a deer.

I arrived at Block Island yesterday to an anchorage with 200 boats in it, packed like sardines. Have seen some follies already, a few from obviously experienced cruisers, mostly related to site selection and poor communication between now and helm. If the wind picks up I’m outta here...

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by Richard5

That's the kind of thing a person tells themself to cover for their own ignorance or lack of experience. It belongs right there with, 'two kinds of sailors, those who have run aground and those who lie about it'.

The truth is we have all started somewhere but the implication is all are equal. Clearly that is not the case. So let's be honest about it. Starting small, in some backwater, in the back bay, or what have you, is vastly different than one who drops his dough to buy, say a 30' sloop to be taken upon open waters.

So not everyone was blessed to start as a kid. But there is no excuse to bypass the years to build the experience. That is the crux of the matter; people wanting to jump right in, to jump to a level which exceeds their ability.

The problem is that the only way to learn the skill and etiquette of anchoring in an anchorage with other boats is, well, to anchor in an anchorage with other boats.


Starting out in a Puddle Duck Racer when you're 9 years old and moving up 3 feet at a time isn't going to teach you squat, because smaller boats, if they are anchored at all, are anchored for fishing, diving, lunch, a swim, etc., away from other boats, for short periods of time, and with someone aboard to adjust for conditions.

[sagablu]

Originally Posted by Jan Huisman

You are absolutely right. It is impossible to change all these ignorant sailors. Yet I try to approach this in a positive way. I have just finished an article for our club magazine on anchoring, the why, the how, the benefits and dangers. It may help our club members to anchor more often and better.

They may come to appreciate the quite anchor places instead of the crowded marinas.
Good luck from The Netherlands

Would it be ok to post your article here to help educate those who could use the help. No me, I am asking for a friend of course!

[Mike OReilly]

As with most things with cruising, anchoring is neither 'rocket science', nor is it always obvious or easy. Most people can get pretty good at it with a little knowledge and experience. Everyone is different though, so how long this skill-development process takes is different, but I certainly don't think it requires years (not for most people anyway).

I find that most cruisers do anchor pretty well most of the time. But as Barn says, maybe this has to do with my location -- bad anchorers wouldn't last long around here.

[Lihuedooley77]

great advice on the forum , and unfortunately agree that real sailors and semanship is fading into the past, like some of us ( Well like myself ) .

We use what feels good to us, and will not have us the cause of playing bumper boats at 2 am.

We use 5 to 1 scope in calm to moderate conditions, and 7 to 1 scope in a blow.

We check the cruising guides, or coast pilot or charts for bottom quality, and the recommended anchoring method.

The first boat in usually determines on how others should anchor. Not sure that applies in this day and age due to lack of sailing and anchoring knowledge.

We pay close attention to the weather, wind, seas, forecasts, bottom quality etc. If it an open roadstead to wind and seas we go to plan B.

We enter the anchorage or mooring field slowly, with a bow watch . Anchor or mooring lines (double bridles all set and ready.

We look to find a place to anchor that we and the other vessels will have plenty of swing room.

We DO NOT ANCHOR IN MOORING FIELDS.

We DO NOT, anchor on the bows of other vessels when close to shore. We would wind up over their anchor and chain /rode and when backing down wind, our vessel would wind up over the top of their anchor and line. Problem for them trying to haul up on their anchor.

This seems to work for us. Other boats anchored inside, we will look for two vessels anchored abeam of each other with plenty of swing room . I draw an imaginary line across the water between their sterns.

I will lay out our bow anchor just a bit downwind from that line. Pay out our anchor with proper scope. We will have plenty of swing room, and no crossed anchor lines, or snagging.

I note our bearings to land marks and write them on the chart and in the log.

If those bearings change, we are dragging.

Also, we stay on board for a while to make sure that we are not dragging, and neither are our neighbors.

We also flake the main, silence the halyards by securing them away from the mast.

From what we see bare boating, almost no one does this. Clang, clang, growelll.

Mooring fields.

I will take a look at the open moorings in relation to the type of vessel and crew up wind or near by. If they are seagoing condo maximals on a water world party cruise, we stand clear and find a more peaceful location.

Works out pretty well.

Generally no major problems any place, if we avoid them in the first place.

Actually, I do have to confess.....if we are in harbors with moorings, we pick one up and sleep well, and do not have to worry about anchors dragging or boats swinging into each other.

And that includes when we are ashore .

I do understand that circumstances can be very different in anchorages with poor holding ground, and unskilled boater,s power or sail, who come into the harbor after our vessel is anchored.

Guess it comes down to all of us doing our best, having respect for others, and doing what ever it takes to avoid bumper boats and damage occurring,

Now, i is time for a post sailing rum, and good company.'

[Barbaria]

Could we do it like this? (Sorry for the bad drawing)

[Montanan]

What I find of difficulty sometimes is discerning where someone else's anchor is set and where their rode is when their vessel or vessels do not have tension on their anchor rode so as to be able to visualize the rode and hence the direction of their set. On a calm night in a crowded anchorage it can be quite difficult to discern proper spacing of center points and swing, especially when the vessels are pointed in all directions and when there is a mixing of front and aft anchored vessels with just single anchored vessels.

It can be embarrassing and become challenging to retrieve when one sets over another vessels rode.

When someone is on their vessel and on deck one can usually ask them where their rode / anchor is and gain their guidance as to where to place yours, [by way of example they can pull on their rode to apply tension to see the direction, but if they are not on-board or in earshot then one can easily inadvertently misplace your set with according issues when boats swing and the rode comes under tension.

I have had boats motor over my line and have had entanglements. I have sailed over a rode and pulled it with my keel but have not had a rode wrapped around the propeller or propeller shaft, [Yet! I should add.] And yes boats do on occasion drag, they bump hulls and hook and upset each other's rodes and anchors which then become a raft of dragging vessels, until one or more of the anchors reset and bind the group into an impromptu party gathering.

But heck with the right attitude is can be nice to bump into someone new, or into an old acquaintance. Well just so long as the bump is gentle.

When stuff like that happens it just needs to be worked out, calmly.

One just wants circles next to circles but not overlapping circles. Perhaps someone should come up with a universal anchoring app whereby each boat's anchor and rode scope is GPS located and displayed real time. Any cruisers out there that could code such?

[tarian]

Perhaps someone should come up with a universal anchoring app whereby each boat's anchor and rode scope is GPS located and displayed real time. Any cruisers out there that could code such?

Now that is a genius plan maybe an app that picks up AIS data and uses this for anchor so you can see every ones anchor placement ,or they enter how much rode they have out their anchor gps position with the universal app , as said above,allowing everyone to insert their data and which could be downloaded to others app to see
yup not everyone will comply, but think if half did in a busy anchorage then your half way there

[Montanan]

Originally Posted by Barbaria

Could we do it like this? (Sorry for the bad drawing)

Floats above anchors have advantages and disadvantages. They do show where the anchor is [below] and they can be used as retrieval aides. But they also make for more objects upon which one can run over. A lighted float above the anchor provides for visibility at night but can be confusing as to navigation. Stringing a set of lights [LEDs] that float or are suspended between the boat and the anchor float certainly would make for clarity of where one's rode is but would not be able to be kept as taught as the rode else it would break under the tension of the pull of the vessel. A floating string of lights could easily become entangled on the propeller / rudder / keel of the boat it is attached to as the boat floats about the anchor when the lighted string is not under tension. Keeping a string of lights working in adverse conductive environment in the water / waves, tension, and providing for the electricity would be problematic, but that is why one would use LEDs to minimize power drain. The string of lights would be another line to have someone run into and over and make for quite the entanglement. The anchorage would be well lighted with lots of strings of lights; beauty being in the eyes of the beholder on that and I could see boats trying to out do each other with the types of lights, colored, blinking in sequence, random colors, strobing, sending out Morse Code messages, etc. heck Christmas all over again.

[Tornadosailing]

Just got back from Abaco last week. Spent one night on Green Turtle Cay. We got there earlier than most, and grabbed the mooring ball as far in the corner as we could get. Then we sat back and watched the boat show.

The rest of the boats coming in that night were bareboat charters, I believe all were from Dream Yacht Charter. The star of the show was a Lagoon 52. The guy had no idea what the term "part throttle" means. He tried and failed to hook up to two different mooring balls. Then he picked up someone's private mooring ball that was clearly intended for a much smaller boat. Then he proceeded to back down on this poor little mooring at full throttle until he dragged it back almost to the nearby dock. Clearly that won't do, so he unhooks from the now re-positioned private mooring, and tries another. And another. When he finally gets on a rental mooring ball, he called the owner of the mooring on the VHF to let them know he was there, and asks if the three other boats he has coming behind can just raft up on the one mooring ball. Obviously the answer was no. When the other three boats arrive and get their own mooring, the owner of the dive shop went out to collect the $20 nightly rental fee from each boat. They told him the guy on the 52 was the ring leader, and he has all the money, and he just went into town. He would have to come out to collect in the morning.

I haven't had a boat show that good in a very long time.