Anchor Sail Use on Multihulls

[DRS]

1 Does anyone use an anchor sail while on hook to reduce the swing?
2 do they work well?
3 with no back stay could you attach to the topping lift

[cat man do]

What swing?

I always notice those damn monos doing crazy things compared to me, but then I anchor in shallow water anyway, so they are not a problem.

[Tropic Cat]

Are you using a bridle?

[DRS]

Let me explain further. I have never used anchor sail on a mono or on my newly aquired cat. Last anchorage I was in i saw 2 on mono's. Noticed I would swing with the wind sooner / faster than the mono's (not the side to side back and forth but changing with the direction of the wind) was curious to see if the anchor sail would affect that.
Anchor with and without bridle. Bridle is set up for chain but if I need over 100 feet of rode I'm onto my rope. How do you set up a bridle on rope rode?

[Dave852]

Take a short length of line, tie a small bowline on one end and tie the other end to your anchor rode with a rolling hitch. Attach your bridle to the bowline. A cat anchored properly will not sail around on the anchor.

[Randy]

Seems to me you're already being affected by the wind earlier than the monos because of greater freeboard or hull area being a multi. the mono is slower to react to wind changes or is more affected by current.

[DRS]

Thanks Dave I'll give that a try

Randy. That observation is what promted the question. I was really wondering if the sail would have some affect (as the keel of a mono) in slowing the movement. I noticed the cat turns at about the same rate as say a planning hull power boat. Displacement hull power boat slower than cat and mono sail slower still

[ggray]

Use your anchor rode as one leg of the bridle and tie a dockline to the rode with a rolling hitch for the other leg.

[DRS]

thanks ggray. I'll try that one too

[cat man do]

I'm still at a loss as to what this anchor sail is, why I don't have one and if I should get one.

All I can think of is the small bit of sail I have seen on the aft mast of twin masted mono's on very rare occasions while at anchor, but I doubt you are talking of that on a lagoon 38.

[Laidback]

The usual term is "riding sail" from
RIDE AT ANCHOR -
To lie at anchor.
Also, to bend or bear down by main strength and weight; as to, ride down the main tack.



Some boats tend at anchor or on a mooring in an anchorage "to hunt", that is to tack back and forth behind the point of anchoring.



The solution on a ketch is easy, bend on a small sail on the mizzen and adjust the main sheet until the "hunting" stops.

On a sloop or Cat - one can use the main's halyard to lift instead of the topping lift. Adjusting the position on the traveler until the hunting stops

[imagine2frolic]

Cats will sail around when wind, and current are contrary. The lack of wetted surface make us act differently. You can always tie a bucket to the stern if wind, and current are your issue. Other than that I never sail around......i2f

[tami]

from Gavin le Sueur's MULTIHULL SEAMANSHIP:

"Multihull Seamanship Rule: Always anchor with a bridle."

"The bridle arms should be approximately the beam of the multihull and no longer than the length of the yacht. Always have the ability to play out more scope or take the line in. One way of achieving this is to have the bridle arms permanently arranged and spliced together into a single line. This single line is then tied to the anchor line with a rolling hitch finished off with a half hitch as illustrated in the Bridle chapter.

"Anchoring with a bridle is essential for wingmasted multihulls. Lock the wingmast fore and aft where it will act like a normal mast. If the locking device fails to secure the wing mast then any movement will start a mast oscillation. If this occurs the multihull might sail forward and break the anchor free."

[Laidback]

Originally Posted by tami

from Gavin le Sueur's MULTIHULL SEAMANSHIP:

"Multihull Seamanship Rule: Always anchor with a bridle."

"The bridle arms should be approximately the beam of the multihull and no longer than the length of the yacht. Always have the ability to play out more scope or take the line in. One way of achieving this is to have the bridle arms permanently arranged and spliced together into a single line. This single line is then tied to the anchor line with a rolling hitch finished off with a half hitch as illustrated in the Bridle chapter.

"Anchoring with a bridle is essential for wingmasted multihulls. Lock the wingmast fore and aft where it will act like a normal mast. If the locking device fails to secure the wing mast then any movement will start a mast oscillation. If this occurs the multihull might sail forward and break the anchor free."

Are we still on topic? The subject is Anchor or Riding sails - used to correct hunting by some boats when they are at anchor or on a mooring.

[Roy M]

My Searunner 40 always used to sail at anchor when using a short chain and long nylon rode. The bridle helped a lot. Switching to longer chain helped more. Now I'm using all-chain, 1/4" high test. Best yet, but I'd still use a nylon bridle to weather-cock for more stability.