Anchoring By The Stern

[kmacdonald]

Read the last sentence. Anchor by stern | Ocean Brake

[Tetepare]

"The wild and destructive motion shown in Fig. 1 is caused by a form of dynamic instability which is now well understood. Similar unfortunate behavior was experienced on early aircraft designed to fly at high speed."


I'm going to have a talk with United.

[kmacdonald]

Originally Posted by Tetepare

"The wild and destructive motion shown in Fig. 1 is caused by a form of dynamic instability which is now well understood. Similar unfortunate behavior was experienced on early aircraft designed to fly at high speed."


I'm going to have a talk with United.

Yep. Unfortunately the boating community is unwilling or unable to accept facts and science. Wives tales are hard to break. I guess they think the next hurricane will be different.

[CaptTom]

Does anyone actually DO this? What are the pitfalls?

I'm not questioning the overall theory, for certain hull designs. What I'm curious about is whether there are other issues. Like shipping more water into the cockpit over the stern, or the fact that just about everything on a boat is designed to shed water aft - from hatches and ports to the little clamshells that cover wiring penetrations.

[Cotemar]

It makes a lot of sense, but most boats are not properly setup for stern anchor/mooring.

It maybe the right thing to do when you leave the boat, but would really suck when your on the boat.

[GordMay]

➥ Jordan Series Drogue - Mooring and Anchoring

➥ http://www.jordanseriesdrogue.com/pd...ordan52006.pdf

Counterpoint by Tom Neal:
“... The technique described by Donald Jordan reflects a great deal of thought, study and effort in finding a better way for boats to survive storms at anchor or on a mooring. Sailing back and forth on an anchor or mooring line, from one side to another, and jerking up short on the end of the swing produces stress on gear and can result in serious chafing and gear failure, especially if proper preparations haven’t been made.

But while stern mooring/anchoring may in theory be the best solution for a few boats in limited circumstances, it isn’t, in my opinion, the best method for most boats and most circumstances, especially storms and hurricanes...”

➥ Pro/Con - Should you anchor from the stern in a storm? | Soundings Online

[sailnow2011]

Best practice would be a strong bow anchor, with twin stern anchors. The stern anchors would have to be placed at about 120degrees to each other. When the wind shifts you simply move from tight on one anchor to the other anchor. The wind only blows in 3 directions in a hurricane.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by kmacdonald

... A magazine that relies on its readership for profit would never publish anything supporting something as controversial as "anchoring by the stern" ...

Apparently; “Soundings” first article in this series was by Don Jordan (tho the link to it in the Counterpoint article is dead).
If the subject is controversial, then there must be (at least) two sides to the issue. You presented one, and I another. Where's the shame in that?

[Tetepare]

This should be easy enough to test.

Find a good anchorage that does get wave, and when a big roll comes in, try it out.

Some boats may fare better than others. I can say with certainty that in a 5' breaking swell, an R Class boat anchored from the stern won't last long. How about a 30' Beneteau with sugar scoop transom? Will the wave roll in and bust through the hatch to flood the interior? How about a Catalina 30? With a closed transom it would take a breaking wave to get into the cockpit, but if it did, and filled the cockpit, I don't think the boat could shed water fast enough to keep the next wave from swamping the boat.

Who wants to try this first?

[kmacdonald]

Originally Posted by sailnow2011

Best practice would be a strong bow anchor, with twin stern anchors. The stern anchors would have to be placed at about 120degrees to each other. When the wind shifts you simply move from tight on one anchor to the other anchor. The wind only blows in 3 directions in a hurricane.

Really????? A digital wind shift of sorts.

[kmacdonald]

Originally Posted by boatman61

So practice away.. a dinghy with a lid is likely to fare better with this method than my 27,000lb boat..

My Capri 22 has a lid or cabin top on it.

[Cotemar]

Here is some good hurricane anchoring info also.

Catamaran Hurricane anchoring
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[a64pilot]

I am going to go out on a limb and say that the instability in fig 1 can be tamed by a drogue out the stern.
However I am with CaptTom on this, pointy end of the boat is designed to take the weather, not the flat stern.
However maybe if both ends are pointy?

Then there is the minor point that at least on my boat the ground tackle and the structure to take the loads in in the bow, not the stern. It would take some pretty serious building to beef up the stern to take the loads that the bow can, on my boat and I assume most.
Add to that what is the load on the flat stern going to be from waves and wind as opposed to the pointy bow? The frontal area and resulting flat plate drag is going to be huge as compared to the pointy end.

[sck5]

I wouldnt want my rudder exposed to strong waves or currents trying to bang it from one side to the other. If the boat is bow on to the weather this isnt an issue. But for me, protecting the rudder is a high priority

[DeepFrz]

kmacdonald, I'm wondering what practical experience you have. You have read an article presented by the builder and proponent of a product and declared them to be honest and true, which they may be. However you have declared the opposite position to be dishonest. So, what practical experience do you have? Can you provide video or pictorial evidence of boats riding out a gale or a hurricane while anchored from the rear? Is your opinion biased in any way? What is your evidence?

I don't know what the "BEST" way to anchor a boat is . It may well be that for some boats anchoring from the bow is best and for some anchoring from the stern is best. I have read and listened to the testimony of one young sailor who rode out a hurricane while anchored at Haiti. He anchored by the bow and his experience, although not pleasant, was not horrific.

Without some empirical evidence it is rather brash, to say the least, to put down other opinions. Especially when that opinion comes from someone who has had quite a lot of experience and who is a very helpful member of this forum and has been for a number of years.