Anchoring etiquette questions...

[GordMay]

Moorings Failure Analysis ➥ https://www.cruisersforum.com/galler...r&imageuser=79

Monmouth Boat Club “Moorings Booklet” ➥ https://www.monmouthboatclub.org/PDFfiles/moorings.pdf

Lost Our Boat Due To A Bad Mooring Swivel
➥ https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...-206078-3.html

Mooring Tackle Help, Please
➥ https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...ase-71784.html

Mooring failures and what to do about them
➥ https://acteon.com/blog/mooring-fail...do-about-them/

[Greg K]

Anchor well folks, and keep well clear of other anchored boats when you do so, lest you end up caught up in a little weather like in one of our favorite summer anchorages. This is Saona, Formentera earlier today.

https://x.com/rieder_churfer/status/...4JvwqUM0A&s=08

[dannc]

Originally Posted by Johan Leopard51

Yes, poor initial design plus poor maintenance is a problem. A couple of us are looking at putting together a project to help local maritime safety / conservation departments.

So professionally designed, marked on maps, augmented by a color-coding for capacities....

You might want to read the articles about moorings on the Morgan's Cloud website, here is one to start, https://www.morganscloud.com/2024/06...ecommendation/. It is behind a paywall but it is worth the cost. There are a couple of articles on moorings that might be of interest. The engineering requirements were interesting.

I read somewhere that Guam has huge concrete blocks for storm tie downs. They are in a pretty protected area but I read a boat in a hurricane had the blocks move under the load.

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by Greg K

Anchor well folks, and keep well clear of other anchored boats when you do so, lest you end up caught up in a little weather like in one of our favorite summer anchorages. This is Saona, Formentera earlier today.

https://x.com/rieder_churfer/status/...4JvwqUM0A&s=08

Painful to watch! Yes, drop all the anchors and rode you have!

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by Greg K

This is Saona, Formentera earlier today.

https://x.com/rieder_churfer/status/...4JvwqUM0A&s=08

Thanks for posting.

These type of conditions are not common, but they do occur and these videos accurately convey the mayhem.

This is when you are glad you have purchased a quality, large anchor.

[eheffa]

Originally Posted by noelex 77

Thanks for posting.

These type of conditions are not common, but they do occur and these videos accurately convey the mayhem.

This is when you are glad you have purchased a quality, large anchor.

…and make sure you are anchored further off-shore, up wind from everyone else.

[Greg K]

Originally Posted by noelex 77

Thanks for posting.

These type of conditions are not common, but they do occur and these videos accurately convey the mayhem.

This is when you are glad you have purchased a quality, large anchor.

Depends where you cruise. The weather in the videos was the tail end of a Mistral blowing out of the Gulf de Leon. Mistrals are a pretty regular weather feature which affects a large chunk of the western Med summer and winter. We were caught in similar conditions near the end of June in Ibiza earlier this summer.

[Johan Leopard51]

Originally Posted by Greg K

Anchor well folks, and keep well clear of other anchored boats when you do so, lest you end up caught up in a little weather like in one of our favorite summer anchorages. This is Saona, Formentera earlier today.

https://x.com/rieder_churfer/status/...4JvwqUM0A&s=08

When weather gets like that onshore, I’d rather not be anchored or tied to buoy = too much stress on fixed points and tensioned chain means something will break if it doesn’t drag.

We have 2 x 370Hp motors so I’d rather maneuver the cat out into deeper water away from reefs & other vessels and motor slowly into the swell and wind. Swell is invariably less in deep water and you can possibly move to sheltered side of something, even a very shallow reef. Also more comfortable for the people aboard.

We are lucky as Seychelles islands don’t have hurricanes and cyclones but we sometimes get those 2-3 hour wind storms doing 40 or so knots. I’d never sit with island or atoll astern in weather like that.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Don C L

Painful to watch! Yes, drop all the anchors and rode you have!

But more importantly, don't be in a crowded anchorage.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Johan Leopard51

When weather gets like that onshore, I’d rather not be anchored or tied to buoy = too much stress on fixed points and tensioned chain means something will break if it doesn’t drag.

We have 2 x 370Hp motors so I’d rather maneuver the cat out into deeper water away from reefs & other vessels and motor slowly into the swell and wind. Swell is invariably less in deep water and you can possibly move to sheltered side of something, even a very shallow reef. Also more comfortable for the people aboard.

We are lucky as Seychelles islands don’t have hurricanes and cyclones but we sometimes get those 2-3 hour wind storms doing 40 or so knots. I’d never sit with island or atoll astern in weather like that.

I agree.


If people are going to be on the boat, I'd far prefer to be at sea than at anchor, and for sure not on a mooring.

[Greg K]

Originally Posted by Johan Leopard51

When weather gets like that onshore, I’d rather not be anchored or tied to buoy = too much stress on fixed points and tensioned chain means something will break if it doesn’t drag.

We have 2 x 370Hp motors so I’d rather maneuver the cat out into deeper water away from reefs & other vessels and motor slowly into the swell and wind. Swell is invariably less in deep water and you can possibly move to sheltered side of something, even a very shallow reef. Also more comfortable for the people aboard.

We are lucky as Seychelles islands don’t have hurricanes and cyclones but we sometimes get those 2-3 hour wind storms doing 40 or so knots. I’d never sit with island or atoll astern in weather like that.

Sure, me too. But, unfortunately, this sort of weather, in the Med especially, comes on top you with little to no warning. Zero to 30 or 40 in seconds not hours or minutes... like somebody flipped a switch. By the time you jump out into the cockpit, boats are already letting go in the initial blast, and the best thing you can do is start your engine immediately so you can motor sideways on your anchor to get out of their way before they hit the rocks or go on the beach. For smaller boats, like ours, with small engines, pulling up anchor at that point is probably more dangerous than staying put, if the anchor is still holding.

[Greg K]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

But more importantly, don't be in a crowded anchorage.

That's really a non-starter for most folks cruising in the Balearics in August when the EU is on summer vacation. If you have a boat in the Med anywhere within an overnight sail to the islands, that's where you're going, crowded or not.

A more realistic caution that may be of practical use for cruisers is not to put slavish trust in weather forecasts. This Mistral was forecast well in advance and I would venture to say everyone anchored in Saona knew it was coming. Saona is protected NE up to around N and I'm guessing they thought they would be fine because probably the forecast indicated that in would not go NNW-NW and, to their horror, it did. So the lesson here is: expect the forecast direction to be off by 10-20 degrees and up to 1.5 times the intensity, and ask yourself if you will still be safe in your chosen anchorage. If not, go elsewhere.

[Johan Leopard51]

Originally Posted by Greg K

Sure, me too. But, unfortunately, this sort of weather, in the Med especially, comes on top you with little to no warning. Zero to 30 or 40 in seconds not hours or minutes... like somebody flipped a switch. By the time you jump out into the cockpit, boats are already letting go in the initial blast, and the best thing you can do is start your engine immediately so you can motor sideways on your anchor to get out of their way before they hit the rocks or go on the beach. For smaller boats, like ours, with small engines, pulling up anchor at that point is probably more dangerous than staying put, if the anchor is still holding.

Sure, that’s why I mentioned we have big motors.

We had one of those fast furious storms in Croatia once, but had already changed our plans before it hit and were safely moored in small protected harbor. Friends on another yacht were in the straits and got into trouble with unfurling sails and ended up with everybody in life vests standing by.

Nowadays there are apps that will give you good warning. Also why in foreign waters we tend to opt for a local skipper. Costs a bit more, but (1) they know the weather (2) they have connections for which small restaurants have free moorings for guests (3) they get into harbors/marinas that other radio calls get a ‘sorry no space left’ message (4) it helps the holiday when he/she can drop you and look after vessel while whole family goes to town or goes diving instead of me doing that. I have always learnt more about the place taking a local skipper.

[Greg K]

Originally Posted by Johan Leopard51

Sure, that’s why I mentioned we have big motors.

We had one of those fast furious storms in Croatia once, but had already changed our plans before it hit and were safely moored in small protected harbor. Friends on another yacht were in the straits and got into trouble with unfurling sails and ended up with everybody in life vests standing by.

Nowadays there are apps that will give you good warning. Also why in foreign waters we tend to opt for a local skipper. Costs a bit more, but (1) they know the weather (2) they have connections for which small restaurants have free moorings for guests (3) they get into harbors/marinas that other radio calls get a ‘sorry no space left’ message (4) it helps the holiday when he/she can drop you and look after vessel while whole family goes to town or goes diving instead of me doing that. I have always learnt more about the place taking a local skipper.

Thurston Howell III enters the chat.

[kmacdonald]

If there is no protected anchorage in severe conditions you need to ride it out offshore. If not, you will most likely lose your boat. Offshore in severe conditions really isn't that bad once you get used to it. Set the autopilot and go below.