Draft of anchoring presentation

[estarzinger]

Draft of a presentation (powerpoint) I am working on:

http://www.bethandevans.com/pdf/Anchoring.pptx

Intended to be practical . . . .what do we actually do . . . . rather than a comprehensive book.

I only have 45 minutes, and probably already have too many slides, so if I add more material I probably also have to cut somewhere.

Comments or suggestions?

[keyspc]

Hi, I used to teach M/S office and Windows at keys community college .
Hardest point every singe darn semester was PPT is NOT THE PRESENTATION! Rather it is for illustrating your point. ( think death by power point) How many lectures are just someone reading from slides? How many of your audience is actually paying attention by third slide?
In PPT Keep it simple is the key. Think of it as an aid to, not part of presentation.

Oh and i get the point, use a big anchor but i stopped listening to it the fourth or fifth time.

[Bash]

I like it. Would love to hear the entire presentation.

The only thing I would critique is your approach to snubbers. Might be good to show the chevy model side-by-side with your cadillac model.

One suggestion would be to add a slide or two about multihulls and their unique anchoring challenges. How does one use a bridle?

One other thing missing is how to secure the rode's bitter end to the boat, especially with all-chain rodes. Something with cut-and-go possibilities. I use a short length of brait spliced to the chain. What do others use?

[denverd0n]

Looks generally good to me. Couple of typos... On pages 18 and 33 you spelled tandem as "tandom."

Good luck.

[noelex 77]

It looks the basis of a great presentation.Beautiful photos.

Where/when is the presentation?

The only practical suggestion would be emphasise that when you "pick your spot" you need to drop the anchor upwind (or up current) of this location. A very basic concept, but I see many people struggling with imagining where they will end up.

[ohdrinkboy]

Here are a few thoughts. Remember they are worth what you paid for them.

Who is your audience? If a bunch of engineers (lots of data), weekend sailors (cover their geographic region), cruisers (focus on the 5% of disasters), newbies (cover the basics).

Personally, 45 min and a close to equal number of slides is long without getting in to some deep numbers on holding power of different setups.

A bio of you at the beginning would be excellent. I can't even guess at the number of times you have anchored, but it would be an interesting number.

5+-2 items. You can cover 3-7 items on a slide and people will remember. More you overload, less you bore.

What are your rules of thumb that work 95% of the time? 7:1 scope at night, 3:1 on a lunch hook, all provided good holding.

What anchors do you use in what condition? A chart would be good. Put that with the previous information on one slide and it is sort of an anchoring quick reference guide.

Leave time for Q&A. Didn't see that in the slides.

Regards,
ODB

[estarzinger]

Originally Posted by Bash

The only thing I would critique is your approach to snubbers. Might be good to show the chevy model side-by-side with your cadillac model.

I will do that verbally . . . . probably will physically bring a couple options to show.

One suggestion would be to add a slide or two about multihulls and their unique anchoring challenges. How does one use a bridle?

Good point, and I know there are a couple cats owners in the audience, but I don't know **** about cat snubbers or unique anchoring problems. Can anyone give me a 'one slide summary' of the key points.

One other thing missing is how to secure the rode's bitter end to the boat, especially with all-chain rodes. Something with cut-and-go possibilities. I use a short length of brait spliced to the chain. What do others use?

hmmm . . . .we use a short section of three strand . . . . but we have never had to use it and I don't know anyone first hand who has had to. So, I think I will leave that out. I am really short of presentation time and already have too much.

Originally Posted by denverd0n

Looks generally good to me. Couple of typos... On pages 18 and 33 you spelled tandem as "tandom."

Thanks . . . I fixed those two. I am a poor speller and had not run thru the full spell check yet.

Originally Posted by keyspc

Hi, I used to teach M/S office and Windows at keys community college . . . . . .

Oh and i get the point, use a big anchor but i stopped listening to it the fourth or fifth time.

Actually I have a hell of a lot of training and experience at presentations (professional strategy consultant). My question for this draft is whether I am missing any important content, or have anything dead wrong? Once I have the content sorted I will tighten up the slides.

The presentation editors at our company found that audiences like and find useful the text 'agenda tracker' pages. They help reminded the audience where in the presentation/agenda they are, when the topic changes. The verbal to those slides is just a short 'and now we look at the fourth aspect xyz'.

hmmm . . . . if 'big anchor' is all you heard, then you did get one important message, but missed a whole bunch of others (like for instance all the other 3 in 'dead easy'. Not sure what I should/can do about that.

[Paul Elliott]

Who is your audience?

I think the most value will be to describe the less-common anchoring situations and improvements on the textbook solutions. I am guessing that this is what you will be describing. Looking at your slides, I would like to hear more about:

Techniques for running the stern lines ashore. You do a good job of this in the presentation, but I am curious about (for example) how you manage the shore lines in those bags. Do you leave the bag on the boat with the end tied off to a cleat, or take the bag with you in the dinghy? Floating line can be slippery (polyprop?) What knots do you use?

That's a nice shot of the sailboat in the volcanic sand cove, with the williwah blowing (looks like it could be Deception Island). I see the bow line running ashore, but obviously there's an anchor or something keeping the boat off the beach. What's the arrangement on the stern? How is the shore line secured? Anchor on the beach? If this is indeed Deception, there are few boulders and no trees.

So stuff like that. And of course details on your improved snubber. We discussed that here, but I hope you plan to describe how and why you arrived at it.

[sec906]

Nice job! I'd add two points in the crowded anchorage section. Just two weeks ago, I had to move my boat with all-chain rode because someone with all-rope rode swung too close to me.

1. Boats with rope vs chain rode will swing differently, especially in light winds, and that affects the distance between.

2. If boats swing too close, the last person to anchor is expected to be the first to move.

[kentobin]

Second slide- Objective: to sleep well at night
I believe you meant Black Art and not Back Art

[SaucySailoress]

Awesome.

As an instructor trainer and school teacher, though, I'd like to see an overview (can be as simple as a list of contents) and a conclusion - you know, tell ém what you're gonna tell ém, tell ém, then tell ém what you told ém. That's possibly a bit nitpicky, but a point I feel strongly about.

More importantly - you make reference to different types of anchor. I'd like to see pictures of these anchors. That would be a very positive addition, IMO.

Awesome presentation, though!

[jannw]

Anchoring is such a big topic ... you could spend a day on it.

some things I'd add.

marking out your chain ... best practices to see the mark as the chain rattles through the gypsy ... can be hard.

GPS Drag Alarm

how many anchors aboard? 2? 3?

changes of tide when anchoring in a channel. 180% wind change forecast? dual anchors, bow/stern anchoring

anchoring in coral ... don't use rope!

wind at 90deg to waves anchoring ... rocks the boat pretty bad sometimes and makes people sick. Use a flopper stopper and/or 2nd snubber to reorientate the yacht

depth sounder calibrated from bottom of 2m keel, 1M freeboard. change your scope calcs.

Bring your dinghy up/aboard to stop thieves in the night at anchor !

Did you mention tide can put you on the bottom? I only saw 1 bullet point on tide.

swimming the anchor if you are unsure it's set

anchor sail if boat sails at anchor

reduce windage if there are strong winds forecast

[jannw]

and what do do when you o a neighbour are dragging!

[jackdale]

I used to teach PowerPoint as well.

Format
- good use of a consistent background. Your text could be placed on that background rather than in a white text box.

- remember the 6X8 or 7X7 rule. That is the number of lines and the number of words on each line

- Unless quoting use point form (it is called PowerPoint for a reason)

- well organized with an anticipatory set (outline)

- just about the right number of slides.

Content
- I would "lower the anchor" rather than "drop it"

- conditions of a good anchorage
1) Protection from wind, wave, current, wake
check the weather forecast for wind
2) Sufficient depth
Shallow enough for ground tackle
Deep enough not to ground at low tide
3) Bottom
- I rank my preferred bottoms
- Appropriate anchor for bottom
4) Swing room
The first three can be determined before entering the anchorage. Check Sailing Directions and cruising guides for advise.

Do not let chain pile up when lowering. I will let rode get taut at about 3:1 to help anchor turn over if needed. Then let out rest.

We recommend 5:1 for overnight - not always possible.

Snubber - rolling hitch on chain with dock line works. Most charter boats do not have bridles or single purpose snubbers.

Set at 1500 rpm. Use trees / masts and background for transit. I also put my hand on the rode/snubber forward of the bow roller to feel for tautness, indicating good set. Set with snubber / rode on a cleat - never on the windlass.

Excellent crowded anchorage advise.

Hand signals for communication?

Not sure of your audience. Do they know the different types of anchors?

You do need a conclusion of some sort. Maybe enjoying a nice meal and a libation knowing that you are good stay.

[estarzinger]

^^

Thanks . . . . many good recommendations in those posts. I am adding. I will then clearly be too long, not sure yet but I then may move some slides into an 'addendum'.

The audience is a (relatively small) rally group, that's going to do a round the world, most by a high latitude route. I don't know exactly how experienced they are, but I believe they all have some decent experience.