Anchorage Etiquette

[Blue Stocking]

Originally Posted by foggysail

AHHhhhh---- SO MUCH FOR ETIQUETTE EXAMPLES!!! AIN'T NO SUCH THING AS ANCHORING ETIQUETTE, NO WAY, NO HOW!!!

Foggy

Foggy--where you moored right now? I'll drop killick 2 lengths up wind and lay out 20 fathom of chain. You'll know me--I'm the one with the bloody great boomkin tipped with the st. steel roller

[foggysail]

Originally Posted by Blue Stocking

Foggy--where you moored right now? I'll drop killick 2 lengths up wind and lay out 20 fathom of chain. You'll know me--I'm the one with the bloody great boomkin tipped with the st. steel roller

Blue---


YOU MUST HAVE SEEN MY BOAT AND COPIED MY BOOMKIN!!! If I see that yours is red, the same color as mine, I will know you copied it.

Heck with that BOOMKIN, I even forgot how to speel ediquitte!

Foggy

[atoll]

hey!!! you musta been tha yot tha took out that catamaran in m'nique a few years back,punched a perfec howl in it,BUMPKINS RULE OK !!!!!!!!

[44'cruisingcat]

The worst we've had so far:



I should point out, this guy was even CLOSER than this. I took the photo after I took in about 5 metres of chain.

He dropped his anchor about 50 metres in front of us, which I thought was "a little close, but he won't be staying long", but then for some reason he paid out rope until he was just fractionally behind us. If I hadn't shortened chain we would have hit.

The "professional" skipper of this boat simply avoided eye contact, and spent most of his time talking on a mobile phone.

Just before leaving he did say "guess we were a little close eh?"

[foggysail]

YUP! Size always wins! Etiquette .......AAaahhhh!

[cfarrar]

Skippers that are poor at anchoring:
1. Arrive late.

Not necessarily. In coastal cruising it's nice to wait for the sea breeze, spend the afternoon sailing, and arrive at your anchorage in the evening. Unfortunately the "herd" will long since have powered to the anchorage. They will get the choice spots, but not on account of their seamanship.

No big deal. We stick to our own schedule but respect the boats that anchor first. Sometimes this means anchoring further out, enduring some swell, whatever. We give them their space, and then we take the dinghy and go say hello. Pretty simple, really.

[goboatingnow]

i notice one mention of " topless" and several mentions of "Belts" and " Suspenders", these anchoring threads sure get you fellas excited.

Dave

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by cfarrar

Not necessarily. In coastal cruising it's nice to wait for the sea breeze, spend the afternoon sailing, and arrive at your anchorage in the evening. Unfortunately the "herd" will long since have powered to the anchorage. They will get the choice spots, but not on account of their seamanship.

No big deal. We stick to our own schedule but respect the boats that anchor first. Sometimes this means anchoring further out, enduring some swell, whatever. We give them their space, and then we take the dinghy and go say hello. Pretty simple, really.

[Unicorn Dreams]

Looks like it would be a good time for torpedo tubes on your boat.
A couple of sinking hulls posted on the side of your boat would give fair warning.

[canucksailor]

Where I sail, in Georgian Bay and the North Channel, we will on occasion have boats so tightly packed in a small harbour that even a boatlength is a lot of room.
When anchoring in a tight harbour, in addition to all of the well noted points - come in behind the boat you'll anchor behind, about 1 - 2 boat lengths if there's that much room - if not, get closer - I've dropped the hook within a half boat length. Fall back on your rode, let the hook sink in for a bit and then - back down at low power - then ramp it up a bit at a time until your anchor is holding at half throttle. Once you've done that, you aren't going anywhere.
While this sounds close, and it is - as long as you have the same amount of rode out as the boats around you and you've backed down aggressively as I've suggested - and most people anchor at about 5:1 I've found - everyone should be fine. And when everyone swings, to wind or tide, you'll remain in the same relative position to the boat that is now behind you.
Biggest issue? If you have a generator - turn it off at 10 pm. Because if I'm in the anchorage and you don't, you'll get a knock on your hull with me in my dinghy telling you to have some respect and to turn it off. Twice I've had to row out after midnight to clue in some twit, once in Miami and once in Killarney (Lake Huron) at Covered Portage, where the cliffs really echoed the noise. Both times, others came to me in the morning to thank me for taking the initiative. One guy said he only wished I'd done it sooner!
Worst anchoring gaff - had a charter aboard, a couple and their kids. Anchored out in Beardrop Harbour, North Channel - lots of distance from a trimaran, both of us in ten feet of water. By dessert, I was ready to hand a plate over to the guy in the tri, he was so close to us - he'd anchored with 120 feet of rode - rope, not chain- and was covering half the anchorage when the wind changed. I had about 50 feet of chain down.
So up I got and re-anchored, since I was last in. That's the way it goes. Now if the wind had shifted 180° the other way, he would have been on the shore with that much rode out. I would have paid money to see that.

[Black Diamond]

If the true test of someones intelligence is how much he agrees with you, then Bash is a smart guy :-) I like the list.

I always like Block Island Race Week or most any summer weekend at Block Island. The racing sleds come in and drop *rope* (sin #1) with a small danforth (sin #2) until it hits the bottom (sin #3) in 40' of water and then go into town to drink themselves silly.

About an hour after they have gone, the harbormaster comes by to tell you that there are severe thunderstorms over Montauk and you have 20 minutes to drop a second anchor and prepare for the worst. You do so, but (of course) our heroes are in town at the bar or in the gutter outside the bar blowing bubbles in their own vomit.

During the storm you are fine, but their boat drags down on you and you are forced to stand guard over your awlgrip during the night. If you are feeling particularly charitable, you tie the boat along side yours as they drag by. Maybe you can get salvage rights... :-)

Rick
Hylas 49-057 "Black Diamond"
Portsmouth, RI.

[SuddenVibe]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Funniest one I came across was Olhau in Portugal... theres limited anchorage right by the old marina for 5-6 sailboats with co-operation...
5 of us were anchored happily when this old French guy came along in a 32ft steel boat... dropped his hook and proceeded to drag his way across scattering 3 boats in the process... he moved real slow which did not help any either..
Anyway this carried on midst much cursing till only two of us were left.. me n him... me in a 2001 Bendi vs his 32ft steel of undeterminal vintage.. his accuracy was unbelievable... within 20mins of setting his anchor he was bearing down on my bow.. beam on... anyway.. managed to avert disaster and told him to motor round and I'd come in the dinghy and sort out the hook...
He had 3 x 5lb Danforths in line and 20ft of chain after that... then just rope... no way was he going to hold.. so I told him to head for the quay where the other boats had escaped to.
And once again they scattered as he headed in....LMAO

Lol!! Thanks for the great idea!!

San Diego, CA

[witchcraft]

Ah the age old question. some folks are very careful and respectful of others space, others well are not. We left an anchorage when it became clear there was no real way to anchor without being to close to those that came before.
We also had a chap anchor too close, move marginally further away, we calculated our turning circle and determined that it would be ok despite him being closer than was ideal. So in the morning this guy starts throwing things at our boat, yelling, blowing air horns. He woke up about thirty other vessels at 5:30 am. We had been taking turns standing anchor watch since it was windy and lumpy, but had not moved. As we were planning to leave that morning anyhow, we left early and had a great sail arriving at our destination by noon.
For several weeks we kept meeting up with boats that had been in that anchorage, many of whom commented that we should have let out more chain and backed into him. They seemed to feel steel would win. This guy threatened to bring a knife over and cut our line. Of course there was not an anchor line since we had all chain out.
At some point my husband yelled at him, hey where are your manners? That calmed the guy down.
Our next stop was wonderful and we thankfully have never had another experience like that one.
Fair Winds

[Mark Johnson]

Have excellent ground tackle... Then read, practice, learn, do what ever... but don't go cruising, until you know how to anchor WELL.

ALWAYS assume the worst case scenario, and set the hook for at least a 60 knot thunderstorm.

When you enter an anchorage, always give as much room as possible to everyone, and given the option, do not anchor "up wind", in strong steady winds, of the guy that was there before you.

The person that got there first, gets to make the call, If they think that you are too close. If asked to do so, politely move.

If an anchorage is SO full that you feel the need to ignore the above rules, move on to another anchorage.

Sound travels ten times further over water! Loud screaming in anger, jet skis, loud music, barking dogs, and either gasoline deck generators, or Air X wind generators, are all annoying to others. Unless you are in the anchorage alone, BE QUIET!

At ALL dinghy docks, keep the foot of your OB motor down, so as not to puncture another person's RIB. If you can't do this, because it is too shallow or dries out, just throw out a small stern grappling hook as you approach the dock / shore, and tighten it up. When everyone does this, the other dinghies all stay parallel, and are safe.

More that almost any other lifestyle, cruising is what we make of it. It requires a much higher level of consideration than any other. The very space we occupy right down to the air that we breath, is co owned by all of us. We can't change others, the best we can do is set a good example, and hope others follow suite.

Mark

[barnakiel]

What is quite interesting and rarely commented upon is the way the technicalities of proper anchoring overlap with social skills. I have noticed that many long term cruisers are very good at finding the right way in the maze of 'how close is too close' and 'what happens if we touch' situations.

E.g. the French will anchor very close up and if the boats touch they will say no problem and try to solve the mess. The Dutch will anchor afar and sue you if you touch their boat. US Americans will just smile and ask your insurance number. These are generalizations only but valid ones, if you ever happen to be in Le Marin or the Spanish Harbour you will see the patterns very clearly.

Now inexperienced cruisers seem to be all at sea when it comes to judging what goes in each new place. Over time, with more anchoring and social experience under our belts, there seem to be much fewer 'conflicts' and fuss. But, as I said at the beginning, it is not only the sailing experience that counts in the anchorage but also our social skills and these are also developed over time.

Why I am telling all this is because I often hear the phrase 'we want to sail away to meet other cultures' and then bang the next thing I see is the would be explorers yelling at a local sailor 'you are to close, I came here first and under Admiralty law, you are supposed to move'.

;-)

barnie