Leaving boat unattended on anchor, when is it reasonable and for how long.

[Dave22q]

Two risks: anchor slipping and theft. Assuming reasonable skills and no weather issues I would discount the former. The latter risk can be very real depending on the area especially overnight. You might ask your insurance carrier if theft from an unattended vessel anchored at night is still covered. You might also consider that if, despite your anchor light, somebody hits your boat he may well be tempted to not self report and there will not be much you can do about it.

[Cheechako]

Once secure, people leave the boat in protected anchorages. There is some risk though, but what are you going to do? I have helped save at least 4 boats over the years while owners were away in town, Sea of Cortez, Puerto Rico, etc.. Wind changes, strong thundercells etc do occur, all of a sudden you see a boat next door heading toward land. The other issue is theft security, so having neighbors to watch out is good and a deterrent in itself.

[buzzstar]

Originally Posted by SecondBase

Rule 1: Never trust an anchor during the first 24 hours. ....

Rule 2, or the second 24. Rule 3, the third 24, etc.

[Gedoyon]

Lock the boat when you leave. I was robbed once when I went ashore for dinner On the French side in St Martin. With the way things are now in the Caribbean there will be even more pressure to "recover" lost goods.

[CarinaPDX]

The only time I ever had a problem while ashore was when a new boat came into the anchorage at that time, dropping his anchor directly upwind (the wind direction is pretty stable in the Caribbean during the winter - there is no excuse for this). He did a lousy job of anchoring, so when the afternoon wind came up he dragged over my anchor and pulled it out. After untangling the mess he left my boat adrift and moved off to re-anchor. Carina was saved before hitting a breakwater by friends on another boat who saw it happen.

There will always be some risk. Do your best job of anchoring, and don't leave unless you are very confident in the holding. Try to get a glimpse every now and then while ashore. Be friendly to everyone - you never know who will be the one to save your boat. But don't be afraid to discuss anchoring with someone who is doing a bad job and threatening your boat - an all too common experience.

Greg

[sailcrazy]

We've spent the last 3 seasons cruising those very grounds. We use, and prefer the mooring balls....but they all cost $$ now. The charter/rental boats seem to be everywhere, and as carinaPDX pointed out-- you can never trust what someone else might do.....especially if they are less experienced and/or don't give a damm(in a renter boat). If they're to close-you/ve got to speak up. We always set the pick, and then after we have a good, solid set we back down HARD. With an all-chain rode we make sure we've got at least a 3:1 scope, if the anchorage is really tight, and usually use a 5:1 or more scope. We set at least 2 anchor alarms-and then go nowhere for at least 2-3 hours. IF...we haven't moved, the wx looks stable)(the trades almost always pick up in the early afternoon, and all looks good....then we'll consider going to town. Otherwise-we leave someone on board! We did drag-once -in the Medd, and the boat was saved by a couple of locals!! So far(touch wood) we have not dragged in the Caribb.

[mowerandy]

Curious about how to use Drag queen if you are not on the boat. Is it possible to set up a smart phone to make an automatic call to another one, or is it just for use on-board?

[daletournier]

I live on anchor therefore leave the boat unattended regularly. One thing to keep in mind is that insurance companies differ in policy regarding this. Mine wont issue me if i leave the boat unattended for more than one night.

[Eder]

I am hesitant to leave my boat more than 8 hours unattended while at anchor...even less if a breeze comes up.

Herd mentality means someone will often poorly anchor near your boat...bad thing for an absent owner.

[TheThunderbird]

I am surprised by the comforting attitude of the many comments... (not the last three :-) )

So many variables, compound to each other, and growing exponentially over time, in terms of cumulative risk.

Your ability to abandon your boat for some time grows up with the square root of the time you have been spending on that spot, building up your intelligence of the whereabouts...

Pay a local you may trust/retrieve, for watching

[RickG]

We cruise the area on our boat. As people said, know how to anchor and you are good. If you're uncomfortable you can pick a spot where you can see your boat from land at Culebra, Vieques, St. Thomas and St. John.

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We do not trust or use the free moorings at Culebra and Culebrita; dive them and you'll see why. Culebra is probably in the best shape of the region after Maria. The anchorages at Dakiti and Ensenada Honda are good, but we do not swim their. The west side of the island had good day balls in the anchorages in July.

Vieques has good anchorages on the south shore. There are some paid moorings at Esperanza. We love the south shore and the many small sheltered bays.

On St. John, there is no anchoring on the south shore inside the VI National Park. You must use National Park moorings. This is our favorite island.

On St. Thomas, we like Honeymoon Beach/Water Island, Brewers Bay, Lindbergh Bay and Magens Bay.

Talk to your charter company about your options post-Maria. Capt. Jay Pennington, the co-owner of our boat the USVI, is still assess his St. Thomas based fleet at CYOA after Maria. They will have an announcement soon regarding the start of their charter season. St. Thomas is still on 24-hour curfew. I have not heard word on the status of moorings and whether anyone is permitted to visit.

Our boat was knocked off her hurricane storage jacks, dismasted and holed by Irma. We still do not know how she fared after Maria.

Cheers, RickG

[rwidman]

There's a sailboat anchored downstream of my marina that's been there for months. It survived hurricane Irma.

I think if you're confident in your anchoring skills and ground tackle, you'll be pretty safe in that respect except for the actions of other boaters as mentioned above.

Security would be more of a concern for me. If you have anything valuable on board that's not locked away, it could be removed by someone. Or of course, they could just take the entire boat.

It's a judgement call.