How do you judge if a beach is too "wavy" or if it will turn too unstable later?

[Seaslug Caravan]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

So, the different styles of cruising will continue to bring different schemes for anchoring. No right or wrong in general, but possibly worth discussing the downsides of each method, as has been going on in this thread.



He lacks your deep level of knowledge about what makes a specific beach a likely candidate for beaching and this could lead to tears. Hopefully the advice offered by you and other experienced folks will help him with decisions in the future, should he end up owning a cat and lurking about the shallows!

Jim

Yes Its all in the style.

We spend a lotta time in the Kimberley, Big tides, Dirty water, lotta bitey thingies in the water.

Drying out often has nothing to do with beaches. Its all about finding a place to anchor that is protected from the pevailing conditions. Some gullies.gorges and creeks are the only protected spots for miles with access to the sites we want to frequent, and if they dry out ,so be it. Its often impossible to be 100% sure the bottom is free of jagged nasty things due to water clarity, the varying sometimes uncalculateable tide variations making prechecks unlikely to be perfect, so our minikeels are our protection. This is where sailing meets adventuring and we love it.

It also gets one off the ANT TRAIl of the cruising guides, its where the good stuff is still to be found and experienced.

Yes the sandflies can be BAD, but this is where the preprepared defences are a must. You certainly wouldn't want to be sleeping nude on the deck in some of these spots, but everything has a price. With the advent of the internet, google earth and cruising guides the GOOD spots are getting harder to find and sometimes a little courage and thinking outside the box is required.

As catsketcher say you sleep real well tucked up tight, tied to a tree, and awaken to the beautiful dawn chorus , or the site of the rock wallabies scampering about or a northern quoll out on morning patrol.

[Pelagic]

Each to their own, but if I had a choice between mosquitoes/bugs or a bit of motion..... I'll take the motion.

I often look for steep-to beaches that are seasonally exposed and in the right season will anchor and pull uphill with a beach line.....

The beach line is usually no less than 100m because of the bugs.

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Interesting thread for me... I've never understood the allure of anchoring in very shallow water close to the beach, let alone putting the boat on the beach. Noise, bugs, unwanted visitors, potential damage, all these seem to be realistic worries for a cruising sailor, and the advantages are not obvious to me.

Beaching for maintenance is a different matter, and that ability is useful for sure, but in some (many??) places it is not allowed these days.

So, I am finding the posts here worth reading. FWIW the east coast of Oz is catamaran paradise, and there are a hell of a lot of cats sailing here. But I seldom see them beached, so I wonder if it really is a common practice? 44's photos (nice photss, too!) show one example, but where are all the rest?

Jim

We were recently in Hill inlet with 11 cats. It was my birthday though.

Advantages? Depends on whether you prefer a very calm, sheltered anchorage to rolling all night.

In most places bugs aren't much of a problem. Especially if it's windy. There are certainly worse deep water anchorages, like the creeks in the narrows or Hinchinbrook channel. Garry's anchorage is far worse for bugs than Wathumba.

Unwanted visitors? Must be an American thing? It's certainly never happened to us. I'd be inclined to think that risk would be far greater in a marina.

[Olddave]

Originally Posted by PaulinOz

Quote "But I seldom see them beached, so I wonder if it really is a common practice? 44's photos (nice photss, too!) show one example, but where are all the rest?"


Yesterday morning around 0930.




Quote: "I've never understood the allure of anchoring in very shallow water close to the beach"

We are currently approx 45 meters off the beachin flat water with the wind at approx 10 - 15 knots coming directly off the beach, in a line of 7 cats.Back behind us in mono land (deeper water) the wind is at least 5 knots stronger, the wind waves higher and make for interesting dinghy boarding at times. Not to mention the noise of fans on the back of a lot of them. (although we do have one cat behind us with a particularly noisy wind generator I keep thinking an outboard is coming up behind us.

Hi Paul,
Just a word of warning from one of those monohullers anchored a little further out. I recently anchored at a beach similar to the one you describe above. My two metre draft wasn’t the main reason I anchored further off the beach than most.
When I arrived there was a moderate breeze blowing off the beach, however, I gave more attention to the possibility of a 180 degree wind change, because there was thunder storms around.
Approaching the beach my echo sounder showed a 1.5 metre lift that looked like it had a rock structure. I figured that if my anchor was dropped outside the lift it would hold well if the wind swung around and blew like the clappers, as is possible with thunder storms. The beach is known for its poor holding due to shallow sand over a rock bottom.
During the afternoon, two cats and another mono arrived. The cats took up typical multihull positions close to the beach and the mono anchored further off like me.
Well you can see how the story is going to end up. As soon as the sun set, the wind swung and we were anchored on a lee shore. The breeze went nuts and blew 30 to 40 knots for the next two hours, gradually easing by midnight.
Unfortunately both cats went up on the beach, one was able to get off quickly under its own power. The other was refloated the next day.
It wasn’t a fun night. Lots of people are buying big cats and going cruising, but some forget that they are big high windage vessels that require extra care and seamanship to stay safe.
Dave

[catsketcher]

Good points Dave - you do have to be careful. A number of boats have been lost on the east coast when people have anchored in a northerly and been surprised by a southerly change at 2am.

If I read the photo properly Paul is in a part of the world that rarely gets windshifts and thinking about the time of year I reckon he is safe for a few weeks yet.

People have waited for weeks for there to be an onshore wind (northerly) in the bay at Lizard Island. (Did I get that right Paul?)

cheers

Phil

[Olddave]

Originally Posted by catsketcher

Good points Dave - you do have to be careful. A number of boats have been lost on the east coast when people have anchored in a northerly and been surprised by a southerly change at 2am.

If I read the photo properly Paul is in a part of the world that rarely gets windshifts and thinking about the time of year I reckon he is safe for a few weeks yet.

People have waited for weeks for there to be an onshore wind (northerly) in the bay at Lizard Island. (Did I get that right Paul?)

cheers

Phil

Hi Phil,
I didn’t mean to critisize Paul, he sounds like he knows what he is doing. I just wanted to throw in some food for thought for those who want to learn from this thread.
We were all waiting for favourable winds that would allow us to get south down the west coast. Sounds like a similar thing is happening on your side too.
Funny how the trough that we had been waiting for, almost ruined our Kimberley jaunts. That’s what sailing is all about really, the challenge, the adventure.
Hopefully Fernandosmooth is still following and learning. It takes a lot of planning and forethought to safely use and enjoy a big sailing boat, especially when you intend deliberately beaching your vessel.
Dave

[PaulinOz]

Originally Posted by catsketcher

If I read the photo properly Paul is in a part of the world that rarely gets windshifts and thinking about the time of year I reckon he is safe for a few weeks yet.

People have waited for weeks for there to be an onshore wind (northerly) in the bay at Lizard Island. (Did I get that right Paul?)

cheers

Phil

100% Phill not much from the North up here as can bee seen from wind rose. We head South tomorrow in 10 - 15 knot ESE which is as good as we can hope for at this time.

[catsketcher]

Been there done that, hard on the wind till Dunk. One thing we did (excuse me if you already know this) is we headed OUT to the reef on starboard and then tacked onto port in the nice flat water just in the lee. Sort of worked but the reef does wiggle around a bit.

Have fun Paul and Dave

Phil

[JeffH]

@Fernandosmooth

The most relevant thing you said is "going to begin my sailing life." Until you have more (a substantial amount of) experience, i recommend you be very cautious doing anything & everything with your new home / transportation / life raft; even things you see other people doing. I couldn't begin to count the stupid & truly stupid things I have seen people doing with boats. (True, it's running about 70%-30% or maybe 65%-35% powerboat to sailboat; I'm just saying.

Regarding deliberately grounding your boat: for your first year, don't even consider it unless you are sailing in company with another boat whose skipper you trust & even then stay within sight & within 15 minutes walk of it.

After you have experience, make up your own mind.

Regards.

My opinions are my own; no one else will claim them.

[SteveSadler]

As a charter boat skipper we beached our cats daily to board 49pax.
The water is clear so avoiding rocks, shallow spots is easy.
The hard part is judging the surf. When a set comes, we back off
Then run in again ro board some more. Bigger cats have an advantage in
That when the bow is firmly planted on the sand
Their rudders are in deep water so waves don’t
Break behind them. In flat surf conditions, we all just drive up till we stop,
Hit 1500rpms forward and stay there for as long as we need.
I suppose in flat calm conditions with no tides, you could drop a stern anchor before beaching and tie off to something on shore and leave it there
I,ve seen monos and cats do this in protected beaches, but not often.
For dropping off picking up, and photo opps, it’s fine. Why you’d want to stay there overnight is beyond me. The keels will bump on every swell,
Bugs will enjoy you all night. If the anchor drags and you go sideways, getting off could be difficult.

[Jim Cate]

For dropping off picking up, and photo opps, it’s fine. Why you’d want to stay there overnight is beyond me. The keels will bump on every swell,
Bugs will enjoy you all night. If the anchor drags and you go sideways, getting off could be difficult.

This seems a reasonable assessment to me, and from an experienced multi hull skipper. Perhaps the OP should consider this advice.

Jim

[atoll]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

This seems a reasonable assessment to me, and from an experienced multi hull skipper. Perhaps the OP should consider this advice.

Jim

there are big differences between coastal tidal waters and nearby offshore islands where you have 10-15 ft tides to mid ocean islands where the tides are ~2ft as to what is prudent.

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by atoll

there are big differences between coastal tidal waters and nearby offshore islands where you have 10-15 ft tides to mid ocean islands where the tides are ~2ft as to what is prudent.

All true! I wonder if our inexperienced OP can usefully evaluate these factors?

Prudence so often depends on experience!

I guess I'm glad that I don't have to make such decisions, having an inappropriate boat and no desire to beach it anyhow!

Jim

[atoll]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

All true! I wonder if our inexperienced OP can usefully evaluate these factors?

Prudence so often depends on experience!

I guess I'm glad that I don't have to make such decisions, having an inappropriate boat and no desire to beach it anyhow!

Jim

i was in the same boat as you so to speak!
salamandra has an 9ft draft x 63ft,so are always the last boat in the anchorage,and indeed there are many harbours/marinas we cant get into.

my whole reason for building a catamaran that can be easily beached and draws 2ft 10" is so i can get into all those rivers, creeks ,lagoons,drying harbours etc that yachts can't!

when the strongest winds ~60knots from ex hurricane ophelia comes through tommorow my cat will be high and dry,so i don't have to worry too much about the anchors dragging!

catamaran sailors really need to think outside the box when it comes to marinas and boat yards,and save a great deal of money using the cats ability to beach and enter shallow areas,as marina space becomes more limited and exorbitant in cost.

on a circumnavigation you will pass through at least 3 different tidal areas where,as long as you have paint and material you can do your own bottom work for free,without having to worry about a travellift big enough to handle your beam etc

plus all those wonderful areas like the philipines,west coast of madagasgar,east africa,indonesia,india,malaysia,brazil,west coast of central america,ne,n,nw australia etc become the new exciting tidal cruising destinations

my thoughts anyway jim

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

This seems a reasonable assessment to me, and from an experienced multi hull skipper. Perhaps the OP should consider this advice.

Jim

And ignore the advice of all the other experienced multihull skippers who are saying yes you can beach, but do it in places where there's NO SWELL to worry about.