Wind Against Tide

[MicHughV]

wind against tide moments are one of the few times why I question my penchant for cruising on a sailboat

[Iron E]

Originally Posted by mikereed100

That is a fairly common situation. I have been using Gord's solution for decades now, the last time being the night before last. It works well, but the fly in the ointment is that at some point the wind or the current will die or switch, rendering the spring line ineffective or, worse, under the boat wrapped around the keel or rudder. A stern anchor is the surest solution but can be an annoyance. Also, if the other boats in the anchorage are not using stern anchors as well, this is not an option. Even without a stern anchor each boat will behave differently depending on windage and bottom configuration, creating what they refer to in Mexico as the "La Paz Walze", in which every boat in the anchorage is marching to the beat of a different drummer.

So what do you do? If I can get away with it I will set a stern anchor. It helps if you have set your boat up so that you can do this without deploying the dinghy. If there are other boats around swinging on one hook so that a stern anchor is not an option I will often use a springline as described, expecting that at some point I will have to remove it. The other, and sometimes best, option is to simply leave a lot of room between yourself and the other boats and put up with it.

Ah... The La Paz Waltz This guy knows^^^

[LAGO]

I've been caught by the tide like this (wind Vs tide) behind Fraser Island Oz in a 38' cat. The anchor ended up behind us with wind from astern pinning us over the chain. In the bigger gusts the chain would slap the tunnel! Not a pleasant few hours. I couldn't manoeuvre the boat around because the chain was catching on the mini-keels and maybe rudders and props.

What I learnt from this was: avoid areas like the shallow anchorages like Fraser Island in spring tides. Deep water = slower water. And don't put too much chain out in shallow water. But is was pretty windy.
We have also tried a drogue off the stern which helped a bit but when the tide slows down the drogue can get caught on your rudders.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

.... How do you pull an anchor when the rodes have become one big rode and the anchors are widely spread apart?
You dingy out and find a way to remove one anchor from the bottom, carry it to the bow in the dingy and manhandle it around the rode many times or remove the shackle and do so!

Or, disconnect one rode, from the boat, and unwind it, from the other, from the deck, on board. Sometimes, I collected the first rode, in a bucket, whilst unwinding.