Melody
Well-Known Member
If only you and your wife are using the chain do whatever suits you.
For anyone else reading this thread for advice here is my experience.
We use the anchor twice a day most days for six months of the year, and have complete novices handling the chain much of the time. We also night sail and anchor in the dark once a week. We've tried various systems and this is what we have found to be best so far.
We use plastic chain markers - paint didn't last a full season and ties sometimes got caught. We lose several markers each season but as I say we anchor a lot - for swim stops every lunchtime and to Med moor each night. Often the missing ones are found at the bottom of the anchor locker and can be re-used.
We currently use yellow, pale blue, and red markers. The blue can be surprisingly hard to see at night so we are experiementing this year with white markers on one boat.
We use a bit of silicon to help keep them in place.
We have 110metres of 12mm chain marked in groups every 10 metres. The first 10m mark is useful a) to know when to start going astern when Med mooring - you want to know that the anchor has reached the bottom before you start moving back and usually (but not always) the depth is less than 10m, and b) to know when the anchor is nearly up when bringing it in.
(On a smaller boat with less chain 5m marking might be needed but it would be confusing on ours)
We mark alternately with yellow and pale blue.
10m - 1 group of yellow
20m - 2 groups of blue
30m - 3 groups of yellow
40m - 4 groups of blue
50m - 5 groups of yellow
The reason for alternating the colours is that it can be hard to distinguish between 4 groups and 5 groups, for instance, but the colour makes it clear which it is. Also, if we have lost some markers it is still obvious whether the mark is for an even or odd number.
After 5 groups it would be hard to count (and expensive in markers) so we start again, but we introduce red in the middle.
60m - 1 group of blue with red in middle
70m - 2 groups of yellow with red in middle
80m - 3 groups of blue with red in middle
90m - 4 groups of yellow with red in middle
100m - 3 groups of red - you're almost out of chain!
The rules are - yellow is odd numbers, blue is even, count the groups for the number of 10m. Anything with red in it is over 50m (we normally try to put out about 50m when Med mooring in average conditions)
Our students all seem comfortable with this system and pick it up quickly. When we first marked the chain my husband used some strange Royal Navy system and I could never get my head around it. I'm afraid the 'base 3' one seemed too complicated to me as well. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif
For anyone else reading this thread for advice here is my experience.
We use the anchor twice a day most days for six months of the year, and have complete novices handling the chain much of the time. We also night sail and anchor in the dark once a week. We've tried various systems and this is what we have found to be best so far.
We use plastic chain markers - paint didn't last a full season and ties sometimes got caught. We lose several markers each season but as I say we anchor a lot - for swim stops every lunchtime and to Med moor each night. Often the missing ones are found at the bottom of the anchor locker and can be re-used.
We currently use yellow, pale blue, and red markers. The blue can be surprisingly hard to see at night so we are experiementing this year with white markers on one boat.
We use a bit of silicon to help keep them in place.
We have 110metres of 12mm chain marked in groups every 10 metres. The first 10m mark is useful a) to know when to start going astern when Med mooring - you want to know that the anchor has reached the bottom before you start moving back and usually (but not always) the depth is less than 10m, and b) to know when the anchor is nearly up when bringing it in.
(On a smaller boat with less chain 5m marking might be needed but it would be confusing on ours)
We mark alternately with yellow and pale blue.
10m - 1 group of yellow
20m - 2 groups of blue
30m - 3 groups of yellow
40m - 4 groups of blue
50m - 5 groups of yellow
The reason for alternating the colours is that it can be hard to distinguish between 4 groups and 5 groups, for instance, but the colour makes it clear which it is. Also, if we have lost some markers it is still obvious whether the mark is for an even or odd number.
After 5 groups it would be hard to count (and expensive in markers) so we start again, but we introduce red in the middle.
60m - 1 group of blue with red in middle
70m - 2 groups of yellow with red in middle
80m - 3 groups of blue with red in middle
90m - 4 groups of yellow with red in middle
100m - 3 groups of red - you're almost out of chain!
The rules are - yellow is odd numbers, blue is even, count the groups for the number of 10m. Anything with red in it is over 50m (we normally try to put out about 50m when Med mooring in average conditions)
Our students all seem comfortable with this system and pick it up quickly. When we first marked the chain my husband used some strange Royal Navy system and I could never get my head around it. I'm afraid the 'base 3' one seemed too complicated to me as well. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif
