Seajet
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That's jolly impressive; how does it monitor other boats dragging or clashing with one's own, or other people who could do with a hand as in my post #3 ?
Anchor watch ?
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AngusMcDoon
Well-Known Member
Two boats in the same anchorage! Lummy. Sounds way overcrowded in Chichester harbour or wherever it is you have the misfortune to lurk. Thinking of it though, I did see another boat anchored in Loch Eribol last month, but it was about 2 miles away on the other side of the loch.
Seajet
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As it seemed then ' sod anybody else, and if a boat clobbers mine I'll take their e-mail address as I go under - hang on, this tablet isn't waterproof - hoch ma gandy ! ' 
AngusMcDoon
Well-Known Member
As it seemed then ' sod anybody else, and if a boat clobbers mine I'll take their e-mail address as I go under - hang on, this tablet isn't waterproof - hoch ma gandy ! '
No idea what you're on about. Most often where I anchor there isn't anyone else to sod. Not sure what tablets have got to do with anchor watches. Maybe you use one to pass the boredom of staying up all night every time you anchor just in case a one-oared dinghy flollops past by watching cat videos on YouTube or something.
You just don't get what the solitude is like sailing and anchoring in this part of the world. As you have never sailed here your ignorance is understandable I suppose.
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Seajet
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No idea what you're on about. Most often where I anchor there isn't anyone else to sod. Not sure what tablets have got to do with anchor watches. Maybe you use one to pass the boredom of staying up all night every time you anchor just in case a one-oared dinghy flollops past by watching cat videos on YouTube or something.
You just don't get what the solitude is like sailing and anchoring in this part of the world. As you have never sailed here your ignorance is understandable I suppose.
Well Angus,
I have been in plenty of bays like that - try the Channel Islands and Brittany, and have sailed the Firth of Forth from Dysart to Port Edgar, so that's a bit of it.
More to the point I was looking out for fellow humans in trouble while I was at it, which your gubbins doesn't.
Out.
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john_morris_uk
Well-Known Member
Although your selfless devotion to the care of others is highly commendable, I'm not sure that it's really a justification for always keeping an anchor watch in the way you seem to be saying.
Or are you suggesting that when we anchor in a deserted bay and have complete confidence in our anchor and have a suitable electronic aid as an anchor alarm just in case it drags, we need to keep an anchor watch in case some other boat arrives in the night and gets into trouble?
Seajet
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As you know I said nothing of the sort, but to keep an eye out every now and again.
Angus mentioned other boats in the same anchorage, I suppose there is an argument that in cold lonely waters people ought to be looking out for each other even more.
We've happened to help quite a few people in bother over the years, and I'm sure you have too.
Angus mentioned other boats in the same anchorage, I suppose there is an argument that in cold lonely waters people ought to be looking out for each other even more.
We've happened to help quite a few people in bother over the years, and I'm sure you have too.
john_morris_uk
Well-Known Member
Yes I have but I very rarely keep an anchor watch.
I sometimes wake up and have a look around.
More usually I sleep soundly the whole night through.
AngusMcDoon
Well-Known Member
You're confused again. I thought I'd made it clear then most anchorages I use are solitary. The only other boat I mentioned was in the same loch, but it's a big loch. Have a look on a chart as you are obviously unfamiliar with it. It's near Cape Wrath.
People do look out for each other at the gnarly end of the country - there's none of the typical Solent antagonism & aggression or the mobo versus raggy rivalry, but you can't look out for people when there's nobody there. In my second picture above it was a 100 mile round trip, but I saw nobody going there, while I was there, or going back. It just isn't like Chichester harbour here. Or the Forth, Brittany or the Channel islands.
Perhaps you should leave your comfort zone & sail here to experience it. I'm sure your boat is up to it.
William_H
Well-Known Member
As already implied. The OP question is not a question one need ask. Concern and lack of ability to sleep when things get ugly will drive you to look out occasionally or continually.
Re the man who lost a dinghy oar in a blow. Yes very dangerous as some years back we lost a couple at Rottnest Island where wind was blowing from the shore. They set off for their boat after a dinner party on shore. The further they got out the stronger the wind. One body found days later the other never found. Perhaps they lost an oar or just could not row against the wind in the inflatable after missing grabbing the boat. olewill
Re the man who lost a dinghy oar in a blow. Yes very dangerous as some years back we lost a couple at Rottnest Island where wind was blowing from the shore. They set off for their boat after a dinner party on shore. The further they got out the stronger the wind. One body found days later the other never found. Perhaps they lost an oar or just could not row against the wind in the inflatable after missing grabbing the boat. olewill
sailaboutvic
Well-Known Member
Why is it any question to do with anchors/anchoring, bring out the worst in people on YBW ?
We anchor every night from the end of March till the end of at less Oct if not mId Nov .
How crowed the anchorage are really depend on the time of year , early spring and late autumn we at time we have most of the bay's to our self ,
summer months are very different .
Last night there was 25 boats here , most of them not anchored very well , if the wind picked up and it wouldn't had to be much there would had been a lots of problem , in them situation as soon as I hear the wind picking up , I am up like a shot and have a good look around ,
Last week we had the Bora to deal with , for 60 hours the wind blow hard 40 kts at time touching 50 kts , now any one who can just go to sleep and sleep tho the night without being concerned , is a better man then me . You might be well anchored ,
it doesn't mean the other boats our .
So to answer the question .
In the circumstance that was describe by the OP , wind of 30 plus I would get up now and then to make sure all was well but at the same time I will also have set and Alarm . ( alarm do at time turn them self off of stop working ) , I wouldn't be up all night although I would be sleeping with my ears open .
Regarding get up and having a good look around , it doesn't hurt , I know of one person who found him self three miles out at sea in the morning in almost flat calm when his anchor came away from his chain .
We anchor every night from the end of March till the end of at less Oct if not mId Nov .
How crowed the anchorage are really depend on the time of year , early spring and late autumn we at time we have most of the bay's to our self ,
summer months are very different .
Last night there was 25 boats here , most of them not anchored very well , if the wind picked up and it wouldn't had to be much there would had been a lots of problem , in them situation as soon as I hear the wind picking up , I am up like a shot and have a good look around ,
Last week we had the Bora to deal with , for 60 hours the wind blow hard 40 kts at time touching 50 kts , now any one who can just go to sleep and sleep tho the night without being concerned , is a better man then me . You might be well anchored ,
it doesn't mean the other boats our .
So to answer the question .
In the circumstance that was describe by the OP , wind of 30 plus I would get up now and then to make sure all was well but at the same time I will also have set and Alarm . ( alarm do at time turn them self off of stop working ) , I wouldn't be up all night although I would be sleeping with my ears open .
Regarding get up and having a good look around , it doesn't hurt , I know of one person who found him self three miles out at sea in the morning in almost flat calm when his anchor came away from his chain .
RichardS
N/A
I have anchor watch apps on my tablet and on my AIS unit so simply set one of those if I have concerns. I used it last night for the first time on this cruise as we arrived in Rovinj quite late from Venice and all the mooring buoys were taken. We couldn't be bothered to find another bay after clearing customs so we anchored beside the buoyed area. It was rather deep at 12M and I don't know the bottom and wouldn't have been able to swim over to check so I set Anchor Watch Pro and slept like a baby.
I didn't use in when we were in Vic's Bora last week as I knew the bottom was thick mud and even in 50 kts for 2 days I knew the Rocna would not move..... Except downwards. Which meant that getting it out when we came to leave was a trial. You would have not imagined that an anchor on a vertical chain below the boat could hold like that! Our 1000w windlass was frozen with fear! We joked that someone in Australia was probably peed off that a point had stuck through the middle of his floor.
Richard
I didn't use in when we were in Vic's Bora last week as I knew the bottom was thick mud and even in 50 kts for 2 days I knew the Rocna would not move..... Except downwards. Which meant that getting it out when we came to leave was a trial. You would have not imagined that an anchor on a vertical chain below the boat could hold like that! Our 1000w windlass was frozen with fear! We joked that someone in Australia was probably peed off that a point had stuck through the middle of his floor.
Richard
AngusMcDoon
Well-Known Member
Well yes, exactly. That's what you, I & everyone else do. The electronic watching just assists, but it's a valuable assistance. I'm don't know what Andrew's problem is using electronic assistance, but as we all know, he sails in a weird world all of his own.
sailaboutvic
Well-Known Member
We spend one of the, night Richard keeping an eye on the boat in front , as it slowly got closer , twice we had to let more chain out to keep away from him . Each time I closed my eyes for a few mins I was expecting an bang , lucky all when well and in the morning he moved further out ,
jbweston
Well-Known Member
On reading through the thread, I realise that when someone mentions 'an anchorage' people have very different pictures flash into their minds. I know I'm lucky to be sailing in the Baltic, but 'anchorage' to me means a place where we're the only boat anchored, or if there is another one it's perhaps 300 to 400 metres away.
If you get a picture of being anchored with a dozen or 20 other boats within a gnat's crochet of you (and some of which are likely not to be experienced anchorers and who've picked a spot upwind of you), then plainly you need to be a lot more wary.
Or come out to the Baltic . . .
sailaboutvic
Well-Known Member
We would love to come and sail in the Baltic ,
but can we sail for nine / ten month a year like we do in the Med ?
live aboard comfortable without two or three layer of clothes ?
Some how I don't think so ,
spring and Autumn the Med is one of the best place I ever sailed , it beats Northern Europe hands down . The weather great ,
anchorage are almost empty and there always wind some where ,
off cause the down side is the summer month are packed with charters mostly novices sailor , a bit like weekend drivers .
charles_reed
Well-Known Member
Puzzling, how many seem to glory in discomfort.
1. Choose good bottoms
2. Avoid popular places, where the charterers drag.
3. Always get to windward of hoi polloi.
4. Set the anchor properly, 2000r pm in reverse = 30 knots.
5. Take 3 all-night visible fixed marks
6. Set the GPS anchor alarm as a matter of course. Usually on 30 metres radius.
6. Watch the weather and don't get caught out.
Having said that I nearly got caught out with an enforced 7-day sojourn in Spinalonga, because there was too much wind and too good holding to lift the anchor, last night.
1. Choose good bottoms
2. Avoid popular places, where the charterers drag.
3. Always get to windward of hoi polloi.
4. Set the anchor properly, 2000r pm in reverse = 30 knots.
5. Take 3 all-night visible fixed marks
6. Set the GPS anchor alarm as a matter of course. Usually on 30 metres radius.
6. Watch the weather and don't get caught out.
Having said that I nearly got caught out with an enforced 7-day sojourn in Spinalonga, because there was too much wind and too good holding to lift the anchor, last night.
jbweston
Well-Known Member
I agree. It wouldn't do if we all wanted to sail in the same places.
We do have a short season - really only summer, although it would be possible to stretch it from May to September. The short season suits me as I work part time and so can concentrate that outside the sailing season.
it's a fallacy (and I'm not suggesting that you're saying this, but plenty of people do) that Sweden and Finland are cold in the summer. Summer weather is much better - warmer and more settled - than, say, the South Coast of Britain.
But I'm drifting the thread, in true forum style . . .
AngusMcDoon
Well-Known Member
Last year, the year without summer in North Scotland, the Finns, Swedes & Norwegians were complaining how cold it was compared to home.
LadyInBed
Well-Known Member
I often set my anchor watch app, mainly to see how the boat has moved around during the night.
If there is a bit of a blow and if it causes me to wake up, I will get up and have a pee then go and have a look around. Whether I can see much depends if there's a moon and which torch I take!
As I see it, there appears to be two camps on this thread, those that go away for longish periods and anchor as a norm and those that manage to get away for a weekend and have to anchor in crowded areas, more as an adventure and a change from being in a marina. Which camp you are in will vastly change your attitude to the experience.
If there is a bit of a blow and if it causes me to wake up, I will get up and have a pee then go and have a look around. Whether I can see much depends if there's a moon and which torch I take!
As I see it, there appears to be two camps on this thread, those that go away for longish periods and anchor as a norm and those that manage to get away for a weekend and have to anchor in crowded areas, more as an adventure and a change from being in a marina. Which camp you are in will vastly change your attitude to the experience.