Anchoring

GHA

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Dunno really why people get their knickers in a knot so much anbout anchoring. Seems to have been a common theme on here for decades!

It's generally very easy. Few people drag under normal circumstances. Lots like to talk about impending doom though.... :)
If you home & everything you own is only kept safe with a bit of metal stuck in some mud people tend to pay a bit of attention. Do you really not bother really checking the holding is any good?
 

GHA

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They’ve lived aboard for 7 years or so and crossed the Atlantic a few times. They’re in a completely new boat in a new location and got unlucky, no need to be a git about it. They’d been there two full days before dragging so didn’t just jump off and go to the pub as you imply.
All real experienced sailors have dragged. If you have not the. You’re either lying about dragging or lying about your experience.
Don't care, bottom line is using half revs & thinking all is well is stupid.
 

Chiara’s slave

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How does that work when the wind turns?
Beach anchoring, you generally chuck one hook over on your way in, so to speak. Go in quite fast, letting it pay out astern on a winch. The moment you think you’re going to touch, you snub it hard to set it, and someone jumps off the bow and gets the other anchor passed to them. Unless anyone can tell me I’ve been doing it wrong of course.
 

westernman

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Beach anchoring, you generally chuck one hook over on your way in, so to speak. Go in quite fast, letting it pay out astern on a winch. The moment you think you’re going to touch, you snub it hard to set it, and someone jumps off the bow and gets the other anchor passed to them. Unless anyone can tell me I’ve been doing it wrong of course.

Won't work for me.

My boat draws more than I am tall and I am taller than the guy who would jump of the bow. I am pretty sure he can't swim with a 75lb anchor.
 

capnsensible

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Won't work for me.

My boat draws more than I am tall and I am taller than the guy who would jump of the bow. I am pretty sure he can't swim with a 75lb anchor.
It's Brill if you do have the right boat. Aeons ago I used to sail on my oppos Prout 31 out of Portsmouth Harbour. On trips across to Benbridge, we could enter and go on the sand off to port. Walk the anchor to shore. Walk to pub. Have a fab run ashore and still get up without much of a hangover and go sailing again. The young, eh?? :)
 

14K478

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Dunno really why people get their knickers in a knot so much anbout anchoring. Seems to have been a common theme on here for decades!

It's generally very easy. Few people drag under normal circumstances. Lots like to talk about impending doom though.... :)
I disagree.

Anchoring is the most difficult thing that a boat owner can attempt. The whole business is fraught with risk and with the potential for legal liability and for embarrassment. Anyone with less than perfect knowledge of how their anchor works and who has not had at least five years of regular practice should not attempt it and should stick to marinas.

Anchoring is strictly for the strong and the brave.
 

Chiara’s slave

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It's Brill if you do have the right boat. Aeons ago I used to sail on my oppos Prout 31 out of Portsmouth Harbour. On trips across to Benbridge, we could enter and go on the sand off to port. Walk the anchor to shore. Walk to pub. Have a fab run ashore and still get up without much of a hangover and go sailing again. The young, eh?? :)
We used to go there in our smaller tris years ago. Arrive Friday night with the kids asleep. In the morning, they could dig on the beach in their PJs, and we could watch them from the cockpit with our tea and toast.

We didn’t think of it as strong or brave. It was all rather gentle, really. It’s usually pretty gentle when we anchor these days too, beach or not. Chuck it in, set it, get the toys ready, by which time you know it’s holding.
 

Chiara’s slave

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Won't work for me.

My boat draws more than I am tall and I am taller than the guy who would jump of the bow. I am pretty sure he can't swim with a 75lb anchor.
Thats the drawback of decent monos. And one reason we prefer multis. We like to anchor in a metre or so if it’s a lunch stop. Just wade ashore, swim, paddleboard, etc then dry and take the sun on the trampolines.
 

john_morris_uk

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I'm not at all sure of the relevance of "crossing the Atlantic seven times" has to do with anchoring.
Agreed. I know of one very famous round the world yachtsman who subsequently failed his YM exam because he wasn’t very good at parking the boat and anchoring etc. (The latter might have a touch of litotes about it. It’s certainly an understatement. )
 

14K478

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When I bought my boat she had spent 44 years in the Army.

She had no windlass. There was 100 metres of 12mm chain stowed below along with a 75lbs CQR in its very own locker.

I am aware of her having dragged aground and dried out at an unladylike angle at least twice, once in the Scillies and once in the Shetlands.

She had been twice round the world like that.
 
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westernman

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When I bought my boat she had spent 44 years in the Army.

She had no windlass. There was 100 metres of 12mm chain stowed below along with a 75lbs CQR in its very own locker.

She had been twice round the world like that.

I once had a problem with my windlass.
And I hauled up 50m of 12mm chain with a 75lbs CQR on the end.

Once was enough. I would not want to do that every day. Or even ever again.
 

Chiara’s slave

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I once had a problem with my windlass.
And I hauled up 50m of 12mm chain with a 75lbs CQR on the end.

Once was enough. I would not want to do that every day. Or even ever again.
No, of course not. We don’t have a windlass. My wife says we don’t need one, she has me. But then, we have an aluminium Spade. Even with our new chain, it’s manageable.
 

Wansworth

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On a coaster I had to drop the an hour so the ship swung round to face the tide,sometimes a worry in front of a bridge,but it always pulled the ship up..
 

Poignard

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I'm not at all sure of the relevance of "crossing the Atlantic seven times" has to do with anchoring.
A weighs anchor in Falmouth, crosses the Atlantic, and anchors in the West Indies 4 weeks later.

B spends 4 weeks cruising the French Atlantic coast, anchoring every night.

A gets on the forum and tells B he knows nothing about anchoring because he doesn't go very far.
 
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