Anchoring

[Norman_E]

This is really a follow up to Bignick's comments under Trafagar 200. I was not there but it is clear from his post and others that the anchorage for spectator boats was pretty crowded, and that some boats were inadequately anchored. There was an obvious danger of anchors dragging and fouling others.
I note his comments on the Moody 376 that failed to anchor. I do not know the circumstances, or why that boat could not anchor, but if the skipper could not get a secure hold on the bottom then IMHO he was quite right to maintain control of his boat by motoring rather than risk losing control of it in a crowded anchorage.
Perhaps it might have been better if owners of larger boats with good ground tackle had been encouaged to let smaller boats raft up.

 

[BlueSkyNick]

I don't know all the reasons why he couldn't anchor either, except that nobody else had a problem in the same area. In fact, somebody else came in and anchored in the very same postion.

One of his errors seemed to be motoring astern much too quickly when dropping the hook. There was little chance for it sink in to the mud. His foredeck crew didn't seem to be too well practised either.

His boat was three feet longer than mine, so no way I was going to let him raft on to us in a F5 breeze! In fact, nobody could raft to another boat, it was simply too choppy.

There was another example where a yacht came into the area, still moving at around 4 knots, maybe a little less. Skipper shouted at crew to drop the hook, which he did, then spent 10 mins trying to get it to bite. He motored away too.

Nothing wrong with motoring off - if my crew had felt ill, I was planning to do much the same. But it clearly wasn't their original plan.

I don't claim to be an expert, but I have at least learned and practised enough to mix it with thousands of other boats.

 

[Talbot]

There were a number of boats that failed to moor near where I was as well, in those situations that I could get a good look at, firstly the ground tackle looked to be the minimum size (or less in at least one case) then they were not putting sufficient cable out to give it any chance of holding. The main reason for this appeared to be a total lack of understanding of the mechanics of anchoring. They would work themselves into a position that they wished to end up, and immediately drop the anchor, then realising that they were dropping astern rather quickly towards another boat, they would panic and stop veering cable, most would then start to blame the pooor swmbo on the focsle and then demand that the anchor was heaved up and they had another go. and another and another - kept me well entertained.

I felt really sorry for some of them as it appeared that they had never tried to anchor before, and I suspect will never try again.

 

[wooslehunter]

Watched one guy in Stokes Bay on Monday evening. First saw him sailing under jib down tide. Then saw him comming back up tide again under jib. Came to a stop, dropped the hook, drifted back, anchor ball up etc etc. All under sail, perfect & a pleasure to watch. Anchor held & the next thing I saw was the guy having dinner. Still there the next day.

 

[hylass]

perhaps I'm not in the "right" position to make comments on this topic..

But I've been in so many anchor tests organised by sailing magazines and we are doing so many tests by ourselves.. (we will do one again next week) that I believe I've some experience on the subject..

Most anchors are absolutely not designed for digging in, as they don't have the two most important characteristics: 1°) the right penetrating angle (like a wood chisel) and 2°) enough weight distribution at the anchor tip..

When I spend one winter in Tunisia, I have organised some anchor demonstration on the beach of Monastir and NO anchor was abble to dig in (hard sand) .. except the Bruce and another one..
Both having the right penetrating angle and 38% of the total weight for the Bruce.. and 50% for the other one..

In Standard sand or mud, they all work well, but as soon as the conditions are a little bit difficult, boats are starting to encounter problems with their anchor..

Not surprising!..

As you could be sometime obliged to anchor in a hurry, your anchor must set, regardless of the mooring technique...

 

[starboard]

Suggest you come up here to Scotland......we tend to anchor where ever we stop, it would appear that is not the case on the south coast!!
As they say practice makes perfect.......you tend to do it correctlly when the forecast is for winds to blow and the rocks are not far away and a good nights sleep is needed.

Paul...........magnificant display on TV though up here, wish I could have been there.

 

[isandell]

Unfortunately around most of the south coast there isn't much room to anchor, all taken up with moorings or marinas.

Ian

 

[duncan]

we may have boat rage, PWCs, metre wakes, overpriced full marinas and expensive beer but we do have plently of anchorages around the Solent and Poole areas at least.

 

[l'escargot]

[ QUOTE ]
Perhaps it might have been better if owners of larger boats with good ground tackle had been encouraged to let smaller boats raft up.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think the important qualification here is "with good ground tackle" and applies to all boats. My observations are that some larger (and in particular "flasher") boats are more likely to have inadequate ground tackle - has anyone else noticed the nice shiny stainless anchor on the bow roller that is significantly undersized and more use as an ornament on certain makes of boat?

 

[ShipsWoofy]

A lot of you guys are also missing an important point I think.

Some have said they were sitting comfortably at anchor watching others struggling to get their gear down and bedded in.

When you got there you had much more room for error. When they arrived their probable best location on the sea bed for their anchor was a cable or so ahead of the space, right where the yacht in front was happily anchored.

You were in a very confined space, obviously I was not there, but F5 I would want 6-7x scope, though this was a Solent F5 so maybe 2x would be sufficient /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Even though it was possible for the late comers to anchor, the view from their helm seeing boats full of people swinging around would have made it look a lot scarier than it might have been.

Hand on heart, if you arrived later do you think it would have been a walk in the park, get the hook in while the yachties scoffed at you.

Glad I am up here to be fair.

 

[chubby]

We anchored three times on IFR day: off Ryde, later off Lee for a more relaxed lunch and later off Stokes Bay for the evening fireworks: a decent anchor, chain and electric winch made relatively light work but basically even experienced skippers were anchoring in far more crowded and less sheltered areas than we would even dream on using in normal cruising, in fairly boisterous conditions so some anchoring problems are not surprising. Angling and diving boats are used to anchoring offshore but give themselves much more space. Navigating in near zero vis in the rain storm and a night entrance to Portsmouth after the fireworks was interesting: my response as soon as the fireworks were over was to put the kettle on and watch the lighting of the fleet!

 

[Guest]

Ornamental ....

I have been saying this for years ...... There is nothing like sheer bulk and weight to do the job.

The average yacht is ent out with a silly bit of kit and ROPE that wouldn't hold a dinghy in a boating pond. PARTULARLY Mobo's .... and I mean the Flashy ones .... not the older ones ... who generally by now have found out the error.

It is fact that a mobo can in fact exert greater stress on an anchor system due to lack of grip in water and its overall windage ... it snatches at the rode more than average keel-laden sailboat. The shock loads can be tremendous.

I have always maintained that anchors no matter what type should maximum that can be handled on the boat ... skimping to save weight / money is sure way to end up on rocks .........

All the gadgets / gimmicks / tricks like weights slung at mid rode etc. are only compromises to compensate for lack of weight etc. Using rope rode increases the load that the anchor has to carry meaning greater weight and bite ...

There is no substitute for a nice big anchor and good length of chain ..... a rope may be used - but IMHO and this is supported by the centuries of anchoring that has been carried out .... as long as enough weight and chain is there with a decent anchor to have a decent angle of catenary ......

I am not convinced by some twit with a tractor on a beach pulling against an anchor 'test'.... sorry but it does not mimick the marine situation ....

I have the biggest plough I can handle reasonably ... I have a heavy 25ft Motorsailer, and about 120ft of 3/8 chain. I have anchored in all sorts in solent harbours / bays and not once dragged ......

In fact a previous boat snapped its mooring shackle, the shackle rotated round so that weight in the storm came onto the shackle arms instead of the pin / and arc .... spread the arms and broke .... luckily I was trying to get ashore and made it back to throw out the plough anchor and as much chain as possible. I am not kidding the boat was bouncing on the bottom in water that normally was 13 - 15ft deep - that was how bad the conditions were at top of Langstone at Havant Quay .... the ground there is hard sand and stone.

Next day when weather had reduced - I went out to her and she had not moved more than a 100 yds - despite a whole night of F11 through the harbour ..... That is enough to convince me I have a reasonable system.

 

[Pisces]

Chickened out

I must admit I didn't go as I didn't fancy trying to anchor in the crowds - A pity but i felt with a new boat (only used it twice) that I have not yet anchored, it would be unwise to go. I prefer to look like an idiot in front of fewer people!

The other reason I did not go was I am not 100% confident in all the systems (particularly engine - my first attempt at servicing and repairing) and thought the chance of me being a pain to someone else was too high.

Cant decide if I was chicken or wise!