Couple of pics

[Murv]

Did our very first overnighter "on the hook" at Stangate creek Saturday night.
Beautiful weather on the way out, but it was a very restless night when the wind got up with all the noise from the water slapping on the hull.
Still, it was a good experience, but 20m of 8mm plus 15m of 6mm chain is not particularly easy to hand haul in a strong wind and tide!

 

[LenT]

Well done Murv, its much better to start anchoring in a quiet period, when you have not got a number of other boats swinging close by at their anchors.

Two points;

A) you may find it a little quieter just around the corner in Sharfleet Creek

B) if your don't already know this, (being without a power windlass myself) use your engine to motor up to the anchor, so that you recover most of the scope without too much effort. Once your chain is up and down, secure the chain and then use the motor again to break out the anchor, which saves another big tug. This way, you only ever lift up the chain and anchor without pulling the boat into wind and tide. ;o)

 

[Murv]

Thanks very much, funnily enough we bumped into some boaty friends on Sunday who advised that we probably anchored in about the worst spot! there were a few other boats in Sharfleet creek, probably plenty of room really but I wanted to be totally clear of anybody else just in case we dragged, but I should have ventured a lot further down Stangate to seek shelter.

I did try to motor towards the anchor, but the boat seemed to veer either side of the chain without reducing the pull on it, I'm not really sure how that was possible. I think we just need a lot more practice but it was impossible for me to try and recover the chain whilst making myself heard to my Wife at the helm. So, grunting the thing into the wind and tide seemed the only way although it wasn't a great deal of fun! must get some gloves, too, that chain is cold and slippery!
Thanks for the tips though, that's a very good one on breaking the anchor free, we'll have to get out and practice that when the conditions are better because on that Sunday morning the wind was pushing really hard with the tide and making things very difficult.

 

[R1chB1ch]

A) you may find it a little quieter just around the corner in Sharfleet Creek

Chris, moor dependant on which way the wind is blowing. If it's a SW then about 3/4 of the way down Stangate is usually the best. Southerly go down into slaughterhouse point and anything coming from the North or East go into Sharfleet. We usually moor quite near to the low water mark, that way get shelter from the land the majority of the tide.

Well done to you and Julie, another box ticked

 

[Murv]

Thanks Jenny, I'll remember that. We did actually start in Sharfleet, quite close to the LW mark. But, as the tide continued dropping, the boat was swinging around a lot and the depth was varying from 3 feet to 30 on the swing, I even lifted the outdrive just in case.
I was worried that if we swung into the shallows and dried there, it might have ended up tipping us over on the steep bank. That's the trouble with not having a clue, just never know what to do for the best!
So, decided to up anchor and move again. Then, of course, we were worried we were too far out!! But, too tired to drag that bloody anchor in again, decided it would have to do.
Next time we'll do it a bit more intelligently, I think we were more surprised at just having got there alive...
That little boat really swings wildly at anchor as well. All the other yachts and a large motor boat sat steadily facing the tide the whole time, we were all over the place!

On another note though, once again we managed to berth it on the Sunday without crashing! the crashing to successful mooring ratio is getting better all the time (I'll probably regret saying that next time)