deploying a sea anchor to prevent rolling when anchored

[SteveSarabande]

I tried deploying my sea anchor over the side to prevent rolling side to side at anchor. The instructions said it would work. All it did was get caught in the tidal current and drag behind the boat on the surface, not downwards.

Has anyone else got this to work?

 

[sarabande]

you need quite abig weight below the canvas work. If you websearch for "flopper stopper" you will see lots of practical solutions. Oh, and few rude ones as well.

 

[oldbilbo]

I am reliably informed there is nothing, absolutely nothing, that stops rhythmic rolling at anchor. It is one of the Devil's Torments. Unless, of course, you have a bilge-keeler and take advantage of its hull form to dry out while you seek some respite from the gyrations of the ocean.

I knew it was good for something!

 

[john_morris_uk]

I am reliably informed there is nothing, absolutely nothing, that stops rhythmic rolling at anchor. It is one of the Devil's Torments. Unless, of course, you have a bilge-keeler and take advantage of its hull form to dry out while you seek some respite from the gyrations of the ocean.

I knew it was good for something!

That's not quite true as I have stopped it successfully on a few occasions.

Either:

Put a bridle to the back of the boat and alter your angle to the swell.

or

Put the kedge out and pull the boat round so that you are facing the swell.

(The latter method is the one I have used most successfully...)

 

[TQA]

That's not quite true as I have stopped it successfully on a few occasions.

Either:

Put a bridle to the back of the boat and alter your angle to the swell.

or

Put the kedge out and pull the boat round so that you are facing the swell.

(The latter method is the one I have used most successfully...)

Use both the above - they work!

 

[Iliade]

Just veer the boat with the kedge and tie the sea anchor from the masthead on a long line, say a cable... WCPGW?

 

[BruceDanforth]

or add more hulls

 

[oldbilbo]

That's not quite true as I have stopped it successfully on a few occasions.

Either:

Put a bridle to the back of the boat and alter your angle to the swell.

or

Put the kedge out and pull the boat round so that you are facing the swell.

(The latter method is the one I have used most successfully...)

Hah! I just KNEW 'someone' would allude - but gracefully and obliquely - to his recent gentle anchoring all over the Caribbean where there is only the ever-present long ocean swell to lull one to sleep.... "with the steady trade winds blowing..."

I was thinking of a nameless anchorage tight in in a nameless bay just SE of Sark, where the fetch from a westerly 'blow' worked around both ends of the island, and also bounced back off the cliffs nearby. Regardless of what we did, whatever we tried, we bounced, leapt, lurched, rolled and yawed all a long and sleepless night. Nameless pans jumped out of the oven. Nameless things rolled and clunked about in lockers. Nameless dishes rattled. Remorselessly...
No, that place was NOT nameless - I called it every name I could think of.....

 

[graham]

I dont mind the boat rolling so long as everything is quiet. I remember once anchored in the lee of St Thomas head having to remove the cooker from its gimbles ( in the early hours )and wrap it in a towel before it would finally be silent. Choice of that or Davey Jones Locker then cold food for a fortnight..

 

[john_morris_uk]

Hah! I just KNEW 'someone' would allude - but gracefully and obliquely - to his recent gentle anchoring all over the Caribbean where there is only the ever-present long ocean swell to lull one to sleep.... "with the steady trade winds blowing..."

I was thinking of a nameless anchorage tight in in a nameless bay just SE of Sark, where the fetch from a westerly 'blow' worked around both ends of the island, and also bounced back off the cliffs nearby. Regardless of what we did, whatever we tried, we bounced, leapt, lurched, rolled and yawed all a long and sleepless night. Nameless pans jumped out of the oven. Nameless things rolled and clunked about in lockers. Nameless dishes rattled. Remorselessly...
No, that place was NOT nameless - I called it every name I could think of.....

It wasn't that trip I thought of - although if you want me to 'place drop' I did set a kedge when anchored off Rio de Janeiro once to try and stop the rolling. It worked for a while until it dragged.

You don't have to be at anchor: when sailing down wind I have used up all the tea towels and towels on board stuffing them into lockers trying to stop the contents jangling and crashing with every roll.

 

[Iliade]

or *very* long beaching legs...

 

[Steve C Cronin]

Hah! I just KNEW 'someone' would allude - but gracefully and obliquely - to his recent gentle anchoring all over the Caribbean where there is only the ever-present long ocean swell to lull one to sleep.... "with the steady trade winds blowing..."

I was thinking of a nameless anchorage tight in in a nameless bay just SE of Sark, where the fetch from a westerly 'blow' worked around both ends of the island, and also bounced back off the cliffs nearby. Regardless of what we did, whatever we tried, we bounced, leapt, lurched, rolled and yawed all a long and sleepless night. Nameless pans jumped out of the oven. Nameless things rolled and clunked about in lockers. Nameless dishes rattled. Remorselessly...
No, that place was NOT nameless - I called it every name I could think of.....

"La Maseline", perchance?

We used it a lot in the 70s and 80s but for the majority of that time we had either a motorboat or a twin keeler so we dried out in Creux instead!

 

[oldbilbo]

"La Maseline", perchance?

In Baleine Bay, close in opposite Convache Chasm....