Do you stare at anchorers

jonic

jonic

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Following on from the waving thread, do you drop everything and then get up, put both hands on hips, and stand and stare at those anchoring perfectly safely some distance behind you.

Or do you give a smile and/or wave and carrying on doing what you were doing, so they can quietly get on with it.

I seem to have had a run of the former here in the USA.:mad:. It immediately leads to a jammed windlass or three or four attempts to set the hook then falling over on the fore deck.
 
jonic said:
Following on from the waving thread, do you drop everything and then get up, put both hands on hips, and stand and stare at those anchoring perfectly safely some distance behind you.

Or do you give a smile and/or wave and carrying on doing what you were doing, so they can quietly get on with it.

I seem to have had a run of the former here in the USA.:mad:. It immediately leads to a jammed windlass or three or four attempts to set the hook then falling over on the fore deck.
Click to expand...

We had a Frenchman do that to us in Camaret, followed by yelling that we were too close which was odd since the anchor was still in the bow roller and we were still moving... We were going to anchor near to a friend's boat but as a result of being shouted at moved farther inshore. Said Frenchman later rowed over to our friends and apologised for being rude - but said nothing at all to us! By way of explanation to our friends he said his boat had once been nearly wrecked by another boat dragging into his in Venezuela. This might of course be a case of what goes round comes round as I have yelled at many a French boat for anchoring too close to us, although in recent years they seem to have improved their technique or maybe we have just been lucky.
 
I had a German fellow on a charter come and anchor just in front of me by dropping about 5m of chain and coming to rest nicely alongside me. I smiled and very politely said he would be better off behind me and with a lot more chain. He less than politely declined opened a beer and kicked back.

Oh well.

Then at 2am when the gentle breeze had swung us all so that he was now behind me and less than a metre from my stern he dinghied over, knocked on the hull and with a knowledgeable smirk said "Yorve anhcvor izz dragging"
 
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Not as a general rule as I hate anchoring myself. But if they are obvioulsy too close, yes.

Although I will just generally sit in the cockpit with a glass of wine, with one eye on the "action" and the other on a roving fender!

We watched last weekend as a poor charter boat drift through an anchorage at least 5 time before their hook held. Now there were a few skippers up on deck keeping a wary eye on proceedings!

Bit like mooring in a marina. No mater what time of day or year, you can bet there will be somebody watching. Just wish they would give a cheer when you do actually get it all right :)
 
Noticed a couple of guys admirimg my anchoring technique in a calm bay on a nice hot sunny day.

As usual SWMBO went up to the pointy end and did the business with the anchor, however this time she was just wearing her bikini, also her similarly clad friend wanted to see how it was done, so joined her.

It was then I realised that It was not MY technique that they were observing.

It was also a split second later that the ladies onboard the other boat realised what "their" guys were watching, not sure what nationality they were but I think I got the gist of the following conversation helped by the very animated arm movements.
 
The last time I anchored in studland, I thought that I was a bit close in the end to the adjacent boat. I sat in the bow and contemplated how far to move, when the guy popped out of the cabin and stared for some time, then got out the biggest fender I have ever seen.

I let him set it up, had a cup of tea and then upped anchor and moved back a bit before we swung. I don't think he was amused, but hey, I don't anchor that much, but I am getting better.

Dave
 
I do keep an eye on others anchoring around me, but try not to be obvious.

I had my cum-uppance a few weeks ago up the Roach; a chap and wife in a Leisure 23 anchored near where I was rafted to a friends boat at anchor. Leisure 23 anchored with much shouting and waving of arms then both disappeared down below. They dragged but eventually noticed and repeated the shouting and arm waving to anchor again. Repeated again before their anchor held.

We were quietly smiling to each other when we realised our anchor was dragging. It turned out that in the half mile available, my mate had managed hit a target 6 inches across that turned out to be the handle of a lorry battery. He made such a fuss pulling it on deck, then threw it back in!

It answered the question we had been kicking around earlier; is it the weight or shape of the anchor that matters?

Well, super heavy, battery shaped anchors drag in the mud. CQR less than half the weight doesn't.
 
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