do you wake up when the tide turns?

oldbilbo said:
I'm pleased to fall asleep with the stream chuckling along the sides. When that changes, due to tide or wind, I'm also pleased to wake, cozily think about what woke me, and consider whether I should be doing anything.....

Time and again, poking my head out the hatch and just looking around has given me some of the most memorable moments - stars, quiet moonlight, a slow-creeping dawn, a traditional gaffer working her way downriver on the first of the ebb....

That's part of the pleasure of boating, for me.
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Amen to that
 
oldbilbo said:
I'm pleased to fall asleep with the stream chuckling along the sides. When that changes, due to tide or wind, I'm also pleased to wake, cozily think about what woke me, and consider whether I should be doing anything.....

Time and again, poking my head out the hatch and just looking around has given me some of the most memorable moments - stars, quiet moonlight, a slow-creeping dawn, a traditional gaffer working her way downriver on the first of the ebb....

That's part of the pleasure of boating, for me.
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Perfect mental images.... couldn't agree more!!
 
Mostly I wake with the change of tide or wind. As already mentioned, the motion changes & I am sensitive to that. In some places the tide is strong enough to drag a bight of chain around the seabed & that can sound like dragging. It is very pleasant to snuggle down warm & cosy in 2 sleeping bags at this time of year & decide that I don't need to get up. Sometimes I will sit up & peep out of a window, but at most of my anchorages it will be pitch black & nothing to see.

Only if something feels or sounds wrong do I ned to get up & open the hatch. Fortunately the full cockpit enclosure allows me to do that while still in the sleeping bags.

A good drying spot has mud or soft sand & water like a mirror when you settle & lift so there is no bump or sound to disturb you. Others, you lift & bobble along the bottom as the incoming tide pushes you round the mooring or anchor, theres no way anyone could sleep thro that.
 
I'm always in the marina so normally, no. If it turns wind against tide then the SLOP SLOP SLOP sometimes wakens me. I imagine at anchor i'd wake up much more easily.

There is a lot of SLOP SLOP SLOP right now.

Got a couple of beers here, so no doubt will sleep like a top tonight.
 
Since I've started putting an anchor chum down (made from old exercise weights - convenient hole in the middle, PBO article a few years ago) I generally sleep through........unless the wind freshens a lot that is.....
 
If it's noisy

The anchor chain will normally wake me as it realigns to the new tide but I don't claim an inbuilt tide table.
First boat, 19' Prelude on the Severn estuary, woken middle of the night, louder gurgling than seemed right....
Investigation, the boat was broadside to the new tide.
Explanation, Polypropylene anchor warp which came with the boat floated and as the boat swung and neatly hooked around the back of the bilge keels.
Getting out of that has stayed in my mind for a long time.
 
johnphilip said:
The anchor chain will normally wake me as it realigns to the new tide but I don't claim an inbuilt tide table.
First boat, 19' Prelude on the Severn estuary, woken middle of the night, louder gurgling than seemed right....
Investigation, the boat was broadside to the new tide.
Explanation, Polypropylene anchor warp which came with the boat floated and as the boat swung and neatly hooked around the back of the bilge keels.
Getting out of that has stayed in my mind for a long time.
Click to expand...

Good story.........the unexpected...that's what sailing is all about.

Reminds me of an incident last season, I dropped the hook in our usual spot where I know the holding is good but this time the anchor (CQR) didn't dig in and we dragged, strange I thought, so I hauled up the anchor to find a sand filled kiddies sock on the end of it.........it must have been a million to one chance that the tip of my anchor found the opening of the sock....
 
I probably would if I anchored in a place with a significant tidal stream. However, where I am, boats at anchor tend to lie to the wind rather than the tide. On the West Coast of Scotland places with a significant tidal stream tend to be places where there's no chance of anchoring; the current would take away any sand/mud leaving bare rock. Most anchorages here are sheltered from tidal streams; that's why they are anchorages.
 
'do you wake up when the tide turns?'

Depends on the circumstances.

In a secure landlocked harbour with good holding I might sleep all night. At the other extreme I have anchored in places where I judged it best to stay awake all night!

Often I will set the alarm clock for the turn of the tide just to check everything is ok but I can't remember ever having to re-anchor as a result.

I have spent a lot of time at sea as a watchkeeper so getting up in the night is something I'm used to. (An ageing bladder also helps :o)
 
oldbilbo said:
I'm pleased to fall asleep with the stream chuckling along the sides. When that changes, due to tide or wind, I'm also pleased to wake, cozily think about what woke me, and consider whether I should be doing anything.....

Time and again, poking my head out the hatch and just looking around has given me some of the most memorable moments - stars, quiet moonlight, a slow-creeping dawn, a traditional gaffer working her way downriver on the first of the ebb....

That's part of the pleasure of boating, for me.
Click to expand...

Poetry, thanks for that.

I'm with Antarctic Pilot re my own experience, except Yarmouth, you need to pay attention in Yarmouth.
 
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