How long do you dare leave your anchored boat…..

[sailaboutvic]

And yet, the round-the-world liveboards will regularly leave their anchored boats for hours and hours.

Yes we do for many years we lived full time on board and we offen went off exploring places,
so do many other cruisers .
as long as your sensible know the limit’s and have a good knowledge what the weather and actually know how to anchor ,
I don’t see a problem ,
it the people who turn up throw a anchor over with just about enough chain to touch the bottom don’t set it then jump in there dinghy and go off are the once that get the problem and cause other problem too.
my question is what do people do at 2am when the tide turns , get up for a few hours and watch to see if their boat is holding ?
if I did that I never get much sleep .
it’s a done deal if there was any weather coming inyou wouldn’t leave the boat on its own.

 

[johnalison]

Newtown has some funny little patches of harder, slippery stuff under a layer of soup, we find. We dragged there last year, one week after watching a new DF40 do the same.

I don't know about Newtown, having only been there once, but there are places locally where even the Essex mud fails to hold because of some kinds of weed growth, though this can be temporary.

 

[Chiara’s slave]

I don't know about Newtown, having only been there once, but there are places locally where even the Essex mud fails to hold because of some kinds of weed growth, though this can be temporary.

That could be it. I haven’t dived on it to investigate.

 

[KeelsonGraham]

Yes we do for many years we lived full time on board and we offen went off exploring places,
so do many other cruisers .
as long as your sensible know the limit’s and have a good knowledge what the weather and actually know how to anchor ,
I don’t see a problem ,
it the people who turn up throw a anchor over with just about enough chain to touch the bottom don’t set it then jump in there dinghy and go off are the once that get the problem and cause other problem too.
my question is what do people do at 2am when the tide turns , get up for a few hours and watch to see if their boat is holding ?
if I did that I never get much sleep .
it’s a done deal if there was any weather coming inyou wouldn’t leave the boat on its own.

Anchor Pro has solved my sleeping problem while at anchor. Used to have very disturbed nights, now I sleep like a baby after watching the boat’s track around the anchor for a while and knowing that, at night, the alarm is loud enough to wake me.

 

[noelex]

The biggest concern leaving the boat at anchor is the risk of other boats dragging.

 

[capnsensible]

The biggest concern leaving the boat at anchor is the risk of other boats dragging.

Or, in lots of places, getting your stuff nicked.....

 

[ryanroberts]

I would have said that until the last time I went to Newtown Creek. I went to sleep anchored halfway up Clamerkin Lake and woke up bumping against the gravel bank on the west side of the Creek, having dodged half a dozen boats on my way. First time I'd dragged with that anchor in 15 years or more.

I dragged there after 4 days without movement! I think due to weed build up on the yacht legs

 

[sailingmartin]

Anchor Pro has solved my sleeping problem while at anchor. Used to have very disturbed nights, now I sleep like a baby after

Likewise, I always use an anchor alarm on the first night and wait for a tide change if somewhere tidal. However I do go ashore fairly quickly as the dog likes a walk! My anchor alarm (on iPad) remotely sends signal to my iPhone so I can keep an eye open although I seldom look other in places that might be a bit iffy. Happy to go ashore for a good few hours once settled.

 

[RupertW]

I was amazed to find boats at anchor and left on their own for days in the South of France, presumably to save marina fees.

Without tides and often with predictable winds that‘s not usually a problem although I admit I haven‘t yet left ours overnight,

 

[noelex]

One useful way of monitoring your boat and others when ashore is to leave the AIS on and use one of the many internet apps to check the position. If you zoom in using track history, the swing can be seen so even a small drag can be picked up.

It is especially useful for monitoring other boats in the anchorage (which I indicated in a previous post is my biggest concern).

For example, below is the track history of a boat on Marine Traffic. The arc shows it is maintaining a nice steady distance from the anchor. You can click on any other boat in the anchorage that is transmitting on AIS to see if their swing radius is stable. This is useful even if you are staying on the boat.

 

[trevbouy]

Is that free or subscription based?

 

[noelex]

Free.

Some companies demand payment to see the track history, but Marine Traffic does not, providing you use the website (marinetraffic.com) not the app.

 

[ylop]

it is only useful (1) if the other boats have AIS transponder - my rough guess is that is less that 1/4 of pleasure craft? (2) if they leave it turned on when at anchor - my even rougher estimate is that about 1/2 seem to switch AIS off when they shut the boat down for the day. (3) you have internet signal to access marine traffic; (4) the anchorage is in range of someone with a marine traffic "listening station" (or do any of the plotters provide this track history function?). So perhaps 1:8 boats in your anchorage are transmitting constantly for you to watch them? or are your anchorages better populated with techy people?

 

[noelex]

So perhaps 1:8 boats in your anchorage are transmitting constantly for you to watch them? or are your anchorages better populated with techy people?

We do better than 1:8, but your point is still perfectly valid, this cannot be used to monitor every boat. It is still useful.

If trying to track your own boat while you are away you can control if AIS is fitted and left on.

Below, for example, was the plot of a boat dragging near us just a couple of weeks ago. The plot provides some nice information such as where the direction where they dropped their anchor and also shows the drag distance and the fact that their position has not stabilised. This shows they have not just let out some more chain and also shows that the anchor has not regained grip.

 

[noelex]

This is another recent example. This boat was directly in front of us. I have removed the boat name to not cause embarrassment.

It was much more chaotic because the skipper elected to use the engine for a couple of hours to reduce the dragging and to keep the boat in position while the weather (a nearby tropical storm) passed.

In this case radar was more useful as we were aboard our boat, but it was still helpful to see the track history of the dragging boat. This information is not available via radar.

AIS is often not the only, or best way of tracking if a boat is draging, but is still a useful and little used option especially as is can be done from anywhere, even if a long distance from the boat.

 

[Neeves]

We often anchor and stay in the same place for days (and nights). We don't move. Tides can be as much as 30cm.

Sometimes we leave, to drop a crayfish pot or climb a hill, which might be for 8 hours. We don't move.

As mentioned we too sleep, for 8 hours. We don't move.

Its really about the seabed and the weather. If a 'Storm' is forecast, we don't go ashore, we tend not to go ashore when its teaming with rain.

We seldom see other yachts.

The OP raised the question of a psychological limit....

The limit depends on how much you anchor, your confidence in the kit (relates to first point), the weather, the tide (and any tidal flow - some of 'our' anchorages have 7 knot flows, not that we use them).

Sometimes our limit might be measured in a few minutes, other times 'the hours of daylight'.

There is no one right answer, for anyone.

We would not rely on internet or a mobile phone signal - there aren't any.

Jonathan

 

[srm]

What's all the fuss about?

I used to leave my first boat on its anchors for a week or so at a time until I could get away from work and sail on a bit further. Simply laid a mooring with two anchors and it was always where we had left it. Admittedly, I chose anchorages with little or no tidal stream and the area had a smallish tidal range but always a risk of winds so far north.

While cruising I would happily go off for a day leaving the boat on a properly set anchor, and of course would turn in at night without an anchor watch. Perhaps all the electronic toys mentioned above and anchor threads on the forum only help to increase paranoia?

However, many years later my insurance now limits unattended anchoring to 24 hours.

 

[Neeves]

What's all the fuss about?

I used to leave my first boat on its anchors for a week or so at a time until I could get away from work and sail on a bit further. Simply laid a mooring with two anchors and it was always where we had left it. Admittedly, I chose anchorages with little or no tidal stream and the area had a smallish tidal range but always a risk of winds so far north.

While cruising I would happily go off for a day leaving the boat on a properly set anchor, and of course would turn in at night without an anchor watch. Perhaps all the electronic toys mentioned above and anchor threads on the forum only help to increase paranoia?

However, many years later my insurance now limits unattended anchoring to 24 hours.

Anchor threads do appear to engender fear - whereas they should engender relaxation.

I had a thread years ago, Dragging of anchors, on whether member's modern anchor had dragged. Basically no-one admitted to their anchor dragging. Since then there have been a select few reports of modern anchors dragging but usually, but not exclusively, due to known weaknesses in the design of specific anchors (roll bar clogging) (though the numbers are statistically not significant) or lack of expertise/attention to detail. Dragging of modern anchors seems to be in the statistical region of the likelihood of having a puncture. If you use the YBW search facility you will find a cornucopia of threads on anchors dragging.

Basically the propensity to anchors dragging is limited to older designs, complacency or simply lack of knowledge/practice. Most people with modern anchors will anchor for a couple of hours, over night and for a few days and simply never report having dragged. You simply do not read reports here of anchor alarms going off, being woken by the yacht 'grounding'. Sadly the few reports of anchors dragging, for example the Scilly storm - there is no analysis made of ground tackle nor deployment technique of those yachts that did drag.

You do read of people concerned of the people to windward as they might drag - but the numbers that actually drag - not mentioned.

If you have the right gear, appropriate anchor, snubber(s), deploy the correct amount of chain, power set and anchor in a 'known' anchorage - then you are as safe as houses. I'm of the belief that most anchors do not drag as a result of lack of holding capacity (carrying an undersized anchor is unusual - we are in that group) - but as a result of chop and veering.

But don't be complacent - houses do catch fire - but statistically this is not significant (unless its your house). Similarly if there is a Storm forecast take appropriate precautions (deploy a second anchor to cover any forecast change in wind direction or simply move.

Basically modern anchors are reliable - the weakness is commonly the owner.

We are lucky, we have access to reliable anchors, we have access here to an enormous knowledge base - and most people have taken note.

As 'srm' said - what is all the fuss about, relax.

Jonathan

 

[noelex]

The number of dragging boats will depend very much on the conditions (especially the quality of the substrate) and varies considerably from location to location and season to season.

You can see the dates on the AIS tracks of the dragging boats that I posted as examples previously. Both of these dragging instances have been in last seven weeks. In this time I have also seen two other boats drag (not on AIS).

Only one of these was using a new generation anchor (unfortunately, the boat directly in front of us with the erratic AIS track) with plenty of scope, good technique etc.

This is only a small sample, but not atypical of what I generally see. The risk of dragging is not high, but it does occur, contrary to what is often posted on this forum.

 

[Elessar]

Luxury. Used to dream of 5m tides….
View attachment 161155

Only 10 m. Pah