In Wind at anchor

rrees

rrees

Well-Known Member
Joined
27 Aug 2002
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283
Location
Sardinia and moving East
www.cruisinglogs.org.uk
We were looking to make a sail to raise up on the Backstay to stop us swinging so much but at around £400 where wondering if it was worth spending a bit more and going for a Wind Generator instead as we have a large Back transom to fix it from.
Have others found any difference to their swinging after installing a Wind Generator
 
None whatsoever,,, but we do get a lot more noise in the aft cabin!!!
 
The problem is not so much fear that the anchor won't hold as the boat is more stable head to wind, and wind-driven chop, rather than beam on, which is where our boat goes anchored in wind and no stream. Easier to cook, eat, sleep, sunbathe...
 
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rode is all chain have 80M and a snubber also but she does moves around

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Take the snubber to the stern cleat on the side opposite to the side you want the bow to pay off .... as you let out the chain, the stern will be pulled around and the wind will remain on one bow

at least that's how I read it. Tried it for the first time today and it worked for a while, (seemed to put a bit more tension on the anchor cable, but without the jerks of yawing), until the wind dropped, when she went where she wanted - had to deactivate the snubber, (by hauling some chain in), otherwise the snubber and chain dissappeared under the keel.

If the sail thing works, it almost certainly requires less attention than the snubber bridle thing.

Have you got a storm sail.... I'm going to have a go at rigging mine on the backstay, pinned to the boom somehow.
 
Depends on the boat

modern hulls tend to sail around at anchor.

Mine is bad, being a lightweight with high-aspect keel and shallow sections.

Contrary to the advice you've been given, I found using a mixed rode, with about 2/3 of the depth as nylon to be the best method of taming the boat. Use a 5:1 scope, put the nylon out after you've checked the anchor has dug in.

An aft mounted wind-generator did help, but wasn't a complete cure.

I use up to 10m of Octoplait with a Wichart chain grabber, and let out sufficient chain for the bight to touch the bottom - that acts as a further damper to prevent hunting.

83 overnight anchors, no drags max windspeed 38 knots.

Adding a riding sail is an inadequate attempt at an answer IMHO.
 
If you must hang a sail near your stern, please avoid this practice when in low wind but tide running.

I have been run into twice by others with sails set on the stern, the tide puts the vessel side on and she sails into the nearest boat, or rock, seems our hull is softer than a rock.

Avagoodweekend......
 
Another idea is to run out the kedge at 60-90 deg of the bower, then take light tension on it. It will stop that maddening shearing but is a faff to set up and has to be reset if the wind changes direction.
 
I suggest you direct your question to owners of similar boats to yours as not all boats will behave in similar ways.

I've thought about doing what you are suggesting but a few calculations show that my boat would need quite a big steadying sail which would be both expensive and difficult to implement. I've seen it used on other boats and it looks as though it has helped (but I never know what the improvement is, of course).

Aside from avoiding such situations (my preferred method /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif), I usually put down the kedge and moor between bower and kedge. Yes, it is a pain and it isn't often possible in a busy anchorage but you seldom find the anchorage busy in those conditions anyway.
 
Re: Depends on the boat

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no drags max windspeed 38 knots.

Adding a riding sail is an inadequate attempt at an answer IMHO.


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I regard my use of a riding sail as purely a crew-comfort measure, to swap high amplitude rolling for lower amplitude pitching by bringing the boat bow-on to wind and waves - not an attempt to make the anchor more secure, thus "inadequate" doesn't really come in to it.

Its probably not a good idea to use a riding sail in a tideway - I just don't think it would work unless it was huge.
 
Tha snubber led to the stern cleat is specifically to stop the boat rolling when the boat lies to the wind and the swell comes from a different direction, for instance when deflected around a headland. The snubber pulls the anchor lead point off centre and brings the bow into the swell so you get pitch rather than roll.
To stop yawing, a totally different problem, you could try a riding sail, or two anchors, or when you are using a snubber drop the chain bight right onto the sea bed to add weight and calm the bow's tendency to fall off.
I've found the best solution to yawing to be two anchors on all chain 50 or 60 degreees apart.
 
Hi
I made a riding sail from an old jib sail. Only about 1.5 sq metres on a Beneteau First 305. Deployed it in Croatia this year and it reduced the swing from more than 90 degrees to less than 20 degrees. Good result !!. No tides to worry about in Croatia (or not where we anchor).
 
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Tha snubber led to the stern cleat is specifically to stop the boat rolling when the boat lies to the wind and the swell comes from a different direction, for instance when deflected around a headland. The snubber pulls the anchor lead point off centre and brings the bow into the swell so you get pitch rather than roll.

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I agree, and got the idea from your article. My initial goal was to do just that - wind and swell from different directions, and it worked.

However, it also had the effect of putting the wind firmly on the port bow, (in this instant), thus stopping the yawing. I therefore guess that, with or without swell, putting the wind firmly on one bow would stop yawing, as the wind doesnt have a chance to get round the other bow. It puts you at a bit of an angle to the waves, if wind and waves are same direction, but I'm guessing that's better than being side on to them, and rolling exxcesively, every few minutes as a result of yawing.

Happy to be corrected - I'm brand new to this principle and only began to think about it for the first time yesterday.
 
I think you're right, it would help to stop yawing by pinning the bow on one side. I've never tested that out because yawing has never been a serious problem. I suppose the trade off would be, as you suggest, having the swell also off centre.
 
This is where I wish I knew how to post photographs on here;
We have a purpose-made riding sail that can be rigged in three minutes and dropped in one, and it 'Does the Business' to the extent that we have NO ranging about at anchor and the only sheering is to meet wind-shifts: then the response is so rapid that the boat barely heels.
The boat just sits quiet, gently pitching if there is a sea running. Because she is always within about 5 dgrees of the windline, the windforces are minimised, loads on the anchor and deck gear markedly reduced.
I was lucky enough to meet John Armitage (co-author of the Norwegian Cruising Guide) days after we had both endured hurricane-force winds. I had set my 'bullet-proof' storm staysail as a riding sail on the backstay, in the manner suggested by others on this post: is was OK up through F8 & F9, but as the wind really got up it could not cope with the sheering and was been thrashed to shreds. It had to come down, leaving us ranging and plunging even on spread anchors 45 degrees.
John rode out the same weather in relative comfort with his (home-made) riding sail, and kindly demonstrated it on my boat, with suggestions for making our own.
THE KEY is to use a V-twin configuration: like two small jibs joined at the luff, the clews spread apart by a spar (ours doubles as a boathook) The luff is vertical, just clear of the boom end, the head hoisted on the main haliard. The clews are just forward of the stern-rail, with the 'sheets' hitched round it. The tack has twin down-hauls with clips onto stanchion-bases. The sail is winched up bar taut: there is no flogging, no attrition, and it is silent.
It has become almost standard practice, after anchoring, to set the riding sail if there is any wind about, and we have used it a lot for six years. It has been a boon in several severe gales in the Hebrides, W.Ireland and Norway. As one visiting skipper remarked ''These should be standard equipment on cruising yachts!'
If there is enough interest, I will follow up with technical info on how and why it works, here or by PM's. (Not commercial)
 
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