Lulworth Cove nightmare

[Nick_H]

Happened a while back (31 July), we anchored up our 46' flybridge in Lulworth for the night, and as it was a beautiful still evening took the tender to the beach for a barbie and a bottle of plonk. Went to bed with just a hint of a breeze starting to show, but no strong winds forecast. About 3 am my wife woke me up as the bow was blowing from one side to the other (why do boats do that?), and each time the anchor chain slammed tight there was a grinding sound as the windlass clutch released chain. Went up on deck in my dressing gown to be met by a howling wind, must have been a 6 at least, to find we were now pretty close to the yacht behind, so had to up anchor in the dark and head out of the cove. Managed to get a quarter turn on the windlass nut, then headed back into the cove to re-anchor. We got the anchor down, but must have been a rocky patch as this time the anchor itself started dragging, and we were soon rapidly approaching the same yacht again. We upped anchor and left the cove again, came back in for a third time, put out loads of chain and it just about held, although as we swung from one side to the other at anchor we were swinging perilously close to the Fairline 30 to our left. Rather than lift anchor again I stayed up in my dressing gown, fender in hand, until about 7 am when the wind eased as quickly as it began.

After a couple of hours sleep we headed out into a beautiful sunny morning, to hear on VHF the end of a Mayday in Worbarrow Bay where a 36' cruiser had ended up on the rocks and sunk, presumably also caught out by the unforecast wind. Anybody know if the occupants of the cruiser were OK? Another bottle of wine before bed and we may have shared their fate.

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[PhilF]

its all a bit hit and miss this boating lark innet. Glad you were safe

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[capsco]

I think that you are supposed to take the anchor load to a cleat, not leave it on the windlass clutch, this would have prevented your initial problem!!!!

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[Oldhand]

Don't know how general it is but Lofrans specifically state that anchoring loads shouldn't be taken by the winch. Solution is a chain hook with a sturdy line to a suitable eye or cleat.

Boats sheer about in wind when the chain catenary is taken up and the anchoring snatch load pulls the bow towards the anchor. Chain then slackens until the wind blows the boat off again and the proecess repeats. I would expect a 46' Flybridge boat to have high windage so I guess you need a longer chain catenary to reduce the snatching but then you need more space.

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[Deleted User YDKXO]

My sympathies except I agree with the others that you cant rely on the winch alone to hold the anchor. We had a similar experience recently anchored overnight in a cala in Ibiza. We ate dinner at a beach restaurant, downed several bottles of vino and retired to bed content in the knowledge that the boat was swinging gently to a light offshore breeze
About 1.00am, I was awoken by the sound of waves slapping against the hull and a very unpleasant pitching motion. I went out on deck and saw that the gentle offshore breeze had turned into a distinctly fresh onshore wind. The anchor appeared to be holding so I went back to bed but neither I nor anybody else on board got a wink of sleep. In fact I spent most of the night sitting on the flybridge waiting for the Med dawn
I learnt 2 things that night, firstly how secure the anchor can be if the holding is good and you put enough scope of chain out (x4 in my case) and how noisy the forward cabin is with waves slapping the bow

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[duncan]

I find snoring after the vino can mask the slapping...../forums/images/icons/smile.gif

<hr width=100% size=1>madesco madidum ..../forums/images/icons/smile.gif

 

[Medskipper]

My brother has been cruising the Med for the last five years and has had many a night like you describe! he is a rag and stick man!

In the summer months there are many cruising yachtsmen who anchor at night regularly because its just too expensive to use marinas. And the Med is hit by high winds every now and again. His solution is to put out two anchors and at least four times the scope of chain. The anchors are placed at about 40-45 degrees to each other so that the bow of the vessel sits between the two. Even this has not been enough at times and he has had to sit up all night with the engine running in gear heading into the wind to take the force off his anchors! he has seen a number of boats washed up the beeches and destroyed, probably because of the vino effect on such nights!!

Barry


<hr width=100% size=1>I just want to retire with my boat to the Med!

 

[BrendanS]

Really not sure about this. Two anchors works fine if you can sit at the same angle for an extended period of time. This doesn't work in reality as tide and winds change. Far better to sit off one well dug in anchor that will take changes of tide and wind direction. #

This is down far more to your anchor and chain/rode setup to your size of boat than anything else.

If you really need to motor, then you are into a different set of conditions entirely. Taking pressure off the anchor is one thing, expecting an anchor to stay set while you motor against tide or wind is entirely different. Think about what you are expecting the anchor to do?

<hr width=100% size=1>Me transmitte sursum, caledoni

 

[tcm]

um, Lulworth is described as having "poor" holding, so i wdn't ever stay there overnight.

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[Planty]

Just an observation, don't notice any one mentioning use of anchor alarms as found within chartplotter? I have found them useful during lunches etc. any one else use these overnight or are they just a pain?? Paul

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[jimi]

.. and if it was like that, I think I'd up anchor and whiz to Weymouth, not really far.

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[Deleted User YDKXO]

Yes, good point, but the alarm on my plotter is'nt loud enough to wake you up if you're sleeping in the forward cabin
Anyone know if Raymarine offer a remote alarm kit?

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[jimi]

Could you not use the anchor alarm on a handheld GPS in these circumstances?

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[tcm]

exaccerly. Attempting reanchoring in Lulworth cove, at night, with some wind. duh!

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[Deleted User YDKXO]

I've spent quite a few nights anchored out in the Med this year due to ludicrous marina prices (£120 a night in August in Ibiza). Although, in theory, 2 anchors gives you better holding power, I'm not sure it's a good idea.
Problem is that you choose an anchorage with an offshore wind, then a seabreeze blows up in the afternoon so you turn 180deg, then in the evening a landbreeze blows up so you turn again and then, usually, by dawn, the wind returns to its original direction so you turn again. You cant control the direction of the turn so the two anchors may overlap once, twice or even three times so, if you have to leave the anchorage in a hurry, there's a real risk both anchors are tangled. The other problem is that many Med anchorages are very crowded, even overnight, so, if you lay out 2 anchors, there is also the risk that somebody else lays their anchor over the top of one of them
Agree with Brendan. I'd rather have one good heavy anchor with a good scope of chain

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[Deleted User YDKXO]

I suppose you could but I think the aerial would need line of sight to the satellites to get a fix and that may not be possible in a cabin and the battery usage would be v heavy? I guess you could fix up a remote aerial and a 12V socket in the cabin

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[Nick_H]

Thanks for the tip on the chain hook, will rig something up. I'd also thought about the alarm function on the GPS, but it would surely go off all the time when the tide changes. Say you're in 6m of water, so you've got about 25m of chain out. The tide or wind then changes and you swing through 180 degrees, you would be 50 metres from your original position without any problems with the anchor. You would also have to allow for the tide dropping and the accuracy of your GPS set, so could well need to set the alarm offset for about 75 metres to avoid false alarms. In most of the anchorages we use you would be getting intimate with the neighbours well before then.

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[Medskipper]

Yes Brendan, I understand what you are saying, but he is in the med, (almost Tideless) the winds of course can change though. He sets his main anchor and then motors out in dinghy with his second anchor and sets it at correct angle and distance. As for leaving in a hurry! well he is just never in a hurry! he is cruising for the rest of his natural, so when he leaves he ties a fender to the second anchor and just drops it overboard and then retrieves his main anchor. He is then free to go back and collect his fender attached to his second anchor. As for busy anchorages, yes its always crowded and yes he always has problems with boats crossing their anchor chains with his own, but he maintains its almost always motor boaters who don't know what they are doing most of the time, so two chains or one he still has to suffer this problem! He ties a ball or fender to his anchor as a tripping line and says that if he had a pound for every motor boat skipper that has tried to tie up to it he would be a rich man!!!

Barry


<hr width=100% size=1>I just want to retire with my boat to the Med!

 

[tcm]

i agree with the idea of sitting on one anchor t hold the boat, any other anchors to hold tyhe boat into the swell.

Incidentally, most habitual anchor-types suggest far more than 4 x depth. If i have the space, i put the whole flippin lot out. If i haven't got the space, i still put the whole lot out and then a kedge to limit the swing, and let neighbours know too.

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[duncan]

Re: Alternatively

and particularily valid for a mobo, where you really don't what excess weight on the nose all the time and tend to use minimum anchors, you could add a further anchor a metre down from the main one on the same chain.


In my case I have a 10kg claw to 15m 8mm chain (then 200m 14mm anchorplait) which is a little over the top for a 7.8m/2.5 t craft but carry a further 7.5kg claw rigged to 5m chain/warp as a spare - removing the 7.5 and shackling it to the main gear is my 'uncertain weather/overnight' rig - er made off to a cleat of course............/forums/images/icons/smile.gif

mind you I also have a 56lb weight that was originally aquired to slow down the drift when fishing offshore banks but, despite it's shape, did a pretty good job of anchoring the boat solid! Now threading the chain through that as well as 2 anchors................
<hr width=100% size=1>madesco madidum ..../forums/images/icons/smile.gif