Sleeping whilst at anchor?

[Bouba]

@Cornishwesterly This may work for you - or it may not! And it won't work in F9!!!

Don't try and sleep at first. Sit up in the cockpit and enjoy the evening/night. Let your thoughts wander; let others visit for a while and leave no memory. Think not of sleep but of interesting things: Lemorna, is there not a rock that was replaced? Did smugglers use this cove? Every now and then a noise of movement will bring you back to the present. A ripple slapping against the hull; a heading shift with a gust of wind; a saucepan shifting with the heel. Look around; be satisfied that you have not moved. Relax. Then, an hour or so later, when you're ready, go to bed.

Wake yourself at slack water and go back on deck. Repeat the above and watch the change of tide as you move and settle; listen to the sounds and feel the hull move to a new position. Relax; go back to bed.

To me, this going to bed relaxed makes the sleep much better quality. Plus I like being on deck at night - it's another world.

Slowly (fronted adverbial), you will get used to the sounds and feel of a boat at anchor. Your brain will hear and feel this and filter it out, thus letting you sleep soundly (think of the traffic noise you don't hear at home). If something else happens then you will wake; and deal with it. It may be nothing: a car starting up on a hill nearby; or a startled owl. You can investigate, check your position, listen for a while and, when you are satisfied that all is well, go back to bed.

I use a quiet alarm (app). It's the sound of a rowing boat, set to come on very quietly, and slowly build up in volume to just a above quiet over 20 mins. It means I am never torn from my sleep but awake gently. The only time it's gone wrong is when a rowing boat did go by! I was on deck in seconds.

I agree with CTVA that you would probably benefit in practising in large sandy bays rather than dramatic rock strewn coves

Hope that helps

That’s very good! I almost fell asleep reading it and it’s 8 am in a marina ????

 

[Star-Lord]

If it's blowing 40kn+ then checking every hour is sensible...mainly to take preventative action against boats draggingb into yours. Even after 5 years of anchoring if I am in a new spot then my sleep I will be less easy but on night 2 all is back to normal... sleeping like a log. If you set track on your chart plotters you will usually see a nice crescent of squigles. Set track and you will see everything. Very easy to think you are dragging when you are not! If you have set your anchor correctly it will not drag!!! If you have 2,500 rpm it in you can rest easy. If its blowing a gale then you need to keep an eye on other yachts not your own.

 

[Solent Sailor]

Worst night's sleep I've had in recent years was on a buoy in a very crowded Alderney - zero wind all night. We were swinging (very slowly) and at risk of coming into contact with neighbouring boats. I spent several hours waiting for us to touch the before deciding enough was enough. In the end, I deployed fenders in appropriate places and went to bed, on the basis that any gentle nudging against our neighbours would wake me as my head was practically next to the stern (aft cabin).

We never did touch and it proved to me that you can worry too much.

 

[bajo]

Well, I can see the attraction in the Caribbean, but in April, in the North Sea - or even the Solent? No thanks!

As for the OP's worries, I'd just get an anchor watch app for my phone and a glass of something that'll warm the cockles and calm the nerves. Do make sure it works when you phone's sleeping, though. I have an app with a timer, but it goes to sleep when the phone does. I keep it because it has other useful tricks, but the timer's 100% chocolate teapot!

 

[bajo]

I sail and then return to my mooring so I can drink eat and sleep soundly , an I have stopped dropping the anchor to o/n

 

[Bouba]

Tied up in a marina is not always a guarantee of a good nights sleep. If you have a spare space next to you, you never know who’s going to make a crash landing in the middle of the night.

 

[mattonthesea]

Tied up in a marina is not always a guarantee of a good nights sleep. If you have a spare space next to you, you never know who’s going to make a crash landing in the middle of the night.

Or snap your Aries off the back when leaving early morning!!! (Have to say that the charter owner was fantastically helpful)

 

[thinwater]

You’re a Luddite?

It’s quite clear that it’s no longer possible to put to sea without having a mobile phone full of Apps.

A personal log of experience has been usurped by a screen full of icons.?

Personally, I intentionally forget to turn on the electronics (all kinds) most of the time. Sailing is an anachronism anyway, and isn't that kind of the point? To sail by the senses.

If there are boats that I think will swing into me and I don't feel I can move, I hang fenders. I know I won't wake up in time to do anything about draggers.

 

[jwfrary]

I find leaving the track on the plotter more useful than a tight alarm, tend to use the ray view app to look at the plotter screen from my bunk if I wake up, then I can see a trend or not and get up or not.

On bigger motor yachts I have been known to set a guard zone on the radar so that if we drag shorewards it’s an extra alarm. But it’s no good in a busy anchorage!

 

[RJJ]

Put a kid on a snowboard, point them down hill, they go zooming off without fear and grow up being naturals at winter sports and can't understand why anyone would be nervous of a piste.

Put a 40-year-old on a snowboard for the first time and they're acutely aware of all the ways in which they can break. They aren't so confident.

Generations of people were brought up sailing by their families (you included I see) and grew up dong the things you describe, so it was normalised and they can't understand anyone's excessive worrying.

These days people who haven't spent a lifetime on boats are taught to sail by training centres. Training emphasises the things that can go wrong because if it didn't the gung-ho would quickly come to grief. Unfortunately for those already on the cautious side that heavy emphasis can make it sound like all the *possible* hazards are *probable* ones. It's really only the repeated reassurance of everything being fine that overcomes that.

It was a fair question. I think it also reflects (1) that more people do less intensive sailing; there are thousands of owners who barely ever anchor and never get over that nervous hump (2) everyone's risk tolerance is in general rather highly-strung.

I am trying to coach my 9 year old to be able to trot up the street to the shop and buy her sweets if she feels like it, on her own. It's about 200m of pavement and requires crossing one quiet road. My wife is horrified at the idea as are all our friends. I can't even have a conversation around "what are we supposed to be scared of?" Or encourage our daughter that grown-ups are there to be friendly and polite to, not scared of.


I mean, I know everyone's a paedophile these days, must be, I read it. Just like every driver is drunk, and every anchorage is bad holding, gusty and stormprone.

 

[Akestor]

After observing multiple times how the chain and anchor are doing when it's gusty, on different bottoms, I am sure it's not going to drag so if I can't sleep it's because of noise but not fearing of dragging.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Surely, it all also depends on where you're anchored. Many anchorages on the West Coast of Scotland are quite tight, with potentially weedy bottoms. But they are also well sheltered. I've dragged my anchor twice in such anchorages (inexperience meant that anchored in weed), once waking when we bumped rocks! But the anchorage was so sheltered that it really wasn't a big deal. Yes, we got excited and were running around in our pyjamas, but that was more about getting anchored again.

In more exposed anchorages, my main problem has been recovering the anchor! And I haven't anything fancy; just a CQR. But whenever I've anchored on decent ground, it's come up with a ton of mud, indicating (to me at least) that it was well and truly buried. I once anchored in 20+ metres of water with 50 metres of chain. The anchor came up full of rather nasty mud, despite the lack of scope, and (because it was an emergency situation caused by loss of engine) no possibility of setting it properly.

Basically, unless you're anchoring somewhere you shouldn't or in conditions where you ought to be in shelter, anchors just work!

 

[Neeves]

After observing multiple times how the chain and anchor are doing when it's gusty, on different bottoms, I am sure it's not going to drag so if I can't sleep it's because of noise but not fearing of dragging.

If its noise from the 'water' you need to learn to live with it. if its noise from the chain (grinding on your bow roller) use a snubber. The snubber will stop the grinding (on the bow roller, does nothing for grinding teeth) and is a less effective transmitter of the noise, compared to only chain, of the chain on the seabed. If you have a long snubber, boat length it will make your rode more effective. Using a snubber will protect your windlass from snatch loads.

But you know all this.

Jonathan

 

[nortada]

OK here I go;

Some rules of engagment/ ground rules first if you like;

1 - Its not about types of anchors
2- Its not about snubbers
3 - Its not about anchoring technique
4 - No arguing please

OK - I have started to anchor alot overnight in prep for my trip south. I have a Raymarine Axiom CP, a Samsung tablet and phone with Anchor Pro app and Navionics on.

My current anchoring modus operandi is to drop the pick, set it, prove its dug in and go below for a cuppa. I set an alarm on my phone and tablet, 3 position fix on paper chart and go to sleep for an hour. Wake up and visually check outside bearings etc to ensure all is well and Im still where I planned to be. Repeat every hour (well try anyway).

It sounds all good but where it falls down is that I cant seem to sleep well at all! Im convinced Im going to drag and end up on the beach/rocks with someone from here posting a photo of the carnage alongside some smart arse comments

Im trying to achive a good nights sleep and letting my tablet/phone take care of the watch - am I missing anything else that may help? What does everybody else who anchors overnight do to achieve a good nights sleep?

Thanks

God what a palaver

We drop the hook, have quick drink and off to bed for a good kip - leave SHMBO to do all the worrying.?

Worked well for the last 20 years as liveaboards.

Thanks to Covid, we have been on board continuously, since 23 Oct 2019.

 

[Zing]

I sleep well. Straight through. The worst problems I experience is others dragging into me. I haven't dragged for a long time since getting the Rocna and usually don’t bother with an anchor alarm, though I always have my phone on with plotter running in case of a storm in the night, so am always ready for action. Nothing much to do about the risk of others dragging. Maybe fenders out might help. I once had a boat drag and start its engine feet away, the prop bashing my anchor chain as they nearly collided. Wow, that makes a noise in the cabin, heart attack time - to wake the dead or make you dead.

 

[Neeves]

I sleep well. Straight through. The worst problems I experience is others dragging into me. I haven't dragged for a long time since getting the Rocna and usually don’t bother with an anchor alarm, though I always have my phone on with plotter running in case of a storm in the night, so am always ready for action. Nothing much to do about the risk of others dragging. Maybe fenders out might help. I once had a boat drag and start its engine feet away, the prop bashing my anchor chain as they nearly collided. Wow, that makes a noise in the cabin, heart attack time - to wake the dead or make you dead.

Will not have done much for your galvanising either. (nor their prop)

It amazing how much noise a chain can make.

Jonathan

 

[awol]

No mention of kelp? That wonderful vegetation which can take full reverse revs without budging but then lets go for no apparent reason a couple of hours later. By the way it's illegal to harvest it without a licence.

 

[Bouba]

No mention of kelp? That wonderful vegetation which can take full reverse revs without budging but then lets go for no apparent reason a couple of hours later. By the way it's illegal to harvest it without a licence.

This a nice Wikipedia description of kelp using all our terminology
In most kelp, the thallus (or body) consists of flat or leaf-like structures known as blades. Blades originate from elongated stem-like structures, the stipes. The holdfast, a root-like structure, anchors the kelp to the substrate of the ocean. Gas-filled bladders (pneumatocysts) form at the base of blades of American species, such as Nereocystis lueteana, (Mert. & Post & Rupr.)[5] to hold the kelp blades close to the surface.

 

[awol]

This a nice Wikipedia description of kelp using all our terminology
In most kelp, the thallus (or body) consists of flat or leaf-like structures known as blades. Blades originate from elongated stem-like structures, the stipes. The holdfast, a root-like structure, anchors the kelp to the substrate of the ocean. Gas-filled bladders (pneumatocysts) form at the base of blades of American species, such as Nereocystis lueteana, (Mert. & Post & Rupr.)[5] to hold the kelp blades close to the surface.

The "holdfast" bit definitely breaches the Trades Description Act!

 

[Akestor]

If its noise from the 'water' you need to learn to live with it. if its noise from the chain (grinding on your bow roller) use a snubber. The snubber will stop the grinding (on the bow roller, does nothing for grinding teeth) and is a less effective transmitter of the noise, compared to only chain, of the chain on the seabed. If you have a long snubber, boat length it will make your rode more effective. Using a snubber will protect your windlass from snatch loads.

But you know all this.

Jonathan

Hi Jonathan, most of the noise coming from the wind when it's windy! Otherwise, we get good sleep when it's calm. Good you mention the snubber ropes, I always set them up once the anchor is dropped, otherwise the chain load strains the bowsprit and the windlass. Not all boaters do this and they just leave it on the windlass. I think it is a good practice. The exception is all catamarans do use a snubber going from one hull to the other ( obviously to protect the hulls from chain chafing?)