the Rolliest Anchorage?

mandlmaunder

mandlmaunder

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Having been spoilt over the years with many great and comfortable anchorages it was a bit a an awakening a few days ago to stop in Virgin Gorda's North sound for a bit of peace and quiet only to have it spoiled by some rich so and so's coming over from Necker island to water ski in the sound, nothing illegal just bad timing on our part I guess.

That brought to mind some of the other naturally or not so naturally rolly anchorages that we have stayed in , usually not for long.

Probably the worst experience for us was La Coruna, North West Spain, many fishing boats leaving and arriving at high speed at any hour of the day and night.

What's yours??

Mark
 
Cala Degollador, Ceutadella, Menorca, small bay to the south of the channel. Apart from a SW swell the wash created by the ferries coming and going, at full speed, into the channel was bloody awful. They come in so fast and the channel is so tight that they have to have a police rib on duty till gone midnight every day just to clear the channel of other boats before the ferries come in. Why the council doesn't enforce a 5 knot (or 3 for that matter) speed limit is beyond me.....

The only place we've seriously dragged anchor too.

Jet skiers /wakeboarders and people generally having fun doesn't bother me at all, so long as they don't end up on the inside of my boat.......
 
mandlmaunder said:
What's yours??

Mark
Click to expand...

Ilheus, south of Bahia State, Brazil

Though natural swell (no jetsky nor anything else to shoot at), the first time I was forced to sleep with a lee cloth at anchor :ooh:
There is a tidal stream that keeps the boat perpendicular to the swell, the boat was rolling 10cm from the bulwark on one side, then 10cm on the other side

It lasted for a couple of days, then we liked the place and eventually stayed there for almost one month, how things go...
 
Not as exotic an anchorage as some that have been mentioned but I once got tipped out of my bunk when anchored off Seaview, Isle of Wight!
 
Collioure

Collioure when the wind comes from the North and has been for a while. The waves kind of bounce around and build up in strange ways to make it very rolly. It is much less rolly 1/2 mile out to sea, but I don't have anywhere near enough rode for anchoring out there.....

Sometimes it is absolutely glassy calm.
 
Yes it does get bad there but you can always move into Red Bay(still in Marigot) but a lot better protected, just not very popular as it is a long ride to the dinghy dock.

Mark
;)
 
A place called the Vinoy Basin, just north of St Petersburg Municipal Marine on the west coast of Florida. It's a concrete bulkheaded rectangle surrounded on three sides by parkland and served by a short channel from the ocean. It looked ideal on the chart, and free, and there was a jazz band playing in the park - it seemed perfect. Not!
A combination of the concrete bulkheads, an easterly wind and some strange tidal action turned the basin into a boiling cauldron. It was like riding a bucking bronco - yeeha! I thought the mast was going to be rolled out of the boat.
There were about six of us anchored in the basin and it was like a Chinese fire drill as we all tried to up anchor and leave in the middle of the night.
So, if your cruising in that area - choose the marina not the Vinoy Basin.
 
Naxos Bay, East Sicily. Anchored with a bunch of Superyachts in flat calm conditions, with a SW wind forecast for all sea areas around. At 3 am a huge swell started to role in and as there was no wind even the big super yachts were rolling their decks under. Frantic activity all round as everyone left.
 
Tregastel-Plage, North Brittany coast, a great anchorage - except away from neaps when the swell comes over the reef of rocks.
I've seen a 40 foot swell outside, so it may not be trivial inside.
 
Rolliest places caused by motor traffic Spanish Waters, Curacao and the Olhau lagoons in Portugal. Both rollier than anything we found in the Caribbean island chain.

If anybody is thinking of going to the Seychells the wind switches north/south as the monsoon season changes. The problem is the lows in the southern ocean and the the lows in the Indian Ocean are timed the opposite of the winds. Thus the lee anchorages get an enormous swell. The windward anchorage are even worse. It was so bad we had to use harnesses in our berth.
 
El Queisir, Egypt. Inside the harbour, nice and calm.....then swell rolls in and toerails go under water on each alternate roll. I was trying to decant fuel from jerry cans at the time but had to abandon it and get the hell out of the harbour and into deeper water. Other boats were dragged off the wall as mooring lines parted.
 
Oh don't me started....but the two that come to mind first are:

1. Funchal beam to beam all night then went into marina only to find a surge that broke the finger pontoon on which we were moored ibthe middle of the night, so back to the rolly anchorage.

2. Praia harbour in the cape verdes the night before we went transat. Again beam to beam plus the ddelightful smell of the fish harbour.
 
ChrisE Absolutely. Funchal the anchorage from hell! Taught us about anchoring fore & Aft many moons ago. The first visit, marina full so no choice. Very sheltered from the wind but the swell creeps round and at that time the stern was rising and falling at least 2 meters. Luckily we were bows to would hate to think what conditions on board would have been like if we had been sideways on:( Positively dangerous.

Can't remember the name of the port, sorry, but N.Sicily was pretty uncomfortable and middle of the night had to utilize the stern anchoring technique. After a few years Funchal still tops the list.
 
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