Why can't people anchor?

[sailaboutvic]

The amount of time that we anchor we should be expert by now , last night was one of the most embarrassing time at anchoring we had in years , five time to set an anchor. Could this be a record ? .
First time the chain some how double up on it self and got jammed second time it would hold so up came the anchor with two steel bars and a net , trying else where third time the bigger ball of weed you every seen came up. So we moved over again four time another net and a shopping trolley , at last the fifth time our Rocna went in and stayed in . All this in 30 kts of wind and a very crowded anchorage on Samos .

 

[RichardS]

The amount of time that we anchor we should be expert by now , last night was one of the most embarrassing time at anchoring we had in years , five time to set an anchor. Could this be a record ? .
First time the chain some how double up on it self and got jammed second time it would hold so up came the anchor with two steel bars and a net , trying else where third time the bigger ball of weed you every seen came up. So we moved over again four time another net and a shopping trolley , at last the fifth time our Rocna went in and stayed in . All this in 30 kts of wind and a very crowded anchorage on Samos .

That's amazing Vic but whilst you were typing your post I was attempting to anchor in a bay on Pag Island (yes, the "cheese" island!). I had about
15m of chain out in 3m of water and the boat engines idling in reverse. We were creeping closer and closer to the gritty / sandy beach and were
almost inshore of the keen swimmers. Depth showing 0.5m under keel and still no biting from the Rocna.I couldn't understand it as the bottom was
presumably sand as well and the Rocna always bites although the water here is a bit cloudy so I couldn't see the anchor.

At 0.5m I lost my nerve and said let's pull her up. I'm at the helm when Son No 1 shouts "the anchor's coming up point first". I thought he'd gone
mad so I went to the trampoline and, sure enough, the chain is somehow over the shank of the anchor and then over the loop and over the point on
the other side so pulling the point up first. In 7 years of Rocna anchoring I've never seen it before!

Freeing it on a cat is not so simple as it's underneath the trampoline so that means unhooking some of the bindings to I can get my hand down to the
anchor and lift the point enough to flip it over the other side of the chain. After a couple of goes I did it and anchor crashes back down about 4 or 5 feet on the now loose chain.

We try again and anchor perfectly second time.

Clearly still living and learning!

Richard

 

[jacaldo]

Just back from a "charter" in the Argolic Gulf, we were on the outside quay in Monemvasia, 45 knot winds gusting 75 when a private yacht moored next to us. We got talking and I told him I had 60mtr out dropped in 2mtr and on the quay in 4mtr. We had been expecting high winds so I over compensated with the amount of chain, he said he had 40mtr out and wouldn't need any more. I was up at 5 in the morning helping his wife as his boat was banging on the quay, my boat didn't move, sorry to drift away from the anchoring post but just commenting on using a lot of chain.

The amount of time that we anchor we should be expert by now , last night was one of the most embar and he had to reset the anchorrassing time at anchoring we had in years , five time to set an anchor. Could this be a record ? .
First time the chain some how double up on it self and got jammed second time it would hold so up came the anchor with two steel bars and a net , trying else where third time the bigger ball of weed you every seen came up. So we moved over again four time another net and a shopping trolley , at last the fifth time our Rocna went in and stayed in . All this in 30 kts of wind and a very crowded anchorage on Samos .

 

[affinite]

Just back from a "charter" in the Argolic Gulf, we were on the outside quay in Monemvasia, 45 knot winds gusting 75 when a private yacht moored next to us. We got talking and I told him I had 60mtr out dropped in 2mtr and on the quay in 4mtr. We had been expecting high winds so I over compensated with the amount of chain, he said he had 40mtr out and wouldn't need any more. I was up at 5 in the morning helping his wife as his boat was banging on the quay, my boat didn't move, sorry to drift away from the anchoring post but just commenting on using a lot of chain.

I dont think it was just down to scope.
I seem to remember that there is a rocky patch/reef straight out from the quay at Monemvasia. (probably at about 40m !)
Drop your anchor on that and you might as well just drop the chain without the anchor.
In order to avoid it you need to observe the bottom carefully and drop the hook inside or (preferably) beyond it - as you did.
BTW - Last time I was there with high winds forecast, we pushed our way into the inner harbour.
Locals grumbled a bit but not nearly as much as those whose boats ended up reversing onto the outer quay in the middle of the following night !

 

[jacaldo]

Yeah, that shallow patch is marked with a red buoy, I thought I'd dropped it well past but judging by the trouble I had getting the anchor up I may have hooked the rocks as well? We were in the inner harbour at first but couldn't get the anchor in, not much room and sandy bottom, much better alongside if you can.

I dont think it was just down to scope.
I seem to remember that there is a rocky patch/reef straight out from the quay at Monemvasia. (probably at about 40m !)
Drop your anchor on that and you might as well just drop the chain without the anchor.
In order to avoid it you need to observe the bottom carefully and drop the hook inside or (preferably) beyond it - as you did.
BTW - Last time I was there with high winds forecast, we pushed our way into the inner harbour.
Locals grumbled a bit but not nearly as much as those whose boats ended up reversing onto the outer quay in the middle of the following night !

 

[charles_reed]

The amount of time that we anchor we should be expert by now , last night was one of the most embarrassing time at anchoring we had in years , five time to set an anchor. Could this be a record ? .
First time the chain some how double up on it self and got jammed second time it would hold so up came the anchor with two steel bars and a net , trying else where third time the bigger ball of weed you every seen came up. So we moved over again four time another net and a shopping trolley , at last the fifth time our Rocna went in and stayed in . All this in 30 kts of wind and a very crowded anchorage on Samos .

There's no accounting for the things on the seabed - mine include a towel, about 30m of rotten 3/4" rope, a discarded lobster pot and a sodden run-off bush.
But sometimes one just drags - Spinalonga sand can be quite hard at that N end.

For that reason (and because I anchor about 150 times a season) I hesitate to comment on others' errors - haven't we all been there?
Pride cometh before being flat on one's face!!!

 

[sailaboutvic]

There's no accounting for the things on the seabed - mine include a towel, about 30m of rotten 3/4" rope, a discarded lobster pot and a sodden run-off bush.
But sometimes one just drags - Spinalonga sand can be quite hard at that N end.

For that reason (and because I anchor about 150 times a season) I hesitate to comment on others' errors - haven't we all been there?
Pride cometh before being flat on one's face!!!

Your very right Charles , we have all been there and some time in the future we all will be there again ,

 

[Trident]

Who'd be a skipper eh...
Yesterday a large 68ft brand new (£2M) gin palace moored behind us and rafted up to a similar boat. One left at sunset and the 68 ft Princess stayed the night. As the wind turned they almost hit us as they'd laid 30m of chain in 3m depth!! At this stage it was just a 5-10knot wind so we were all sitting on weight of chain rather than stretched out but as I had around 15m down I figured in any gusts she'd hit us so laid another 10m. Whilst doing so the skipper came down from the flybridge of the 68 to say he was keeping an eye and would take in some of his chain if needs be. This was midnight. Around 3 AM I woke to hear him hauling in by hand (so as not to wake the owners/guests - not sure if it was private or charter) and in the morning he told me he'd taken in 10m when we got close again. Who'd want that job where you sleep up in the flybridge, doing regular anchor watches on a £2m boat in a safe little bay with 10 knot winds. I'll give him his due - despite the silly amount of initial chain and failing to realise that when the wind turned he'd hit us, he did stay up all night to watch out, took in chain when needed, thanked me for my plying out more of mine and still looked immaculate to greet his guests in the morning whilst I was a sweaty mess sitting in my pants in this 38 degree heat!

 

[greeny]

Well it finally happened to me today.
Went out sailing, had a good morning. Anchored for lunch tucked in behind headland at Praia de Vau with 2 other dutch flagged boats. Another dutch flagged yacht arrives and is intent in anchoring between me and the other 2 boats when there was nowhere near enough space. He dropped his anchor and let out chain and in doing so was now sat on top of my anchor and only about 20 metres from my bow. I called him and asked him to move away. It now became apparent he was Portuguese from his accent but I couldn't understand him because I don't speak Portuguese. With a wave of his hand a a shrug of shoulders he climbed into his dinghy with his bikini clad companion and zoomed off to one of the small beaches out of sight amongst the rocks.
5 mins later it became clear his boat was dragging down onto me, I couldn't leave because my anchor was under his boat. I let out a bit more chain hoping he would return. The man on the Dutch boat next to me (who also turned out to be Portuguese) saw what was happening and swam across to the dragging yacht, and told me in broken English that the man was his friend and he would move the boat for me and allow me to lift my anchor and depart. The boat was now only 2 metres from my bow. At this point the owner in his dinghy came zooming out from the beach and got onboard as well. He started the engine and then went forward to the bow. The next minute his bow swung round onto me hitting and damaging my toerail and bending one of my stanchions to a 45 degree angle.
Once he was past I went forward, raised my anchor and moved off. I waited until he was re-anchored and approached his boat slowly asking to speak to the skipper who was "hiding" down below. When he did come topsides, he just said in broken english that he had no damage, that I had run into him and that he had witnesses from the 2 other "Dutch flagged" yachts to back that up. The people on these boats all seemed to know each other and were Portuguese not Dutch.
I left the anchorage heading back to the marina fully intending to report it to the marine police and follow up a claim for damage.
But on the way back thought about it a bit more.
1. I am English in Portugal.
2. They had 2 sets of witnesses aginst me and would probably lose any legal case if they lied in court if it came to that.
3. If I report it to the police as a collision they are quite likely to inspect and/or impound the vessels involved.
4. If they inspect me and find anything wrong (not that I think there is), they will make me carry out that work and then pay for an independant inspection to prove my boat seaworthy again.
5. Whilst all this is going on I will probably lose the use of my boat for the time it takes to resolve.

So, I will put up and shut up and pay for the repairs myself.
Yes, I have the name of the boat that hit me but will not name it at the moment in case I do decide to take it further, unlikely though.
Location - anchored in the corner at Praia de Vau near Portimao.

The lesson learned is to be more forceful and insistent initially the next time it looks like I am getting into that situation again but I don't know what I could have done different at the time.
Maybe I should have dropped my anchor and bouyed it, then circled waiting for the other skipper to return from his beach sojourn. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

But the other question arises, why are the portuguese sailing Dutch flagged boats? and 3 of them together in one anchorage?

 

[Trident]

Sorry to hear of your damage - its bad enough to be damaged but to then have the culprit lie about it is insult to injury. Hope it doesn't spoil your season too much.
I've seen a lot of Dutch and Brit flagged boats owned by Spaniards this year - I think perhaps if they buy foreign boats its saves the regular Guardi inspections all the Spanish flagged boats seem to get. Maybe the same there

I find if people refuse to move when in stupid places taking photos of them, the boat and their registration number very conspicuously often does the trick - if not I have an old gnarly looking wood and iron boat hook I get out to stand guard with and fend off - the site of this often makes them move as they imagine me gouging out their gel coat whilst fending them away.

I hope the rest of your season gets better

 

[RichardS]

Well it finally happened to me today.
Went out sailing, had a good morning. Anchored for lunch tucked in behind headland at Praia de Vau with 2 other dutch flagged boats. Another dutch flagged yacht arrives and is intent in anchoring between me and the other 2 boats when there was nowhere near enough space. He dropped his anchor and let out chain and in doing so was now sat on top of my anchor and only about 20 metres from my bow. I called him and asked him to move away. It now became apparent he was Portuguese from his accent but I couldn't understand him because I don't speak Portuguese. With a wave of his hand a a shrug of shoulders he climbed into his dinghy with his bikini clad companion and zoomed off to one of the small beaches out of sight amongst the rocks.
5 mins later it became clear his boat was dragging down onto me, I couldn't leave because my anchor was under his boat. I let out a bit more chain hoping he would return. The man on the Dutch boat next to me (who also turned out to be Portuguese) saw what was happening and swam across to the dragging yacht, and told me in broken English that the man was his friend and he would move the boat for me and allow me to lift my anchor and depart. The boat was now only 2 metres from my bow. At this point the owner in his dinghy came zooming out from the beach and got onboard as well. He started the engine and then went forward to the bow. The next minute his bow swung round onto me hitting and damaging my toerail and bending one of my stanchions to a 45 degree angle.
Once he was past I went forward, raised my anchor and moved off. I waited until he was re-anchored and approached his boat slowly asking to speak to the skipper who was "hiding" down below. When he did come topsides, he just said in broken english that he had no damage, that I had run into him and that he had witnesses from the 2 other "Dutch flagged" yachts to back that up. The people on these boats all seemed to know each other and were Portuguese not Dutch.
I left the anchorage heading back to the marina fully intending to report it to the marine police and follow up a claim for damage.
But on the way back thought about it a bit more.
1. I am English in Portugal.
2. They had 2 sets of witnesses aginst me and would probably lose any legal case if they lied in court if it came to that.
3. If I report it to the police as a collision they are quite likely to inspect and/or impound the vessels involved.
4. If they inspect me and find anything wrong (not that I think there is), they will make me carry out that work and then pay for an independant inspection to prove my boat seaworthy again.
5. Whilst all this is going on I will probably lose the use of my boat for the time it takes to resolve.

So, I will put up and shut up and pay for the repairs myself.
Yes, I have the name of the boat that hit me but will not name it at the moment in case I do decide to take it further, unlikely though.
Location - anchored in the corner at Praia de Vau near Portimao.

The lesson learned is to be more forceful and insistent initially the next time it looks like I am getting into that situation again but I don't know what I could have done different at the time.
Maybe I should have dropped my anchor and bouyed it, then circled waiting for the other skipper to return from his beach sojourn. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

But the other question arises, why are the portuguese sailing Dutch flagged boats? and 3 of them together in one anchorage?

You did the right thing. Its an argument you would never win. The rules are different the further South you go.

The only thing you might have done which is what I did once in a small anchorage when an Italian boat came in and tried to anchor much to close. SWMBO and I took all the fenders to the bow and put 4 down each side over each quarter. We were only a few dozen yards from the Italian boat by this stage and it was obvious that once they started to pull back on their anchor they would hit us. The children sitting on the back of the boat were looking at us in wonder.

Sure enough the boat came back and bounced into our fenders. I said "A bit to close I think Gentlemen" and someone said "Si Signor" and they started to reel in the anchor for about the third time.

They then decided to anchor closer to the shore and take a line ashore. The best part of that was the guy who had swum ashore trying to pull a 40 foot boat into shore directly against a strong breeze. Sure enough he ended up back in the water with me saying to SWMBO that I would buy the guy a drink if he pulled off that feat!

Richard

 

[jordanbasset]

Well it finally happened to me today.
Went out sailing, had a good morning. Anchored for lunch tucked in behind headland at Praia de Vau with 2 other dutch flagged boats. Another dutch flagged yacht arrives and is intent in anchoring between me and the other 2 boats when there was nowhere near enough space. He dropped his anchor and let out chain and in doing so was now sat on top of my anchor and only about 20 metres from my bow. ?

It seems to me the problem was not that he anchored too close but that he did not dig the anchor it. The fact his boat after letting out his anchor chain was on top of your anchor should not be a problem, it is quite common. Nor the fact he was 20 metres away, I have been in a lot of anchorages where people have been a lot closer than that. Having said that he was clearly at fault for not digging his anchor in and made sure it was set before leaving the boat. As a result he drifted onto you. Hope the repairs don't cost too much and it is sorted soon

 

[vyv_cox]

N

I've seen a lot of Dutch and Brit flagged boats owned by Spaniards this year - I think perhaps if they buy foreign boats its saves the regular Guardi inspections all the Spanish flagged boats seem to get. Maybe the same there

This year has been remarkable in the Dodecanese for the number of USA flagged Turkish boats we have seen. There have always been a few but this year a Turkish flagged boat has been the exception.

 

[greeny]

Thanks for the posts of "support". After sleeping on it I've realised that my decision not to report it is certainly the correct one. I don't want to get into the official and legal quagmire over here. The gelcoat scratches can be polished out I think, the stanchion is in the boatyard being straightened this morning I hope, the toerail dent is with me forever I'm afraid. I can't justify the cost of the full length aluminium extrusion and don't want to try letting a short piece in.
The fact that the perpetrator os getting away scot free is what is really annoying me but I guess I've got to accept that and move on.
Trident, I'm sure you're right about the boat registration as the Portuguese vessels do need to have inspections and meet laid down criteria. I'm not sure why Dutch though, maybe they have another friend in Holland who carried out the registrations for them?
Greeny

 

[truscott]

The Turkish Maritime registry appears to be in Delaware.

We encountered an interesting situation a week or so ago. Anchored in 4 meters in Archangelos with about 30 meters out and 4 or 5 boat lengths ahead and onshore of of our neighbors. Wind veered during the night and our Italian neighbor informed us we were dragging. Whoops! My bad. Up anchor and we move. My wife tells me that they had said we should just have let more chain out. Maybe that might have been an idea. I was a little sleep addled and a bit puzzled as the Rocna hasn't had any issues here before. We move 100 meters downwind. 4 hours later, we seem to have dragged up wind without actually moving and our Italian friend is once again bobbing alongside. So we move again. In the morning we notice the Italians hauling in their chain. All 100 meters of it. In 4 to 6 meters.

Lesson learnt. Next time we'll give our neighbor's a little more room. Like a different bay.

To be fair, I completely stuffed up the next night, all on my lonesome. When you see those little wreck symbols on a chart? They're there for reason. No dragging that night. The one in Archangelos right out in front of the Taverna's dock really does exist.

PT

 

[Nostrodamus]

In the defence of others and ourselves I do have to say that from time to time we make cock ups whilst anchoring and we tend to anchor all summer.
We really should be used to it by now but no matter how correctly you think you have anchored from time to time it goes wrong.
Weed is a nightmare. We have been anchored in it for several days and then suddenly dragged.
Stone can sometimes be mistaken for sand and although you may think you are secure because it caught on a rock when you swing things may be different.
Going into a crowded anchorage in calm conditions can sometimes be a problem when the wind pics up. Those boats may be sat on top of their anchor chains and the anchors may be in a completely different position to what you imagine.
Anchoring is to a good extent an art but there is also an element of the unknown you try to take into account that sometimes does not work.
How much chain have other boats got out in comparison to you, where are their anchors and how are they anchored.
We were once in a crowded anchorage and watched a boat come into the middle and lay out a bow and kedge anchor!
We also anchored near to a boat and unbeknown to us it had one chain going down to two anchors set a good distance apart.
We are all human, we all make mistakes. Anchoring does mean a bit of guess work but we try to minimise this the best we can.

 

[BobnLesley]

Re: The US Flagged yachts in the eastern Med, it seems that the Americans are still under the misconception that Delaware is a state of their union, not a region of Turkey; my understanding is that it's to avoid shed-loads of tax and make the importation of a second-hand boat into Turkey much simpler/easier if you're a Turk; you set-up a Delaware registered company and it owns the boat.

We all have our anecdotes, but Truscott's reminds me of a favourite: We sailed into the salty place, just north of the Mar Menor -Torriveja or something like that? - headed right through the fleet of anchored boats and dropped anchor at the front of them, with the nearest yacht perhaps 30m astern, just off the port quarter; I recall it was about a 30-footer, British Flagged, with two rather stiff ladies and two equally large dogs aboard. By the time I returned to the cockpit, one of said ladies was on the foredeck, loudly advising that we were 'far too close and that as the holding was poor, she didn't want us there as we'd drag onto them in moments'; we'd had a great sail, I was in a good mood, so we upped anchor and settled into a similar position astern of them.
Five minutes later the crew of a boat we'd met previously rowed across and enquired as to why we'd moved, assuring us that we were well clear of them and there was nothing to complain about; we explained that it just wasn't worth the argument and invited them aboard for a beer or two. No more than twenty minutes later, one of our visitors commented: "I'm sure that boat ahead of you is dragging?". We all watched for a few minutes, agreed he was right and I wandered up to the foredeck and passed on the bad-news to the lady who'd spoken to me earlier. She went absolutely ballistic! Loudly (and expletive filled) advising that they'd been anchored securely there for a week, that she'd warned us earlier, that it was we, not they who were dragging; my response about the physical difficulty of dragging upwind cut no ice at all, as they were drifting well clear of our port side, I shrugged my shoulders, said "suit yourself" and returned to the beer and good company in our cockpit, whilst both ladies sat in their cockpit, arms folded and glaring at us and occasionally repeating their shouted demand that we were dragging and ought to re-anchor. To the amusement of ourselves and indeed every other boat in the anchorage, those two ladies held their ground (or perhaps not depending how you look at it?) for almost an hour, by which time they'd gone from the very front to the very back of the anchorage and actually into the buoyed channel (a good 400m) before they finally conceded and lifted their anchor. It was just the patchy holding rather than poor technique/equipment that'd caught them out, because when they finally motored back and re-anchored, they'd more than adequate scope and dug the hook I hard; they were however somewhat nearer to us than the distance which they'd deemed was 'too close' when we'd first arrived and our guests were all in favour (well fuelled on beer by now!) of my insisting that they move; I hadn't the nerve.

 

[RichardS]

Re: The US Flagged yachts in the eastern Med, it seems that the Americans are still under the misconception that Delaware is a state of their union, not a region of Turkey; my understanding is that it's to avoid shed-loads of tax and make the importation of a second-hand boat into Turkey much simpler/easier if you're a Turk; you set-up a Delaware registered company and it owns the boat.

We all have our anecdotes, but Truscott's reminds me of a favourite: We sailed into the salty place, just north of the Mar Menor -Torriveja or something like that? - headed right through the fleet of anchored boats and dropped anchor at the front of them, with the nearest yacht perhaps 30m astern, just off the port quarter; I recall it was about a 30-footer, British Flagged, with two rather stiff ladies and two equally large dogs aboard. By the time I returned to the cockpit, one of said ladies was on the foredeck, loudly advising that we were 'far too close and that as the holding was poor, she didn't want us there as we'd drag onto them in moments'; we'd had a great sail, I was in a good mood, so we upped anchor and settled into a similar position astern of them.
Five minutes later the crew of a boat we'd met previously rowed across and enquired as to why we'd moved, assuring us that we were well clear of them and there was nothing to complain about; we explained that it just wasn't worth the argument and invited them aboard for a beer or two. No more than twenty minutes later, one of our visitors commented: "I'm sure that boat ahead of you is dragging?". We all watched for a few minutes, agreed he was right and I wandered up to the foredeck and passed on the bad-news to the lady who'd spoken to me earlier. She went absolutely ballistic! Loudly (and expletive filled) advising that they'd been anchored securely there for a week, that she'd warned us earlier, that it was we, not they who were dragging; my response about the physical difficulty of dragging upwind cut no ice at all, as they were drifting well clear of our port side, I shrugged my shoulders, said "suit yourself" and returned to the beer and good company in our cockpit, whilst both ladies sat in their cockpit, arms folded and glaring at us and occasionally repeating their shouted demand that we were dragging and ought to re-anchor. To the amusement of ourselves and indeed every other boat in the anchorage, those two ladies held their ground (or perhaps not depending how you look at it?) for almost an hour, by which time they'd gone from the very front to the very back of the anchorage and actually into the buoyed channel (a good 400m) before they finally conceded and lifted their anchor. It was just the patchy holding rather than poor technique/equipment that'd caught them out, because when they finally motored back and re-anchored, they'd more than adequate scope and dug the hook I hard; they were however somewhat nearer to us than the distance which they'd deemed was 'too close' when we'd first arrived and our guests were all in favour (well fuelled on beer by now!) of my insisting that they move; I hadn't the nerve.

Great story Bob .... but I've been embarrassingly caught out by this "exactly who is doing the dragging" conundrum.

We were on a charter boat in the BVIs and it was our first night away from the base. We picked up a mooring buoy - Spanish Town I think - and everything seemed to go well except that we were getting closer and closer to another boat sort of alongside us on another buoy. I stood on the stern and said to the guy on the other boat, which was getting closer still, something like "I'm sorry but we seem to be getting closer and I don't know whether its me or you"

By now, our dinghy was jammed between the two hulls and was holding us apart. The guy said "We don't have our engine running so it must be you".

With that I did what I should have done 5 minutes earlier and jiggled the throttle control a bit. The engine clonked into neutral. Obviously something slightly mis-adjusted so it looked like it was in neutral from the central position of the lever when, in fact, it was just ticking over in reverse gear.

The rest of the holiday was fine once I knew what to do.

Richard

 

[GrahamM376]

But the other question arises, why are the portuguese sailing Dutch flagged boats? and 3 of them together in one anchorage?

Quite simple. Ownership of a Portuguese registered boat not only entails surveys, qualifications and mandatory safety equipment but also involves the tax man who may wonder where the money came from.

We've come across them sailing under various flags and the same applies to soviet block natives although they seem to prefer UK flag.

Unless you can find a witness or two and claim on his insurance, forget it. Court action could take 5 years or more and will involve lawyers so costly and the police won't help - as we found out.

 

[sailaboutvic]

Asking some to move don't always work , if their don't want to move there won't and there not much you can do , so before shouting ask very nicely first , there a better chance of them moving .
What else ?
one thing is to move your self but that not always possiable , say the anchorage is already crowed , so here some thing you could try , if you have a pole extend it out in there direction with a fender on the end and aim it low at there top side .
another thing is if you find their boat sitting on your anchor and you need to move because the satuation has got dangerous Place your dinghy on your bow with some one on board , then very slowly pull on your anchor utill your next to the boat keep pulling up while he person on in the dinghy pushes the other boat over your anchor .
I know this isn't the best option but it better then having damages done to your boat .
There was one time when I tottaly lost it with one owner who was so close he could amost step on my boat , his reply to me was if I didn't like it then move , my response was to get out my cutters and head for his chain in my dinghy , he moved , if he didn't I not sure what I would had done . I did get a cheer from others .